"I, umm, think you have the wrong person. I don't even know who you are," Toshi stated while backing away from the monstrosity that used to be human.

"No! It was you! You, Toshi, did this! It's your fault!"

"I don't think she's going to listen to you," Sierra whispered into his ear.

"Then I suppose we have no choice. . ." Toshi sighed as he began chanting.

"Emekia Lance!" Toshi commanded as he threw the spear of light at the oncoming creature that claimed the name of Elayne.

As the spear came closer Elayne grabbed a fold of her cloak and wrapped it around herself. The cloth fell to the ground, and Elayne was nowhere to be found.

"What? What just happened?" Sierra didn't quite follow what just happened.

There was a brief pause, as Toshi's mind raced thinking of what just happened. Then it hit him.

"Duck!" Toshi commanded. He and Sierra did so just in time to avoid a clawed hand that raked the air where their heads once were.

"She can jump physical position in this plane of existence by moving through the Astral Plane. It also works as a defensive measure against magic," Toshi observed.

"Very clever, Toshi Yokutsu. . ." Elayne complimented him as she advanced upon the retreating companions, "But will that knowledge really save you from my wrath?"

Toshi looked around himself quickly to try to find a method of escape. The door from the kitchen to the main room of the restaurant was still an option. He ran for the door only to have it close and lock itself when he was a few feet away. Elayne just continued calmly walking towards Toshi and Sierra, her robes flowing silently about her.

"She's a Mazoku, isn't she?" Sierra asked.

"It would appear so," Toshi replied, "But she seems to be a reasonably weak variety."

"Distract her," Sierra commanded.

"Huh?" Toshi asked as Sierra kicked him into arm's reach of Elayne.

Elayne's clawed arm swung forward almost instantly, but Toshi was able to cast a Balus Wall not a second too soon. The claws made a horrible scraping sound as Elayne tried to force her hand through the barrier. Toshi retreat a few steps and threw a fireball only to have his foe disappear and reappear behind him again. The claw descended with amazing speed and Toshi sidestepped in time to avoid being spliced; however, the attack did leave him with a cut running from his knee to ankle.

Elayne paused a moment to taste the blood on her claws. "Delightful," was her only comment.

She advanced upon Toshi once more, but this time Toshi's ability to dodge with an injured leg was considerably impaired. The claw nicked Toshi's shoulder, but this time instead of stopping to save the blood on her claw, Elayne did something a bit more surprising. Her crippled arm which still resembled a human's suddenly shape-shifted into three barbed tentacles with which she grabbed Toshi.

"Why. . . are you doing. . .this?" Toshi managed to gasp between his pain of being held two feet off the ground by something roughly equivalent to living barbed wire.

"You did this to me, you shall pay with your life," Elayne's voice conveyed absolutely no emotion.

"I swear. . .I don't know you," Toshi gasped.

"Toshi!" A voice from behind Elayne called.

Elayne turned around just in time to see a sword slash across her face. She howled in pain, but her grasp on Toshi did not weaken.

"How did you. . .manage to hurt her?" Toshi asked. Mere physical weapons were useless against the Astral bodies of Mazoku.

"Holy water," Sierra replied as she took her scythe in her other hand and brought it around to connect with Elyne's torso.

Milliseconds before the scythe connected Elayne moved Toshi right in alignment with the weapon. Sierra gasped in horror as the inertia of the scythe was too great to stop. Sierra closed her eyes, not wanting to witness the next event. But instead of what she expected to hear, the sound of metal screeching loudly was the only thing that seemed to happen. Sierra opened her eyes to see the scythe only inches away from Toshi's chest, but stopped due to a Balus Wall he had cast.

"Not bad, Toshi. . ." Elayne complimented him, "But this girl seems to be more of an immediate threat than you. Take a nap, why don't you?"

She swung the tentacled arm violently and let go of Toshi sending him crashing against a wall. Toshi fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Toshi!" Sierra called to him, but he just lay limply on the ground.

"Be gone, vile demon!" Sierra threatened Elayne as she charged.

"You're not bad for a Blade Dancer," Elayne taunted as she slashed with her clawed hand, "But even those trained to hunt Mazoku shall not prevail against me!"

Sierra leapt an astoundingly high distance to sail right over Elayne's head. Before Elayne could turn around Sierra had stabbed two daggers into her back. Elayne didn't make any noise this time, but the daggers that had been dipped in holy water made a sizzling noise as they burned Elayne's physical body.

Elayne flailed her tentacled arm as she turned to face Sierra. Sierra managed to duck under the first tentacle, but the second and third connected solidly with her face sending her crashing into a cupboard. Sierra fell to the ground and a stream of plates plummeted down upon her.

Sierra stood on wobbly legs and wiped the blood off her cheek with the back of her hand.

"Why do you resist?" Elayne as she slowly advanced, "If you were to join us then I could assure you a useful position. We could use more soldiers like you."

"I'd rather burn in hell," Sierra shot back between coughs.

"That can be arranged. . ." Elayne assured her.

Sierra charged again. Elayne was expecting another acrobatic trick like before so she raised her clawed hand to strike in the air. That would've been a very wise counter move. . .if it weren't for the fact that Sierra did a running slide and traveled cleanly under Elayne's robes to her other side. As she stood up Sierra slashed Elayne's back with her sword, followed by three throwing daggers as she was retreating to get out of range of the tentacles.

The fight continued on for some time. Sierra constantly kept scoring small wounds on her foe, but the Mazoku didn't seem slowed at all by the assault and continued to batter Sierra with incredible force. Somehow, even though unconscious, Toshi managed to see it all in his mind's eye. There was someone else in Toshi's mind as well.

"Will she survive?" Toshi's mind asked the visitor.

Suddenly everything seemed black. Toshi stood alone in the darkness. Another man appeared; it was Rekos.

"Will she survive, Rekos?" Toshi asked again, concern clear in his voice.

"Maybe she will, maybe she won't," Rekos replied unemotionally.

"Dammit, this is my fault," Toshi stated quietly before shouting out, "DAMN IT ALL!"

"There's no reason to be so excited," Rekos calmly assured Toshi, "She won't die as long as we are here having this conversation. In this place time does not pass. Besides, she's only one human. They can be sacrificed for the greater good."

"What kind of logic is that?" Toshi asked in a repulsed tone, "Don't you care at all about her?"

"I suppose you're right," Rekos sighed, "I did swear to her grandmother that I would protect her."

"Sierra," Toshi whispered as he recalled the battle in which Sierra was being beaten badly despite putting up an incredible fight. A tear rolled down Toshi's cheek.

"Tears? Why do you weep for her?" Rekos asked curiously, "Don't tell me--"

"Don't tell you what?" Toshi asked angrily, "You don't care at all about Sierra, do you?"

"Why should I?" Rekos countered, "She's merely a human girl. If it weren't for the promise I made to protect her I wouldn't interfere at all."

"How could you?!" Toshi shouted.

"Do you love her?" Rekos asked suddenly.

"W-what?!"

"Do you love her?" Rekos repeated.

Toshi was silent for a moment. Why did he weep at the thought of Sierra being killed? Was it because perhaps he really did love her? He pondered the aspect for a moment. When they had first met he felt as though perhaps he had already known her, and now that his strange memories were returning, it became apparent that he really had known Sierra for some time. But was this emotion love, or just concern? Perhaps it was love, strange circumstances could do that to people. . .

"That must be it," Toshi admitted with an embarrassed laugh.

"Fool!" Rekos snapped angrily, "Who gave you permission to love her? Who created you to feel that emotion?"

"Created?! What on earth are you talking about?!"

"You weren't created to love. You were created for only one reasons: to act as my marionette," Rekos informed him.

"Created? I was created to be human! I was born to live the life of a human! And part of that is loving others!"

Rekos laughed aloud. "You have no clue do you? Would you like to know what your parents were like, Toshi Yokutsu? I can tell you absolutely everything there is to know about them,"

Toshi's eyes widened as he temporarily put all other matters into the back of his mind. He took a few steps forward. "Yes! Tell me about them! Please, I beg of you!"

"Very well," Rekos cleared his throat as if about engage in a lecture, "They don't exist. They never existed."

After a few second's pause that seemed like an eternity Toshi broke out laughing. Toshi's laughter died down after he noticed that Rekos's expression was perfectly serious.

"You're joking, right?" Toshi begged him.

Rekos shook his head slowly. For some strange reason, Toshi knew Rekos spoke the truth.

"Then how do I exist if I never had any parents?" Toshi asked angrily.

"Simple. You are very similar to your parents," Rekos assured him.

"You just said my parents don't exist!"

"Exactly," Rekos smiled, "And neither do you, Toshi."