· · · · · · ·

"Once upon a time, the Mon Colle Knights were ready to ... no no, that doesn't sound right. We're always ready for adventure, not just once."

With a sigh Rokuna leaned back in the chair, gazing out of the plane's window. Nothing but indistinct blue flared across the deep dark before her, she found no inspiration there. Where was the Narrator when he was most needed? That weird voice that seemed to speak to some incorporeal audience, she had always thought it was some bored spirit tagging along with them. Hopefully he hadn't remained behind in the Black Hole.

Right, that was another thing for her checklist of Things To Do In Heaven. Quickly, she scribbled it down and laid it back in her diary. From now on, she would document everything done and to be done, starting with Elysium — if she could find the right start for this story in time. Perhaps just laying out the basics?

This would be their first informal visit to heaven and she hoped to explore it more thoroughly this time. A library certainly could be found, the constellations could be met in person, heavenly cuisine was said to be excellent, she had heard of fairy dragons — squeeee — and off course, there was the ceremony to initiate the Terror Dragon cub. The world was back to starting quests with wonder rather than nightmares, even if it missed its Narrator ... and might not stay so wondrous for long.

There was one thing she hadn't written on her list. The last time she had been in Elysium was shortly after having received the first blow of her sixth sense, so all she had felt was a disjointed haze. Now that she was more accustomed to her power, she was curious to heaven's aura and a newly born pessimistic side warned her of disappointment.

"Rokuna~chan, are you okay?" Mondo's concerned voice snapped her out of herself.

"Don't worry, Mon~chan. The void here is peaceful, I rather like it."

"Thank goodness, I was afraid you might be bothered by the energy from the wormhole or something," he said with a relieved smile.

She shook her head. "Nah, I was just thinking about what we're going to do from now on."

"We're the Mon Colle Knights and the Saint Star Children, so we can do it, whatever it takes!"

He had said variants of this ever since they had returned from Pandæmonium, maybe a little excessively. Mondo's infectiously happy mood was overwhelming and a little suffocating, but far from unpleasant. It helped her, much like being drunk without risk of hangovers. Still, she had to say it : "If only we knew where to start?"

"Easy! We start right where we start!" Mondo put strength to his words by speeding up the Stove Dragon to full power.

Less of a secret now, Riva Sanctuary was host to the quest. The Shining Flame Angel had not joined the search herself, but as before she would be a guardian to the items. Ruth had made it clear just how easy it was to hitch along the other universe and steal something, after all.

Mondo landed the Stove Dragon a little too roughly, breaking a row of the fragile crystals. The world came back to Rokuna's senses and she needed a moment to adjust. Okay, maybe there was a little bit of a hangover effect ...

She heard Mondo say something, but before she had her senses back together and could respond, he already was out of the plane. Her father bowed over the back of her seat and said, "You ready, Rokuna?"

Regal and stoic, the Shining Flame Angel stepped out of her ruby castle to greet Mondo. By the time Rokuna and Ichirobei caught up, the boy just finished an inquiry : "That's why we've gotta know how to approach the Elysian Council. I'd rather not offend another person."

Lazai nodded at the newly arrived, then told Mondo, "I can only advise to stay true to yourself, this has always been your leading light."

"No disrespect, Shining Flame Angel~san, but perhaps a good first step would be if you no longer used light as a metaphor for good things. It's pretty racist, what with all that's happened recently," Mondo said.

"Very well then," the angel said. "On second thought, I have some specific advice after all. Do not lecture superiors who did not ask for your criticism. If you want the Elysian Council to respect you so they may listen, start slowly."

"Maybe we ought to study some angelic protocol while we're at it ..." Ichirobei wondered.

"Request a book on it in the Elysian library. Now, let us please proceed. Zaha and Shiru are already in Elysium. I requested permission of Elysium for your additional guests and they granted it. Who many you call for?"

"Just four, is that alright?" Mondo said.

A simple nod, then the angel summoner her own dragon. The massive beast emerged from a red portal, landed clumsily and ruined some more crystals, much to the unvoiced irritation of the angel.

Rokuna folded her hands and focused on the far away Luke, who would be more likely to receive the message than chaotic little Beginner. Sure enough, it did not take long before a white portal opened behind her, in the space between the low stairs and the dragon.

Luke jumped out first and held out a hand to Beginner, who failed to notice in her excitement to visit the legendary Riva Sanctuary. She threw a quick and cheery hello to the fire angel and almost darted off to look at a particularly shiny crystal, but a giant red snout blocked her way.

"Oh my, energetic as always, no? Don't you have somewhere else to go?" he said as he used his snout to gently push Beginner back to the group.

"Oh, right, are we late already~mon?"

"Not yet," said Lazai. "Elysium has yet to succeed in summoning a dark river, but I would not take this as impetus for delay. It should be any time now."

Luke crossed his arms and said, "Can we expect trouble from that?"

"No. We are more likely to experience misbehaving dragons than technical complications." With that, Lazai cast up a sharp glance to the Fire Dragon.

"Oh come on! I wasn't that bad! The Earth Dragon crumbled the dome and the Storm Dragon electrocuted everyone. I only spit some fire into someone's face!"

A few uneasy laughs were followed by a silence that demanded crickets, but didn't get any.

"How about the water dragon~mon?" Beginner asked, blissfully ignorant of just how dangerous fire can be when the rule of Moé doesn't protect someone.

"She is from the time before angels ruled the elements, a time when dragons were solemn gods themselves," Lazai said, sadly aware her dragon's mishaps having improved only marginally with time.

"Why so much fuss about master dragons~mon? As the Elementals Angels, can't you summon any dragon you want~mon?"

"It is through these dragons that we can govern other elements despite being rooted in the Holy Element. The second benefit is that as we are not all that strong, the dragons are our primary means of engaging in combat."

"Then why does Zaha need a dragon at all~mon?"

"Child, do you realize how powerful a symbol can be? It can inspire and unite, it can build faith merely by existing, even if it does not make sense in and of itself."

"Yes! I get it~mon!" Beginner squeaked, balling her fists up happily. "So this whole ceremony is to make things all officially symboly~mon! Anyway, guys, can I try summoning Chantal and Pegasus~mon? Please~mon?"

Luke leaned a little closer to Rokuna and whispered, "That doesn't really answer the question why that ceremony is needed. Is that contract worth pissing off zealots who might take offense to all that demon magic in their heaven?"

Rokuna nodded. "You're right, there's more to it." She folded her hands for a moment to speak to Lazai.

"So?"

"More dakka for us. We're gonna need it."

· · · · · · ·

Passing the pale houses of heaven quickly, Shiru cut through a silence most unusual for heaven. Here and there she saw a frightened face looking out to the west, heard a whisper and the murmur of a thousand prayers. Their fear was understandable, she herself might once have felt it. The might of this nation came from its unshaken foundation, the eternal reliance on what was known to work well. Change was always for the worst, so said the Sanhedrin.

The farther she flew, the more the drone of life was replaced by an almost melodious hum. The harvest plateaus blocked her sight, but she could hear and feel from hence it came. Like an irregular pulse, a heartbeat resonated from the pillar that pierced the lowest clouds. Her knowledge of the approaching ritual was limited to lexicon and spoken word, none of them mentioned such a sound. Change had come to heaven, indeed.

With care she descended until close above the treacherous clouds, so deep in the canyons that even to her eyes the high asphodels fields were missing. Yet the pulse still originated from deeper and she came no closer to an answer.

As she ascended, though, it seemed the once monochromatic beige hue was a little more daring here and today, showing reds and purples in the shadows.

Rather curious too, but perhaps it was just the presence of the four master dragons.

Flying so, she approached the ritual's location from below. She could see the four dragons first, just their heads between the pillars. Sharp red, moss green, teal with rainbow wings and dark purple. No, it was not like them.

Quickening her flight, she ascended to where she knew the terrace for visitors was.

She wasn't looking up, still interested in the change of the dust, but she heard it fall. Halting quickly and moving back, she caught the tiny metal with her hand.

"Mondo Ohya, we're in heaven! Don't you have the slightest idea how to behave?" a familiar voice yelled from above. Luke.

"It's not like it's going to hit anyone down there," Mondo said, somewhat apologetically.

"That's a minicamera, actually. So we can find out what's down there," professor Hiiragi added.

Shiru had a good guess this was the Human World's equivalent of a crystal ball : one side contained a glass lens. She smiled at it, then looked into the depth. Finding no one flying lower, she sent it on its way.

When she arrived on the plateau, she greeted, "Well met, all. The past has known several divine scientists trying to solve the mysterious depths, but the spheres all broke regardless of what protection they spun. Maybe your alien device will succeed."

The group turned around to face her.

"Hey, Shiru! Did he hit you?" Luke said eagerly, cutting off any other greeting.

"Not sorry to disappoint you, Luke," she said with a friendly mock.

The other guests were Chantal, Pegasus and Beginner, and naturally Mondo and Rokuna. The boy was off to another side, gate-hopping across the massive complex to drop more of these 'minicameras'. Rokuna was at a distance from them all, at a marble table to help her write in a book.

Shiru stepped up aside of Ichirobei and said, "Hello, professor. If I may ask, did Rokuna say anything when she arrived?"

"Hmm, let me think ... something about not liking certain angelic guests here."

"Nothing about the environment though?"

"Hello, Shiru~san, and nope," Mondo said as he rejoined the group, climbing out of a crayon drawn gate on the floor. "Why, is something wrong?"

"There doesn't seem to be," Shiru said with relief. "Listen, I'll go to Zaha for a moment, but we'll meet again inside. There should be a terrace prepared for you."

The ceremony had always been kept in secret, but now the Divine Council had reasoned that the presence of the Demon Element in heaven could not go unnoticed. Therefore they had announced the ceremony to all ears, sealed the perimeter and invited the most prominent to be a witness. The number was not even that of a Sanhedrin, but as she had expected, still too large for Zaha's ease of mind.

The arches across the pillars were not meant for sitting, so obviously, there he could be found. The two didn't greet each other beyond a smile, but he did reach out a hand to help her find her balance. A rather needless gesture, but its return made her glad.

Barely she had folded her wings or the imp Ruth appeared up before her.

"How much longer?"

Shiru shook her head. "I have no idea, honestly."

"Figures," Ruth muttered.

"Lady Tiamat finally has come, so I heard on my way here. It will take not much longer," Shiru assured him. Turning to Zaha, she saw him only sternly fixed on the darkening distance. No eager anticipation and joy, as she had seen with the Mon Colle Knights and their friends.

"Lark and I used to adopt little monsters every so often," she told Ruth and reminded Zaha, hoping to bring loose a word, a sign that he was not meeting his task with hate. "Let us see this as a way of reviving that tradition?"

"I that would fit ... I'll break open those bricked halls at the observatory. If that cub grows as quickly as Orthros, we're going to need the space."

"Why not adopt the entire demon realm while we're at it?" Ruth said. He was flicked playfully against the wing by Zaha.

"We've already started that, you idiot," Zaha said with a smirk. "And there is our cue."

A creeping gray overtook the clouds and at the domed core of the sanctuary cries broke out.

The far away pillar could flow to any realm and bring to heaven its elemental power. In its final form it birthed a river that meandered through the asphodels fields, under the arches on which the angels waited and finally, into the dome. For today, the river was demonic.

Leading the gray blanket was a sourceless shadow filling the dry riverbed, at the peak of its tide the colossal empress of dragons. In the onsetting darkness, her gray form was more sinister than daylight already painted her as. When her segmented tail curled above the solid shadows, it drew flashes of red lightning. Tiamat had never appeared so at home.

As she moved past the arches, she looked up at the angels so small to her. Her face human, with inhuman eyes that lit green, she nodded at them once without stopping.

Zaha and Shiru waited until she started climbing the dome. Shiru brushed her wing past his in encouragement, then separated from him. Rather would she have stayed at his side, but the ritual would not have it.

A party of six winged angels stood on either side of where the river's entrance. Theirs was an artificial air of pleasantness, netted in superstition and distrust. She stayed at a distance that was both respectful and tactically avoiding of a need to talk.

Only one arch was beyond them, smaller than the others. It served both as a step for Tiamat towards her entrance at the dome's peak and the gate for the chosen angel to enter with the river.

Once the last of the empress' tail had vanished through the gate at its top, Zaha passed this arch, quicker than he had been told to. He was well beyond when the gate called him a new name in ancient language.

No longer to be known merely as Blackwinged Angel, a broad, empty title shared by many of the past, he now was The Angel Of The Darkest Night.

Shiru saw him slow and hoped he wouldn't read too much into the chosen words. None knew who decided what the summon true name of any given monster would be, but she suspected it was an entity with poor understanding of encouragement and situation. If it had possessed those skills, the title would have been one that would not turn the eyes of the angels here even harder.

When Zaha entered, the white winged angels silently followed. Through a straight passage separate from his path, they arrived in the central hall. Safely behind a circle of guarding pillars, there were six wide terraces, each carved from marble and lines with symbols and illustrations. The terrace of light was always for the angels, each of the others would hold monsters of its intended element, though for centuries now few had stood on these. The days when the angels truly ruled the earths and kings and queens had passed, so what citizens would they invite?

It gave Shiru an odd satisfaction that this meant that the first time another terrace was to be crowded, it was the neglected demon corner. Here were gathered the Mon Colle Knights and their friends, as well as the Four Elemental Angels. With so many wings and a horse, it was rather running out of space to land. Rather than let them go to chaos in rearranging their chairs and tables, she sat down on the railing.

At once she noticed Rokuna's closing her eyes, her hands folded, a second later the girl telepathically contacted her.

"~ Shiru-san, would you like to be there too? He asked for you. I think that perhaps, he wants you to call him out if he errs. ~"

He need not have done so. Easily, Shiru let herself be linked to Zaha's mind. It was only a surface connection, Rokuna told her, though to her it felt intense. Already aware of many more details than others seemed to be, to Shiru this form of perception was as a missing depth to the world. Ruth shared the connection with her and Mondo too, however she realized little of the others beyond Zaha. How Rokuna lived with such deep awareness was harder to understand than the anxiety Zaha felt now.

For what it was worth trying to change, she tried extending her peace to him, but it was her small grains of doubt that Zaha seemed to notice far more. Not to try now was a better course, perhaps.

Zaha took a deep breath and descended from the point he had been told to wait during rehearsals. The circular platform, now surrounded by the dark river, lit up with a violet gate the moment his feet touched upon it. He kept his wings stretched wide, feeling that here gravity was as it worked on the earths.

Tiamat reached forth her massive arms, with ease spanning to either side of the circle. In the shadow of her form Zaha looked lilliputian, eyes unaware of the power within the demon might assume the empress could simply brush him out of life.

Zaha repeated the gesture and conjured a curse gate between his hands. From the point the young Terror Dragon, slowly climbing from Tiamat's hidden realities where her powers had prepared it for the task once more, as she had prepared its ancestor or by another definition, itself. Now this power linked the creature into contract with the Angel Of The Darkest Night.

The seal drew black flames from the river around, a motion to match the invisible contract finding its conclusion.

While Zaha himself was not aware of it yet, Shiru could see how his armor reformed, first regrowing the missing shoulderpad, then overlaying a second across the upper edge : thus none could repeated Reda's trick. His wings too slowly began to alter form, growing a fourth segment and a more eloquent line.

Tiamat muttered words the angels didn't understand, but Zaha and thereby Shiru could hear them.

"By flowing power of Gaia's motion, as the sealed earth and free waters, as the high sky and distant fire have done before, In unity sang these daemons to the praise of Elohim, they lost their malice and wrath. Upon this hour I grant this living key to the messenger of Dervis."

Zaha closed his hands around the little dragon and the contract was sealed, until the day of death or betrayal. Like the snap of a twig, as a veil torn loosely from the ark, an underwhelming feeling for the epitome of such a ritual. To him though, it felt like a relief to not be given a heavy weight. It was not until now that he truly saw the dragon as what it was : a frightened, confused little animal, greatly submissive by a heritage and memory of slavery even through its rebirth. Quietly, he told it to stop fearing, it was alright. Crudely as ever, but sincere.

With one strong wingstroke and the cub close, he lifted above the platform and Tiamat withdrew her hands, easing backwards. With their disconnect, the flames died away.

As a child he had broken into this sanctuary see the binding of the Fire Dragon to the Shining Flame Angel. Nothing he had seen, but up until the screams, there had been cheering echoing so wide that it reached even down the drains. Today, it was silent.

That day he had met Lark and Shiru too ... no, this wasn't what they had envisioned for their future at all. Lark had not lived to see a ceremony such as this and Zaha certainly hadn't imagined or desired to be at the center of one.

Tiamat nodded again, this time with a smile, then she turned upward. The river followed her cue to depart and so Zaha left too. Only now he flew did he realize the change about him, using his wings to their full power. More did Shiru not perceive of him, as the link through Rokuna ebbed away.

It was Beginner to be there first when he approached. Eagerly she held open her little arms and begged, "Oh I love little dragons, can I hold her~mon?" she begged. He hesitated a little, but Beginner's huge blue eyes were hard to deny and so she got what she wanted. Barely had he let the cub into her arms, or the Storm Angel hit him on the shoulder.

"Welcome to the club, Zaha!" Ruchiel thundered.

"Congratulations, that went particularly well," Lazai added in her formal, detached tone. As Shiru already knew, Zaha had unlearned how to receive a compliment, found them a waste on him. He averted his face, just a moment, to look at the opposing terrace. It was emptying, but none came here. Shiru could well imagine they believed it inappropriate to fly around and land on the dark side, so she kept silent lest someone would decide to visit them — the guests ought not to be responsible for their hosts' availability for a greeting.

"What's up with this?" Zaha said to the elemental angels now, a thumb pointing at his new shoulderpads.

Yabbashael clapped her hands together happily. "That is nothing up, that is out! Even if it is involuntary, that you are showing a hint of transforming magic means you are on your way to becoming as we four are. In time, you will grow out an extra set of wings to help you channel your realms energy!"

Zaha didn't do much to hide an irritated groan. Noticing this, Shiru soothed : "It might also mean you'll become able to dematerialize your wings at will, it would be a good thing to practice this magic."

"So he's going to be an official elemental angel, right? Was there ever a one before him, for the demon element?" Mondo wondered.

"Yes. More than one, a few of whom still live. You already know Asmodeus," Lazai said. All but the elemental angels themselves looked up in surprise.

"A great mistake to elect one so stubbornly honorable. Eternal dignity and truthfulness is nothing fit for one who rules the elements," Harudha explained.

"So what about Lendir's top angel?" Ruth asked.

"Lendir has none. Elysium sees Sophiel as playing this role, the daughter of the last king of the heavens and the goddess Elysium. She won their regard by high birth and many wings," Harudha continued. "Should you think of Shiru to hold this position, I would agree with you, little imp. Titles or not, she has served that role already. Better to hold your tongue about this to the Elysians, those in particular whom you see on the terrace opposite of us."

"Dangerous words, Wave Mistress," Lazai said.

Harudha just smiled innocently and brushed her hand through her long hair. "Our kin already is dangerous, regardless of what I say."

As if on perfect cue, or perhaps any time would have been been on cue, a chorus of cries rang from outside. Through the gate in the ceiling the Fire Dragon looked in and said, "Guys, you really need to get out and see this!"

Those on the holy terrace had gathered outside, only to find that they could not avoid the darkness. In horror they stared at the horizon, along the river where the baffled dragon empress had stopped as well.

The gray had cradled the sanctuary while the sky above the pillar had become even darker. Even the thinner cloud layer that separated Elysium from the breathless stars had turned ashen. Beyond its farther visible distance lay a massive, solid shadow.

Ruchiel stepped forth with his arms spreading wide, forcing apart the clouds with a mighty burst of wind. Tentatively all waited till his winds separated the sky clear enough to see, seconds slipped by too slow and revealed little by little what few would have expected. A great monster, a cursed mountain risen from the earths or a black hole battle spell, but what they were given was simpler in form and harder to understand.

A black sun.

Even Shiru, normally so at ease with the darkness, could not help but clasp a hand before her mouth. The cry she held back upon realization what she saw was uttered by others.

"What is that?" Luke muttered. He spoke to her, as if she somehow knew, but nothing like this had ever been seen.

The sun expanded the deeper one looked, but turn away your gaze and notice it had not changed at all. Cries silenced and yet another heavy silence stepped in, only to be broken when Lazai dryly remarked, "It seems harmless. Can we proceed now?"

"I don't know, all this evil magic must be —" said a nearby voice, belonging to a high ranked angel whom Shiru recognized as Hadraniel. He met Shiru's gaze for a moment, which she returned with a glare. Offended but silent about it, he continued, "— all this dark magic is certainly going to disrupt the growth of Asphodel, think about what it might do to our harvest! That false sun is an omen!"

Shiru took Zaha's hand. "Lady Lazai is right, it is harmless. It might just disappear once the dragon has left."

"Yes, let's go. Ruth, we're leaving!" Zaha said through gritted teeth.

Beginner pulled one of his feathers, then held up the dragon cub. He took it in his arms and flew through the arched gate once more. The same disembodied voice called out once more : "Angel Of The Darkest Night, now master of the Terror Dragon."

The last segment of the ceremony involved the elemental angel to return to the root of the river and take with them the energy that flowed through it. Lazai raised a hand and signaled the others to follow. Shiru was unsure for a moment whether this included her, but Ruchiel gave her and Ruth a friendly gesture to follow.

Quickly, she turned to Mondo and Rokuna. "If I am not in Riva Sanctuary as you return there, will you please wait for me? I have something to ask you."

"Off course, Shiru~san," Mondo said. "Say goodbye to Zaha in case we don't see him anymore, he always forgets to say bye."

"I will. All you others, be safe on your journey home."

"Oh, I'll take care of that," Luke said.

Then Shiru followed the others, joining them and their dragons above the river, sans the Emperor Earth Dragon; neither swimmer nor flier he returned home early.

Behind Zaha the riverbed became dry as it ought to be, but not quite in the right way. Rather than retreat, it waved out of its shore and into the wild clouds. All corners of heaven seemed to drink up the darkness and the clouds returned to their beige and golden tone, a frame for the black sun. The heartbeat below became calmer and deeper yet, and to Shiru the halo of the black sun pulsed along with it.

Zaha himself was last to notice, as he only saw the full river ahead. Ruchiel's stunned exclamations made him turn and now, he took on a similar expression as the six winged angels still at the dome. Everywhere but the intended road did the flames flow and he panicked. Without so much as asking, he handed the dragon cub to the nearest angel, Lazai, and descended to recall the river.

His command was heeded but not executed as desired. The darkness curled into solid form up to its demon, forming a chaotic array of expanding vines. Roots seeped further into the clouds, burning bushes farther to the sky.

"Zaha, let it be!" Ruchiel called from above. "There's no need to make a scene!"

He didn't hear and continued trying to pull out the darkness, to no avail. When she saw him ready to pull his sword, Shiru dropped down in his way. Her fingers curled into one of his hands and pushed it back, breaking part of his connection to the flames and vines.

"Please, Zaha, worry not. If a black sun can shine in heaven with harm, how much more harm would a few flames amongst the dust do?" she said gently.

"I can't let it go, we don't know what it does! The sun isn't — I know what the black sun means, it has a meaning to be feared in the demon realm! It's causing this!"

She shook her head softly. "Causing what? No more harm than you would. Just see. Just hear. Is what the black sun is prophesied to be really happening?"

Maybe it was more her conviction than his own that caused the change, but he let go. The swirls ate up their black flame flowers and became one with the dust.

At the moment the darkness was out of his reach, six elemental gates shimmered briefly behind the six angels; the gates that were their signature as elemental masters. They had been uncalled for, even Lazai showed a moment of mild surprise at their appearance. For Shiru, it was cause to smile.

"It is as it should be," Shiru whispered to Zaha.

· · · · · · ·

When Rokuna and the others returned to Riva Sanctuary, having spent a long day exploring heaven, she found that Shiru was here indeed. Zaha and Ruth had been teleported back to the observatory, an path now followed by two tired summoner children, an exhausted elf princess and a giddy Pegasus, who wished for the world to be so light as above.

Rokuna and Mondo shared exhaustion with the lot, but as they approached Shiru, she at once promised them it would not take long. She was seated in a small den or perhaps an alcove of crystals, which offered hard seats with soft cushions.

"How was your excursion?" Shiru asked when they sat down with her.

Mondo shrugged. "Kinda boring. Food's good. The professor ot to borrow lots of reading stuff —" Mondo pointed behind him, where Ichirobei was trying to carry an impossible amount of scrolls and books to their airplane. "Some cool weapons too. But this Hadraniel guy never would leave or side or let us explore anything and he kept going on about The Light as if it were some type of deity. I mean, he's not as bad as that Barchiel, but he does talk a lot."

"We didn't see any fairy dragons either," Rokuna said sadly.

"They can be found beyond the outer rim, requesting a guide for that location may take some time. Say, Rokuna, I wanted to ask ... you probably already know."

"Yes, and I can't give any good news. The people I saw in Elysium are not all that thrilled with recent revelations. Earlier today, Lazai~san told me what she fears. Can efforts of peace truly start a war?"

"Not everyone agrees what true peace is," Shiru said softly. "It is how the last war began, but I believe that the heavens as a whole will have less of a problem with it than the Elysians."

"Huh? There are more heavenly residents besides those of Elysium?"

Shiru nodded. "Yes, Mondo. There are several angelic tribes, Elysium is merely the city of the dominant tribe. This all is not what I referred to though. I have a recent memory I would like you two to see. Rokuna, will you please ...?"

She transferred to the girl what she had heard and felt deep below the dustclouds. It caused Rokuna to smile, though she didn't know why. It was merely Shiru's happiness that caused the effect.

"The goddess Elysium of Lendir, after which the nation in heaven's core is named, has been missing for millenniums. I cannot explain what I perceived today, but if it is her, somehow, then we have a sign that we were on the right road. I would rather not give Zaha false hope, so I may be certain I wanted to ask whether you two have noticed anything."

Mondo scratched his cheek. "Outside of — Wait, you had a goddess? I thought angels were monotheistic, at least from what I noticed today. You even have crosses, much like a certain religion in our world."

Shiru was confused for a moment, then Rokuna figured it out. God and gods had the same word in the language of their homeworld, but in the Six Gates World it worked a little different. The gods of the six elements were Those Who Bind The Six Elements As One, while the supreme deity was He Who Causes To Be. They had already come across Pandæmonium in his own city, it was decent reason that Elysium might reappear in the place named after her.

"I can't say I noticed anything being different from the moment I arrived, but then again I don't really know what Elysium was like before recently," Rokuna mused aloud. "If that indeed was Elysium what you noticed today, then I think it's worth finding her. She seems to be on our side."

"Yeah, if we're going to make peace, it would really help to have someone like the goddess of light back us up in front of the Elysian Council!" Mondo added.

"Is that going to speed up getting this peace thing done? Don't forget our quest for the Mon Mon Items, kids!" Ichirobei said. The three looked up to see him gather a few fallen books; Ichirobei had startled when he heard they were considering a quest that wasn't about the items.

"Papa, we always were on a quest to improve the worlds. We're just a little more specific now," Rokuna said.

The professor wrestled for a moment with a book that kept falling off the stack in his arms, only to have them all fall down. At this point, Shiru and Mondo stood up to help him gather them up, but Rokuna was at the end of her sense's strength, so she remained seated. It was one of those rare moments that her father truly stopped and thought about the world, and it weighed heavy.

"If we're going to wait for peace between the Holy and the Demons, we won't see the worlds connected in our lifetimes," Ichirobei muttered, absently holding at his arms as Shiru placed two books and a scroll in them.

"I don't think it has to take that long," Mondo said with inexhaustible determination. "We just need the exact right amount of anvils, drop them at the right place, and now we've got a pretty good idea where to get them, don't we?"

On a whim, Rokuna folded open her album and turned to the start. At the beginning there was still that open spot, before a lengthy execution of the list. There, Rokuna wrote :

"Once upon a time, the Mon Colle Knights learned the world is not so simple that one can order another to make friends. Many times upon that, they learned just how much more complicated the world is. This is the story that starts with them having lost all their innocence and so also all their ignorance, lost the foolishness but not the hope. Ready to declare war on an idea that has separated two worlds that ought to be one."

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