None of the Voto Inferni was able to move even though the devourers moved closer to them. Either were they frozen in disbelief or in shock. After a while, Nile was the first one to move again. His back glowed, his deadly wings began to spread and he summoned his scythe.
Finally, motion seemed to return to the bodies of the other seven members. They had been standing there, watching how everyone was running and the guards were desperately fighting, letting the katara devourers coming closer than supposed to.
"We are so done!" roared Ronan, his hands lightening up in red energy.
He stopped one of the devourers and tossed it into the ceiling of the casino. From there he crushed the devourer with seemingly no effort but a lot of anger. "Feel the power of my rage!"
"Serena!" yelled Lorely, wildly shooting arrows through the air and hitting the devourers, paralizing them for others to slay. "Get the amulet and leave those devourers to us!"
Serena wished that she could leave all devourers to them but they were all drawn to the energy sealed inside of the amulet. It wasn't easier when a few of the guests clinged to her, begging for protection or whatever – Serena didn't pay attention. Getting the amulet was her only priority right now and the devourers were barely interested in any deviens anyway.
Serena spotted Igor Volkov, running in panic towards the entrance. If he left, he certainly would die and the amulet would be lost. She darted after him, passing the devourers that were on his heels as well but not paying any attention to her. Was the amount of energy inside that piece of jewelry that huge that she would be completely ignored?
Eventually, after taken down half a dozen of low ranked devourers, Serena caught up to Volkov and stopped him by his jacket. At once the gambler started to struggle, trying to free himself from her grip but Serena simply took off the amulet around his neck and closed her hand around it. Mission completed.
Volkov staggered as she let go of him and he fell to the ground while Serena turned around to leave.
"Hey, exorcist, do you really want to leave me here to die?" groaned Volkov from the ground. Blood spilt from his mouth, his eyes were bloodshot and his breathing was shallow. When Serena smelled the stench of his blood, she would have liked to twist her face but her polite smile remained instead.
"You have attempted to kill the son of the owners of this casino. Do you really think that they wouldn't ask for a trial to sentence you to death? Believe me, dying like this is far better than being executed by the High Council," replied Serena, bowing before leaving him to die.
"Ojo-sama! Do you have that amulet?" Ronan shouted over the still screaming people.
Serena held up her fist, a silver chain was wrapped around her wrist. She would put on the amulet later.
It had been a wise decision to have not put it around her neck. Within a blink of an eye, something flashed passed Serena, fast enough so that she couldn't have seen it coming. A stinging pain shot through her arm as she felt blood running down. She looked at her arm and saw that her hand had been cut off.
Agigated she spun around and her gaze fell on Yingsizhe, who was unwrapping the chain from her hand and then bluntly tossed it aside.
„You son of a bitch!" sweared Lorely, aiming with an explosive arrow at Yingsizhe's head.
The latter looked up, saw how Lorely was aiming at him, disappeared from his spot and appeared behind her. Lorely felt that someone had cut into her stomach. Not deep enough to kill her but enough to make it a real pain. Her bow and arrow dropped to the ground, so did her knees.
"Hey, Chocho[1]!"
Ronan rushed to her, helping her back up again and putting her arm around his shoulder to stabilize her on her feet.
They heard Xiao's angry voice bellowing through the casino, "Where the hell are those useless zacrals at?"
"I wonder too," said Ora, his katana soaring through the air similar to Shiming and battling against Yingsizhe.
"Give back the amulet," ordered Noya, glaring at Yingsizhe, who was dodging the katana in the air.
He stopped for a moment as if he really intended to give Noya what he wanted but only a second later, he dodged Ora's katana and disappeared through the hole the devourers made.
"Not so fast," called Xiao, pulling an invisible string. Apparenty, he was capable of using runes, spells, and talismans too. He had attached an invisible string to Yingsizhe back and although the assassin was fast it was hard to escape the binding spell. Yingsizhe was pulled back to the hole and crashed on the ground, leaving long cracks behind. He let out a soft pant when his back hit the ground, the amulet that he had held in his head dropped to the ground and – vanished. It vanished as if the floor had swallowed it.
Not only Yingsizhe's eyes widened but also the one's of the Voto Inferni.
"What in the – cough," another pool of blood stained the floor and Simon exhaled shudderly.
Noya was immediately by his side while Ronan half dragged, half carried Lorely to him as well and leaned her against the wall.
Serena turned around to look at Yingsizhe, who somehow didn't attempt to leave anymore. He stood up from the small crater he made and approached Serena, who stepped back and held Shiming to his throat.
"Hello, A-Yu," he spoke.
"A–Yu?" replied Serena questioningly, feeling the confused glares of the others in her back.
"XueYu, don't you remember me?" asked Yingsizhe, almost sounding hurt.
Confused, Serena shook her head. A second ago, he cut her hand off, the next second he started an ordinary conversation as if they weren't standing in a hall full of blood and corpses.
"He really did that," sighed Yingsizhe as he slowly put his hand on Serena's head and patted it in a gentle manner.
"Get away from him!" Lorely yelled in concern and anger.
"Don't listen to them," replied Yingsizhe, giving Lorely a cold look. "I'm terribly sorry for cutting your hand off. My weapon is a bit fierce and I didn't realize that it was your hand." He bowed his head and even beneath his mask, Serena could tell that he was genuinely sorry about that. "Let me see your hand."
He stretched out his hand but it was suddenly slapped away by Xiao. "What do you think you're doing?" he huffed.
"No, what do you think you're doing?" retorted Yingsizhe calmly.
Serena had enough of that game the assassin was playing and she held out her arm to him. Once or twice she has lost a limb in fights and they always regenerated. When it had happened the first time, she was shocked but now, she was as good as used to it.
"Good," whispered Yingsizhe and neither Serena nor anyone else of the Voto Inferni could tell whether he was joking them or being absolutely honest.
"Who are you?" asked Serena.
"Luo. Luo Siren," Yingsizhe introduced himself.
Before anyone was able to say another word, he leaped backwards and left the casino through the large hole in the ceiling.
"We should get Nikolai out of here," said Noya. His eyes were cold and distant but his voice still expressed hidden care.
"How?" asked Ora.
"Nile..." Simon was close to cough out blood again and Ora shushed him with his palm. Flames in colors of green and oranged wrapped around Simon, engulfing him into blazing fire.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Xiao. He didn't sound worried but rather confused.
"My aniki's phoenix flames can temporaryly heal any wound," explained Ronan.
"That is good," nodded Serena, who still felt stunned by what Yingsizhe, or rather Luo Siren, had said. She needed to go outside.
"I will go look for Nile," she said.
Only now, Simon, Noya, Lorely, Xiao, Ora and Ronan noticed that Nile has been missing for quite a long while. They had last seen him fighting a few devourers with his scythe and wings before they lost sight of him since they had been busy with their own fights.
When Serena walked through the entrance and set foot into the cold snow, she saw Simon's parents surrounded by bodyguards standing near a hovercraft.
"Mr. Voronov, Mrs. Voronova, your son is alright," she lied with a smile. "Please don't be worried. I am only here to bring a member back to my group and we will go back to Ashin to check our wounds."
"He is alright?" whispered Sophiya Voronova.
"He will be," replied Serena with a reassuring nod.
The pair sighed in relief, expressed their highest graditute to Serena and the rest of the Voto Inferni and wished them a safe trip. They also said that they would get back in touch with their son as soon as they had been brought to another safe place. Then they entered the hovercraft along with their bodyguards and took off.
"Serena," Nile's voice suddenly sounded from behind.
"You are finally here," responded Serena softly.
"All zacrals that escorted us here are missing," said Nile.
"What?"
Serena's mind immediately Luo Siren behind all of that but that would mean that wouldn't make a lot of sense. As far as she has understood it, his only purpose was to take the amulet and leave so it couldn't be him.
"Come with me. Since the zacrals are gone, we can't fly the hovercraft. I have a way to bring us back to Ashin," said Nile, pulling Serena by her sleeve back into the casino.
"There you are!" called Ronan. He was looking exhausted as if he ran hundrets of laps around the casino.
"I know that the amulet is gone – so are the zacrals," said Nile curtly.
"No wonder they didn't immediately rushed in to help us fight," muttered Xiao. He was touching his neck, slightly smiling that there was no restrain to his freedom. Out of all eight, he was the least upset about the situation. His small face showed no expression, and his voice was at the perfect level of unemotional.
"Let's go back," Simon coughed out.
"Stop speaking, Simon–kun," Ora reminded him before he turned to Nile. "How are we supposed to go back?"
Nile made a swift movement with his hand and a swirl of purple matter appeared. Lorely's eyes that had been half closed, widened in astonishment.
"The injured should be carried through first," said Serena.
"Hmm, qianbei, I am also injured," pouted Xiao.
"You can fly by yourself," replied Nile instead of Serena.
The portal closed itself after the last one has walked through, and the only thing left was a destroyed casino that has once been very successful.
"Great heavens, what happened?' asked Ella when Ora dragged Simon into the hospital wing.
The medical zacral flew around Simon, looked him into his eye and ordered Ora, whose clothes have taken the color of crimson, to bring him into the surgeryroom as quick as possible. Lorely was taken care of by another zacral who was Ella's helper in the hospital wing. The rest was left in the hospital wing.
"What should we do?" asked Ronan.
"Confess," replied Serena.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nile lowering his head and pressing his lips together. His hair obscured his eyes but she could tell that he was upset. He had apparently never failed a mission before.
"How do you think he will react?"
"He won't be very pleased," replied Noya, who hasn't experienced a lot of kindness by Xuan Jixiang.
"Let's get it behind us," said Ronan.
Even he wasn't in the mood of teasing anybody like usual to light up the situation.
The confession did not quite went as expected. Xuan Jixiang reacted very calmly but didn't ask for any details nor expressed any other expression but concern for the disciples. He listened to their story and then simply cancelled their mission and told them to let themselves get checked in the hospital wing. They shouldn't even have left it in the first place.
"Serena," he suddenly said when Serena was about to leave through the door. "Come with me to the library," he ordered.
It was past midnight already, and Serena was tired but she didn't object and just followed him. At least he wasn't so petty with the aesthetics for once.
"Has anything happened in the casino except that the amulet has vanished into the ground?" he asked.
"I thought you didn't want to hear any details," replied Serena with a tilted head.
"I do but from you," said Xuan Jixiang.
Serena looked at him for a brief moment without saying anything. That man confused her, whatever he said could be misinterpreted so easily or was contradicting. He never directly said what he wanted but then he did. It started to give Serena a headache to figure out what he wanted. Back then people might call her smart but at Ashin, she wasn't able to compete with the elders intellect.
"I met a person who had the intention to take the amulet as well." She looked at Xuan Jixiang but he made no move to interrupt her, so she continued. "He was skilled, an assassin at that, dressed fully in black ribes. The most striking thing about him was his black mask that reminded me of the subparts of a skull. He had two different eyecolors, one was turquise and the other was yellow. Furthermore he had blood in shape of a star above his left eye."
When Serena explained the appearance of Luo Siren in more detail, she could see how Xuan Jixiang uncomfortably shifted in his seat. He tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible but at last he wasn't able to. Serena saw through him and dropped the bomb unknowingly. "His name is Luo Siren."
The glass of wine that Xuan Jixiang had previously held in his hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. The red liquid splashed onto his fine shoes and stained the white carpet but Xuan Jixiang paid no mind to that.
"What did you just say?" he whispered.
"His name is Luo Siren. Do you know him?" asked Serena.
Xuan Jixiang slowly exhaled the air he had held in his lungs and sat back down oi his armchair. "Of course I know him. He is known under the title "Yingsizhe". That you don't know him is stunning," he replied.
"What did he do?" asked Serena.
"Killing a lot."
That didn't sound like something an executive would be freaking out about. There must be more behind Luo Siren's identity and a history between him and Xuan Jixiang.
"Do you want to know why he is so famous?" said Xuan Jixiang. "It is because he has no katara. His Aethersphere has been destroyed when he was still a small child. Yet he survived and became a killer just to prove that he didn't need katara to be strong."
Serena cracked a small smile that didn't escape the executive's notice. If she were in his situation, she would have probably done something like that too. The world is cruel and one can only survive by proving oneself after all.
"He talked to me as if he knew me," started Serena , looking at the hands folded on her lap. "He asked if I remembered him so he obviously knew me. He called me "XueYu" and I could see that he had no intention of lying."
She looked back up again and saw the pale expression on Xuan Jixiang's face. Even if the light in the library was white, he looked so pale that he appeared almost like a dead corpse that has ressurected.
"Since you know him, do you have any idea on his past relationships with anyone?" asked Serena, observing Xuan Jixiang's reactions.
"No," he lied.
Despite lying, Serena didn't seem to suspect anything so he changed the topic, telling Serena that she should take a rest and that he is grateful that she told him everything. As Serena left his office, she could hear him call someone and only a second later that "someone" appeared right in front of her face.
"Qiqi, it is nice to see you!" Serena greeted her with a faked smile.
"Hi, Serena! You know, ya don't look that taken aback. You have no deep wounds, I can see that – which is why you will go to bed."
She forcefully shoved Serena through the corridors and into her bedroom onto her bed.
"You will go to sleep," she said, determined. "You look like a hanged ghost."
With those words, she disappeared into the darkness.
Serena laid down on her bed, touching her forehead where the rosemark was; then she touched the ring on her finger.
"XueYu...," she whispered. "If he knew my name, then SiRen must be very familiar to me too."
Morning dawned and Serena went out to visit Lorely and Simon in the hospital wing. Ora and Ronan were banned back into their rooms, so were Noya and Xiao but without their collars.
Lorely was already sent back to her dorm to rest for one more day while Simon was laying on a white bed in the hospital wing.
His purple hair showed both of his eyes but the right one was covered by an eyepatch. His hand had been regrown with Ella's healing methods but she insisted him on staying for another week. Simon on the other hand, believed he has recovered already and that it wasn't necessary to stay.
"How are you?" asked Serena when she has finally found him in the sea of white beds.
"I'm fine," Simon replied with a low groan. "I would just walk away if I could but then Ella would have chained me around my bed - Where's the midget?" he asked when he realized that Nile was missing.
"He said that he had another mission from Caishen-daren. He is out for the next week he said," answered Serena. "Oh, and he also said that he wouldn't be seen around at Ashin very often..."
"Really?" asked Simon, referring to what Serena had said about Nile. "Does he thinks that low of us?"
"No," said Serena. "But he has told me that he will do so after we have finished our mission, or when the mission would be cancelled. No matter how strong the team he is in is."
She wasn't blaming him; it was his decision after all si why would she want to stop him.
Simon let out a snort of disbelief. He knew Nile was a very anti-social person, but he never thought that Nile will show that kind of reaction after what they have gone through. He was, despite it sounding so wrong, his partner, whether it was in fighting physically or verbally, together or each other.
"So he just dropped out," he said monotonely.
"Yes," said Serena. "Since this mission is over, I hope to see you around at Ashin a few times."
She made a small bow into his direction and proceeded to leave when Simon's voice stopped her. "I remember that it was on the first day. You wanted to see what my hair hides, right?" he asked. His voice was still oddly robotic and monotone, and Serena turned around in curiousity and amazement. She did remember the day but after Simon said that it was personal, she didn't ask further.
She went back to his bed and Simon lifted his hand to remove the eyepatch that had been covering his right eye.
Serena's breath hitched for a second when she saw Simon's other eye that he had been hiding behind strands of hair. The shape didn't differate but the pupil and sclera surely did. His pupill was a dial of a clock that didn't tick. His sclera was as silver as clock wheels would be, and strings out of yellow energy flowed through his eye and spreaded on his porcelan white skin.
"Is that how you look into the future?" asked Serena.
Simon nodded and put the eyepatch back on.
"I assume that there is a price to pay if you use that eye, isn't there?
Simon's face darkened but he still managed to smile. "Although you might think different, you are pretty intelligent, you know. People in Ashin might appear smart but most of them are actually kinda stupid," he said.
Then he took a deep breath. "I owe you with the thing about Noya so I'll tell you. You're right that I pay a price. The usage of my eye is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Every second I look into the future, that time will be settled off my lifespan the double. For instance, if I look two years into the future, I will lose four years and so on. The problem is that I can't control it at times. You know, I don't dream unless it's about the future. When I wake up, I feel like I will die."
"Do you fear death?" asked Serena.
"Doesn't everyone?" replied Simon with a weak smile.
Serena returned the smile but she didn't dare to tell him that she didn't fear that – that she liked to switch places with him.
"I have seen far into the future when I got this eye. About sixteen years that means I lost thirty-two years," Simon continued. "I could have lived longer if that hadn't barged into my life."
Serena looked at him, "Are you telling me that you had received the eye?" she asked.
"I can't remember a lot but what I could remember was a light before I looked into the future," he responded. "And no, I wasn't born with it."
"Simon, let me give you an advice. As long as you live, try to enjoy your life. No one can ever live on forever and you only live once. You see, all of life is a dream walking, and death is a going home[2]."
She gave him a soft smile one more time before she turned around to finally leave.
"Serena, wait," Simon called after her.
"What?" she asked and stopped.
"It's about Noya, he changed. I don't want my worries to be burden but could you please find out why he acts like that?"
"His feelings and view of life have probably changed over the years he trained," said Serena. "I think he still hasn't achieved what he wanted."
She didn't think so, she knew. Everytime she looked him in the eye she saw raging hatred and the desire for revenge. There was something about him which was still lying in darkness – yet.
On her way through one of the secret tunnels, her thoughts were in shambles. They were chaotic and unordered and Serena felt herself breaking apart. Heavily breathing, she leaned one hand against the wall next to her to sturdy herself; her hand was shaking.
"What is happening?" Serena pressed out. "I am not myself."
Determined, she clenched a fist and slowly opened her hand again; it worked and the trembling stopped.
She was clueless why she felt overwhelmed all of a sudden, not knowing from where it came from. It couldn't be anxiety, could it? What was she scared of if even death couldn't scare her? Then her head flung back but she only saw black. A voice was echoing through her head. A woman's voice, ghostly and faintly.
Serena gritted her teeth, the feeling of her head bursting into pieces came over her. In her ears she could her only noises. Trembling, again, she put her hand over her ears, trying to drown the noises which became louder and louder. She could her flames roaring, and whispers, many whispers, and the voice of the woman, now clearly,
"Let's make a contract, Serena. Whether someone is good or evil doesn't matter to you right? If not, then protect the vulnerable. Albeit you won't realize it immediately, it will bring you a lot more happiness than joining evil forces. And eventually, it might give you a reason to live because it lightens up your world. At least give life another chance. You are too young to die.
I know that you can't understand this now but do remember one thing: I will always be with you..."
"Serena."
Two strong hands were shaking her. Serena's eyes that had been white without pupills before, returned back to normal and she looked right into Zhang Yin's worried eyes..
"What are you doing here?" Serena replied weakly.
"I'm using these tunnels as well. Are you okay?" he asked.
Serena nodded but Zhang Yin wasn't convinced. He went to a picture nearby, and but his finger on a particular dot of many dots. The picture lifted, revealing another tunnel. He walked back to Serena, helped her up and lead her to a room she assumed it was his office.
"You can talk, Serena," Zhang Yin said after both of them had sat down and he gave her a cup of tea.
"I'm alright," said Serena, wondering why he was so - caring. She was sure that he didn't treat other disciples like that.
"You're certainly not," Zhang Yin retorted and put down a cup of tea in front of her. "You held your head and you were mentally suffering and your head was in a creepy position." He mimicked her as she had been in the tunnel, his head flung back over-dramatically.
Serena's dark eyes wandered to her teacher, unamused. Although she looked very fragile at the moment, she didn't lose the firmness in her voice.
"Why should I trust you?" she asked.
Her question was promptly answered as Zhang Yin handed her a picture with three people in it. A boy with dark hair and steel grey eyes, a boy with black hair and blue eyes, and a girl with violet hair and green eyes. All three were about nineteen years old and were smiling brightly. Written in a very small but still readable handwriting, Serena read the names: Zhang Yin, Luo Meiying and Xuan JiXiang.
Luo..., Serena looked up and saw how Zhang Yin looked at the picture as if he wished to turn back time.
"Who is the woman?" Serena asked.
She could see that Zhang Yin seemed much unhappier when she mentioned her.
"Meiying was a very interesting person. Like the border of good and evil. She was mine and Jixiang-ge's friend but unfortunately, she has been imprisoned for crimes in Crimson Oka," he said.
Serena looked closer at the woman, her face was bright, so were her green eyes; there was no single trail of madness.
"Did she have any close family?" asked Serena, looking closer at the woman. She shared the same last name as Luo SiRen, it could be that they were from the same clan but Serena was curious if they were even deeper related.
"She did," said Zhang Yin quietly. It seemed as if thinking back pained him a lot. "She had family."
Too vague, as if Zhang Yin knew what Serena was about to ask.
"Do you know anyone else from here family?" she continued.
„Why?" asked Zhang Yin. This time he sounded slightly suspicious.
"I believe that I know someone," said Serena.
"Who?"
"Why would I tell you?" replied Serena.
She believed that it was time to go and meditate, so she thanked him for the tea and left through the tunnel.
He couldn't punish her if he himself used them too.
____________________________________________________________________
[1] The Japanese word "Chocho" (蝶々) can be translated to "butterfly"
[2] A chinese proverb about the philosophical perspective on the nature of life and death
[3] The Chinese honorific "ge" can be used for an older brother or an older male friend