Kyrinna Takoizu

Shien jumped onto his friends with hugs and squishes as Naivern and Dorian landed the condor in Choro Emplexion. "Mivange, I'm so sorry to put you in danger for my sake."

"Don't be. This is what being in a relationship means. We're a team. We protect each other," Mivangeline hugged him. "I love you, Shien."

"I love you too, Mivange," Shien kissed his girlfriend. "Hey, can we pray together? I prayed to God when I was in prison, and he answered me!"

"Sure!" Mivangeline knelt with Shien, holding hands in prayer. "Dear God, thank you for helping us bring Shien home. Please watch over us and provide us the strength to protect each other. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen."

Nashura tended to Enshiron's ear wound while the team rested. Shien walked with Master Oreic in the hallway, catching up with his old mentor. They chatted about birds and went to look for Isrina. Calice and Mivangeline comforted a broken Kyrinna, who lost Azuroid.

***

"What's the matter, human?" A Vulpi boy yanked a young Kyrinna by the hair. "Thought you could just walk away from us?"

"Yeah! Now daddy's not here to bail the pretty princess out," The Vulpi girl leader snickered. "Did you bring our money?"

"N-no, I forgot," Kyrinna whined.

The boy shoved poor Kyrinna into a brick wall. While she squealed in terror, the other Waxing Sickle gangsters giggled.

"You see what happens when you don't do what we say?" The girl punched Kyrinna with a fiery fist. "Your father may have powers, but you? You're a worthless girl who serves us!"

"I'm sorry! I'll bring you the money, I promise!" Kyrinna cried as her face bled. "Please don't beat me again!"

"There goes Ice Princess, who sits alone in the cafeteria without friends!" The gangsters shrieked in laughter. "Where are your ice powers? Can't fight back when we step on you?"

They mocked and beat a ball-curled Kyrinna as the leader ordered one of the boys to cut her hair. That was until someone grabbed the man's arm and tore it off with his bare hands.

"Herald's Hand: Helix of Jormungandr!" Fanghui touched the Vulpi's chest, twisting his spinal cord clockwise. "Herald's Hand: Skoll and Hati!"

The Vulpi group shuddered as Fanghui tore the Vulpi boy in half. It was the same way Fanghui killed Tastidios. Fanghui looked at the Vulpi with seething wrath, hallucinating Tastidios' skull mask on each of them.

"He's just a human! Kill him!" The leader ordered.

The gangsters clapped their hands to summon lightning and rock shards at Fanghui, leaving a giant explosion of smoke. When they looked inside, the group froze in fear to see that their powers didn't hurt Fanghui. The leader ordered her boys to charge at the Supreme Herald with their bats and sticks.

"Let me show you real power. Herald's Hand: Glory of Valhalla!" Fanghui blinded the teenagers with bright angel wings erupting from his back.

He slashed his gruesome claws to tear each boy into piles of organs, leaving the girl leader alone. She fired her pistol at the Supreme Herald in vain.

"I'm the end of all Vulpi! Wo de ma, ba, san ge xiong di, xiao mei! Once I finish my mission, you all can rest in peace!" Fanghui hissed with tearful eyes as his fists glowed with dark energy. "Herald's Hand: Chaos Dragon, Nidhogg!"

Kyrinna blinked her watery eyes, watching Fanghui smash fists together to summon a winged shadow dragon. The dark summon chomped on the leader and spat her bones out.

"Are you alright?" Fanghui comforted the crying Kyrinna and carried her. "I'm here now. You have nothing to be afraid of. Let's take care of your injuries."

I never talked much and was always lonely in school. Nobody wanted to be with me, and people picked on me for having ice powers. When I lost my father, the Vulpi bullies he defended me from would abuse me. After Fanghui protected me, he trained me to become the Cerulean Countess, master my father's Sanskrit martial arts, and help the Federation slaughter Vulpi, who I thought were bullies.

Fanghui cared for me, but he was a busy adult while I was a girl who struggled to find friends the same age. The other peers looked at me like I was a monster, so Amitonyx created a friend for me, Azuroid. He wasn't the smartest droid compared to his muscles, but he stood by me wherever I went. When I hurt, Azuroid listened to me like a true friend. After all, friends were all I wanted. People who loved me and accepted me for who I was.

For years, I longed to torment Shien because Jinhai killed my father, and Fanghui always said that the Niangs were heartless people. Finally, I caught Shien and took him afar from Isrina. I was happy to punch the face that looked like Jinhai.

Fanghui taught me to be ruthless to the enemy, but I don't know why the more I saw Shien cry in my hands, the more I felt sorry for him. The more days I saw him bleed, the void I hoped would bring me happiness was still there. Instead of satisfaction, beating him reminded me of how my peers saw me as a monster.

After training with Fanghui to master the Panthereal Shiva, he helped me stand up for myself when people hurt me. People stopped bullying me but avoided me in fear, and I still couldn't make friends. Beating Shien made me wonder if I became a bully myself. I don't understand what came of me, but I freed Shien.

Was it the right thing to disobey the Federation and let Shien go? I lost Azuroid to SANDRA, and I'm alone again. Was it worth it? The Federation will never take me back. What's wrong with me? Why can't I ever find friends? Even within the Federation ranks, my peers avoid me. Am I always a monster?

Calice sat on the couch with Kyrinna while Mivangeline translated English and Japanese. "Kyrinna, thank you for sharing. And I'm sorry about Azuroid and your experience with such Vulpi, but I assure you that not all Vulpi are evil. There are always Vulpi who respect humans as we respect them, but those like the Waxing Sickle and Global Federation who don't."

Kyrinna nodded as Mivangeline wiped her tears.

"Listen, finding the right friends is difficult for young adults like us, especially when others make fun of us for being different. It makes us desperate to be loved, which clouds our decision of which friends to be with. Think of Elysia joining the Waxing Sickle and Misuna joining the Federation. They did because they were desperate for acceptance and were willing to serve their master's evil wishes for it."

"So ka," The Countess sighed in her language. "Was I wrong to follow Fanghui?"

Calice pat her shoulder, assuring her that there was no judgment here. "It's okay that we make mistakes. We all do. Fanghui did save and care for you, but regardless, he's blinded by hatred. He believes all Vulpi are bad just because of a few bad Vulpi that killed his family, and he's spreading that hate through Kneapexism."

Kyrinna nodded. "T-then, was I right to help Shien?"

"Hai. We're thankful that you helped our best friend," Mivangeline replied. "Fanghui may have told you that Shien is heartless, but he isn't. Shien can be temperamental, but he's a sweetheart."

Calice crossed her arms. "We're sorry about what happened with your father long ago. I promise you that Shien isn't someone who hurts people but supports his friends. That's why our gang adores him so much. Me, Shien, and everyone else here got picked on for being unique, but Shien brought us together, and we bonded like family. We're all different and disagree sometimes, but we're always there for each other. That's true friendship."

Kyrinna was left speechless. "Su-sugoi."

"Hey," Mivangeline shook her shoulder. "Would you like to be our friend, Kyrinna?"

The Countess didn't expect her to ask such a question. "Are you okay with who I am? I served Fanghui for many years, and people fear me because of my mastery of Panthereal Shiva. I sometimes have trouble controlling it. Do you want to be friends with someone like me?"

"We asked Shien that question too!" Calice smiled. "Yes, we'd love to. If you ever lose control of yourself, we're here for you."

"A-arigato," Kyrinna cried as Calice and Mivangeline hugged her.

"According to the logs, there was an unauthorized cardinal flight in hangar A5," They heard Dorian shout across the halls. "The tracking system indicates that she's in Niagara Falls."

"It's Mom!" Shien cried.

"Not good, that's where the Ice Sister's sarcophagus is!" Master Oreic exclaimed.

"I was always there to comfort Mom when she needed it. Iagen has her because I went into the Syanic Earth and left her alone!"

"No, you did nothing wrong. Don't worry, Shien. We'll head there to give Iagen the boot and get Isrina back to her senses!"

***

"Congratulations, Thalamoid. Thanks to your antics, that mission was a complete disaster!" Xneong struggled to repair his camera implant at his secret hideout. "Idiot."

"What did you just call me?" The droid woman cleaned the blood off her tuning fork scythe.

"You're an idiot! We're back to square one because you decided to play hooky with Joltiarre instead of killing Shien!"

"Don't blame me. She deserved to die! I thought you were supposed to shoot Shien's brain off!"

"I was working on it, but everyone got in my way. Look, I'm trying to put myself back together, and I don't see you helping me!"

Thalamoid walked away to check the computers for Shien's whereabouts. "Fix it on your own."

" It wouldn't hurt to be a bit considerate to me!"

Both ignored each other until the Korean High Envoy finished his repairs and tested his camera implant.

"Delmisa's sarcophagus is open, leaving the Ice Sister. Iagen moves damn fast," Xneong sat with Thalamoid at the computers. "If we can't kill Shien in time, the Omaunukai demons will win, and the Revelation Concerto will end the world!"