[Nanya01]

Hey guys, remember me?

Okay, I have to apologize.

This took me way, WAY longer than it should have.

So, I can't say when i'll update again, but I'll try to be faster. Between being heavily distracted and just not having the energy to write until just before work (like 10 minutes before I have to leave) or sleep (same), it's hard to write.

That being said, it's not dead, just hibernating.

ViVid

Revolution 1-5

Revolution 6

Revolution 7

Revolution 8

Revolution 9

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Revolution 10:

Pawra trembled as she reported to her master. Already two of the nine that he had deemed worthy to get a power increase had been defeated. Gram would not be pleased, at all, about this.

"When you were no more than minor Mazoku, you were able to nearly kill that group. And with a power up, it should have been easy," Gram narrowed his eyes at the Mazoku. "Tell me something, why shouldn't I just wipe you out?"

"It's not my fault! This guy with a weird sword and Holy magic showed up..." She gulped when Gram held his hand up. "And there was this rabbit-like thing that fired black magic from this staff's Ma-Oh!"

"...Really?" Gram put his hand down as he thought about the implications. "For someone to do Holy magic... Perhaps a Shinzoku?" Though, why a Shinzoku would help someone who was attuned to Black magic didn't make too much sense to the General. "Anything else you can tell me?"

"Um... He called himself the Knight of the Aqualord and..." Pawra trailed off as a laughter was heard entering the room. "Who?"

"I couldn't help but overhear your problem." A male voice said as Duclis walked into the room, his unusual armor gleaming in the light. "Tell me, was that rabbit thing green and one of the ears with a ring on it?"

Pawra held up a hand. "Ah, I'm not sure. I was facing two beings that kind of easily tore through two of my allies with ease!"

Duclis chuckled heavily. "I wouldn't worry about it, I figured that little punk would return someday." Oh yes, he knew about his friend, he knew he'd be back. But he also knew that Pokota wouldn't allow him to get his revenge. Even if it took him a long time, he was almost ready now. "And he's traveling with that Knight huh?"

Gram gave him an even look. "You know something?"

"Mostly rumors," Duclis narrowed his eyes. "It's said that he helped supress a rebellion in another kingdom, fought against an invasion into this world by the mighty Dark Star and even ended up saving Seiryuun's defenders from an army of Mazoku led by the Dark Lord Shabranigdo himself." Duclis nodded at Gram's shocked look. "Even if they're not completely true, the fact is, you're not facing some novice fighter, Pokota alone could be a problem, but adding in the Knight of the Aqua Lord? He's almost a legend these days." Granted, the Knight of the Aqua Lord fell short compared to the legends of the Red Priest Rezo, the Knight of Cephied, the Demon Slayer and the Fifth Great Sage.

Most people still didn't believe too much about the Fifth Great Sage, and Duclis didn't care too much either.

"I see..." Gram narrowed his eyes in thought. "I don't suppose this means you'll be willing to help us?"

Duclis chuckled as a nasty smirk formed on his face. "The chance to kill the Knight of the Aqua Lord? How could I pass that up? But even if you used all of your forces, you'd probably end up short."

Gram snorted at him. "I shall join this one personally. If you think that I am so weak just because I am on the staff of Ruby Eyes, then you are mistaken."

Duclis smirked at him. "Oh, I think we have a few weapons that might interest you. Besides, wouldn't it be better to see what the group can do before truly engaging them? Who knows?" A red energy sword formed in his hands as his smirk turned into an evil grin. "Maybe we'll get lucky and take them out in the first attack."

Gram snorted and summoned up a chair just so he could lean back in it and press his fingers together. "I've seen too many heroes get stronger by not pushing the issue and become a major problem until either I or my master stepped in to deal with them personally."

"Believe me... I would let you take them on right now, but to fight that group," Duclis shook his head. "No, it's better to wait. Besides," he smirked as he turned away and walked out of the room, "wouldn't you want to see the world's best assassin fight?"

Gram raised an eyebrow. That sounded interesting, to say the least. "Might I ask who?"

"Zuuma." Duclis chuckled as he left the Mazoku behind.

Gram leaned back and narrowed his eyes. "Zuuma, huh?" This could be interesting. Those that were master assassins tended to be good at their trade.

"Master?" Pawra looked at him nervously. "What will this mean?"

"For now," Gram looked at her with narrowed eyes, "we'll let them go." Duclis did have a good point about having to deal with legends and someone who could draw upon a Ma-oh's power easily wasn't someone to take lightly. 'Besides,' he smirked to himself, 'what's the point of getting what you want if you don't have a little fun in the mean time?'

(---)

The next morning Einhart found herself and the rest of the group on the back of a wagon, sitting on some straw as it moved out of town. "We could walk, you know." She looked at Lyos, who smiled at her.

"I talked around town last night and found the farmer was heading in the same general direction, so long as we keep any bandits from attacking him, he doesn't mind giving us a lift. I figure it'll cut our travel time by half."

Before Einhart could answer, a bunch of straw was dumped over her head. Turning, she narrowed her eyes at Arashi and Vivio, both of whom were trying to look innocent and failing miserably. "You two..."

"No fighting." Nove, who was sitting next to her, said while putting one hand on Einhart's shoulder and using her other hand to dust the straw off of her. "If this cart breaks then we'll have to either repair it or walk this stuff to its destination."

"It would keep you from getting too out of shape," Uno chuckled from her spot on Nove's chest.

Pulling the string that was wrapped around her neck up, Nove flipped her device up and slid it down her shirt. "Keep quiet in there for awhile." She really didn't want to deal with Uno's snarkiness right now. "Anyway, despite this, we still have a big problem. Namely without you or Pokota, we're helpless against Mazoku."

"Actually," Pokota spoke up from his place on top of Nila's head, "Nila here is actually a pretty good spellcaster herself and can fight against Mazoku... At least that's what Lyos said."

Lyos sighed as Nila turned to look at him from under her cloak. "Yes, but she does have a point, if we're attacked, we'll be heavily outnumbered and out powered."

Before Pokota could respond to that, he found himself being lifted up and looking into the mismatched blue and purple eyes of Einhart. "Uh, yes?"

"Please, you know how to fight those things, teach me."

Pokota rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously at the girl's intense, but sincere, look and nodded. "Sure." It couldn't be that bad, she knew how to use magic at least.

Vivio and Arashi looked at each other and sighed, they were going to have to learn how to do this as well. They both knew their mothers wouldn't let them hear the end of it if they didn't at least try to do all they could to protect their friends.

Watching the group from the far corner, Corona sat with her knees up to her chest and sighed heavily. She just couldn't find it in her to do much of anything at the moment. The memory of what happened to Rio still burned in her mind too brightly. "Rio-chan..." She whimpered and buried her face against her legs. Why? That was still running through her mind. Why did Rio have to die like that?

"Hey..." Corona looked up to see Ixpellia smiling at her lightly. "If you don't smile, I'm going to think that a sadness monster took over my friend and left me with nothing." Ixpellia's smile dropped when Corona just dropped her head onto her knees. "It's hurts," Ixpellia said as she sat next to Corona, "losing people you like." The small redhead looked up at the sky and closed her eyes. "I can still see him. The boy that I was to wed, you know."

Silence passed between the two for several minutes, only the background noise of Pokota, Einhart and Vivio as well as the birds from far away broke up it up.

"What happened to him?" Corona finally said as she turned her head to look at Ixpellia.

"I killed him." Corona's eyes widened in shock. "My Mariage killed him." Ixpellia sighed as she looked at her. "He was the first victim of the Mariage curse, followed shortly by my entire kingdom and then the kingdom we were at war with."

"But that..."

"Happened a long time ago." Ixpellia shook her head and yelped as they hit a rock, causing everyone to jump upwards as the cart to jump up and back down quickly. There was a loud crack and the cart stopped. "What happened?"

"Hit a rock." Lyos grumbled as he pushed himself up from where he landed face-first in the straw. "Hold on, lemme check with the farmer. This might take a few hours."

"I'll join you." Nove hopped out with him. "I'm strong enough." Besides, it had been a few hours since they had gotten into the wagon, it would be nice to stretch her legs out somewhat.

"Sure." Lyos smiled at her. "The rest of you just stay here, if we need help, I'll call."

"So, what are we looking for?" Nove asked as she bent over to get a better look underneath. "Just tell me if I should see any cracks or not."

"You shouldn't." Lyos said from behind her as he looked over the wheels. "If the axel's busted, we're screwed unless he's got a spare in there." He couldn't help but sneak a glance at Nove and gulp as he saw how her pants formed around her rear end in just the right way.

Shaking his head, Lyos quickly went back to work looking over the wheel for any damage. He didn't want Nove to catch him ogling her rear end. The last time a woman did, they got quite upset at him.

Nove wiggled her hips as she crawled back out from underneath the wagon. "Nothing looks cracked down there, how about the wheel?"

"Looks good." Lyos nodded and walked around to the other side as a precaution. It didn't take him long to figure out that nothing was damaged there either. "We're good!" He yelled at the farmer, who nodded and cracked the reigns to get the horses to start taking off again.

"Hey!" Nove yelped as she fell off the wagon and landed on her rear end. "Ouch." She got up, rubbing her rear end and narrowing her eyes at Lyos. "At least wait until I'm back on, you jerk." She slugged him on the arm before running up and jumping onto the wagon.

Rubbing his arm, Lyos could only chuckle as he watched Nove get onto the wagon. Oh well, it wasn't like he did that on purpose. "Wait for me!" He ran after them and jumped onto the wagon after Nove.

Ixpellia giggled softly as she closed her eyes. "This is much better than what I had for so long." She only hoped that she got to live through this adventure and get back to her new home. "I wonder how Subaru will react."

She just hoped that the people back home weren't going insane with worry right now.