[Completed] Legend of the Five Knights III: Song of Divine Wrath

Episode 1: Axis Mundi

Everyone waited at the front of my house, except for Lady Saya who had gone back to her throne and the older generation of Seven Hills who were heading to the Imperial Palace to beef up security there.

After what felt like a long wait, Tere returned with Takeshi in tow. He had reverted back to his usual form.

"I brought him back like promised!" Tere said, grinning. "Pa, when you return, I'll show you how much I've improved!"

Takeshi ruffled her long, black hair. "I look forward to it, kiddo."

She chuckled as if she were a child. Seemed that she was still a daddy's girl after all these years, not that I remembered those years. I was three when he had vanished, after all...

"Good to see that you're back," Osamu said as he stood up from one the front porch steps. For a snob, the guy didn't seem to have any issue with sitting on places where people put their feet on.

"Yup, ready to get going!"

"I think that you're forgetting something," Osamu said, sighing.

Takeshi gasped. "Oh right!" He summoned five metal pauldrons. "Here ya go! Everyone take one."

Hideo snatched the green one away before Setsuko could even pick. "This one is mine!"

I narrowed my eyes at Eiichi as he stepped forward. I would've lashed out on him if not for everyone else around. Plus, I didn't want to cause anymore anxiety to Ma.

"If you don't mind, I'll be taking this one," Eiichi said, taking the yellow one.

Setsuko sighed and took the orange one. I took the purple one, leaving Hyosetsu with the blue one, not that he seemed to mind, seeing that blue was his favorite color.

"There's no red?" Takuya asked.

"They aren't a part of some superhero live action series," Takeshi said, snickering. "Plus, red in our clan tends to be seen as a negative color. You should know why."

I glanced at Maki and his siblings as well as Ximena. "Shouldn't green be too?"

"True, there's a reason for why Hideo's clan is made to watch over the frontier."

Hideo gasped. "What?"

Osamu ran a hand through his brown hair. "Yeah, my ancestors didn't trust yours," he said, sighing. "They knew that the time would come in which your clan would double cross them. So, they placed them next to the Kasai no Ki."

"Isn't that counter-intuitive?" Setsuko asked.

"In a way, yes, but placing them in the north, south, or west meant that they and their Kasai no Ki allies could attack us from two sides. By placing them next to the Kasai no Ki, we knew that they would come from the east. In a warped way, my ancestors also thought that the Kasai no Ki would be reluctant to attack those who shared their blood and when they did, they would be killing their own."