In the realm of Zariel, every person can manipulate one of the four elements their zodiac belongs to - Fire, Earth, Air or Water.
Tamie Wingfield dreams to become the greatest Zodiac Master of all time. For that, she decides to join the Rose Cruce...
Rose Cruce members returned with victory and brought Magister Edmund back safely. Due to the large impact of the Judgment Blast, and the fact that he had consumed a lot of Bearer powers before, Gustav's body couldn't withstand the hit, so he not only lost his powers but his very life. The powers he had stolen from Edmund returned to this latter.
Byakuya suffered a great breakdown as he had released such a dangerous spirit from inside of him, so he blacked out for a long time. Tamie too fainted from using up many powers, but, unlike Byakuya, she easily recovered.
As for Erisa, she miraculously beat up Fiorette with her Bunny spirit strength and the strong will to teach her a lesson. She took the Silver Mercury necklace from her and triumphantly showed it off in front of Goldmund, who was in bed.
"See, Goldie? I got this from that evil girl! I beat her up for you. And guess what? - I am Rank Eight now! Can you believe it? A Sage!"
Erisa jumped on the edge of Goldmund's bed with happiness. A broad grin covered this latter's face. He grabbed her and clutched her in tight embraces:
"My genius!"
"Ah, Goldie, you're squashing me!" Erisa blushed all over her countenance.
"Whoops, sorry..." Goldmund let her go. "I'm just so happy for you! If only dad could see this... He always said you'd be the best Gemini ever known".
Erisa grew sad to see him so sorrowful. She hugged him tightly:
"Do not grieve, Goldmund. He can see us, from where he is..."
She gazed at him with her sweet big blue eyes. Goldmund faintly chuckled at such an angelic face and kissed the girl on the forehead with affection.
Goldmund had recovered enough to use his powers, so he quickly rebuilt the Order building and the wounded members were placed in a normal infirmary now, in the basement as always. The Magister was instead taken to his room, as well as Byakuya and Tamie.
As for Tiger, she had not only beaten up Annette Charmant and taken the Golden Mercury necklace from her but had achieved Rank Seven during the fight, so all of her three pets became able to transform into humans, just as Fireball could. Blizzard got so angry in the fight when saw his owner targeted, that he burst up Yellow Zen flames around and brought fatal injuries to Annette, who had no idea the white-haired blue-eyed dog-boy named 'Blizzard' could possibly use the Fire element - the strongest against the Earth one. She, like all other people, expected Blizzard to be a Water user. However, that turned out to be Tiger's little trick. The usually-playful-and-kind young dog turned out a gruesome opponent in his human form - he and his friends, Christo and Astra, when acquiring their human forms, turned even stronger than before, unlike Fireball, because he, as a dragon, generally got weaker in his human form, thus often used the dragon form in battles.
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Danielle easily defeated Yolanda like she did before and returned with even more glory. Scott and Fireball too operated well together and wiped out many of the New World Order members. As for Tim, it was a child's play for him to beat up Rick Mauriel for good so that the boy swore he'd drop the Zodiac Arts whatsoever.
Thus, the friends returned with two more trophies: the Silver and the Golden Mercury necklaces, and of course, a new Bearer member - Tamie, the newly arisen Bearer of the Soul.
The news wasn't completely joyful, however - they had lost their dearest member, Goatee. They buried him in the town graveyard and put the Ivy statue he had made as a grave guardian. They mourned him deeply, especially Goldmund and Edmund since, to the one Goatee was a father, and to the other - a beloved uncle who had been like a father to him.
Even though the Rose Cruce had gained victory in the harsh battle, they still had a lot of problems up ahead - the mystery of Ketsuryuu they could not solve. So once, when the friends recovered, Edmund, Nick, Nina, Tim, Riza, Tamie, Tiger with her pets, Kokuyo, Danielle, Scott, and Fireball (these two as dragon experts) gathered in a council room on the second floor and began discussing their matters.
"So you're saying Byakuya awakened a giant dragon soul?" Riza blinked in stupefaction.
"We assume it's a dragon because Kokuyo says so," Edmund shrugged, adjusting his glasses.
"Ketsuryuu is indeed a dragon, Kokuyo's right," Scott attested.
"A very ancient dragon, actually..." Fireball noted, "He and his twin brother are considered dragon deities. Even we, dragons, worship them".
"But then how could he possibly be in a human's body?" Tiger raised an eyebrow - a dragon locked in someone? It made no sense!
"Actually, there were many ancient practices conducted to kill powerful dragons and lock them in humans, but only ancient people of Kenshin and the tribes of New Land have been doing that..." Nick said, "At least, I've read so from the Zariel archives".
"But I saw clearly that there emerged a person's silhouette and not a dragon's one," Edmund still had doubts.
"Hey, you think dragons have only the dragon form?" Fireball puckered, "Twin Dragons of the Sun and the Moon could morph into their human forms even without being tamed by some humans. They were celestial dragons, divine ones, not some simple earthly creatures".
"So, you're saying that Byakuya could have the Sun Dragon's soul locked in him?" Danielle frowned - how weird and creepy it sounded!
"But the more important question is - why does he have a dragon soul inside him if he truly has one, and why Ketsuryuu, the most bloodthirsty of all dragons that have ever existed?" Tim furrowed his brow and put a hand to his chin.
While the friends were brooding over the matter, Tamie heard a voice in her head:
"You are the Bearer of the Soul now. You can create Ghost Clones just like Jan. I can guide you to Byakuya's conscience - let us find out what he truly hides. I feel you are concerned, Goddess. I cannot sit still and watch you grieve".
Tamie widened eyes - Kokujin?!
"Y... You can guide me to his conscience?"
"Yes. Create your Ghost Clone and follow me".
Tamie, sitting with her friends who had a heated discussion, wove signs secretly and an invisible Ghost Clone emerged from her mind. It tiptoed to Byakuya's room and entered his mind. She was now able to double her senses - her Ghost Clone would settle things in Byakuya's conscience, and once it was back, its whole memories would flow into her own mind.
What a genius Kokujin was, he had such a nice idea!
She calmed down a bit and began listening to her friends' conversation while her Ghost Clone wandered deep into unconscious Byakuya's dreams.
