24 What do you mean?

Time : 11:48 AM

The battle ended within a few hours, with the guardians atop of a heap of corpses. The guardians looked around to sense if they left any demon still breathing.

"To think they would march at double speed as they hid their presence behind the dark storm...We can't lower our guard until all the DKs and their army's are sealed" The fourth guardian, Kenji Inouye stated in a low voice as he looked at Erina Lancelot, The Third guardian.

"You know all well that sealing all the dark forces with only three of us Guardians remaining without the divine spirit is nearly impossible, Kenji." Erina sighed as she confirmed that no dark presence left lingered in the battleground.

"Do you sense it? That energy signature...Erina..." Kenji looked at Erina who widened her eyes as they looked towards the North wall.

"Captain Shinichiro sortie all the protectors and take a count of the injured and march them into Areon." Erina ordered as she reached the top of the North wall along with Kenji.

The rain stopped as the clouds started to scatter letting the sun rays fall on a city in shambles. The city's alleys and streets were filled with light as the sun reached overhead of the city.

Silence filled the air as the guardians and Leo looked at the masked man.

"Talk..." Kenji said slowly as he looked towards the man before him who stood in silence.

"Didn't you hear what he said? TALK!...GOD DAMN IT!!!" Erina yelled at him unable to control her emotions any longer.

"What do you want me to talk about? huh....what?...." The masked man questioned as he faced Erina and Kenji.

"We thought you died...talk about how you are still alive...talk about why you didn't come back..." Kenji answered as he faced him with a darkened face.

"I am no longer bound to anyone and I have no reason to answer any of your questions." He said in a soft tone as he slowly turned his head to face the North of Areon, which would lead them to a destroyed Tristina. He started to walk away as if he had no intention to talk about anything.

"Shin...I will give you one advice as the head of the Takahashi's and also as a man who looked after you. 'Answer all the questions before you leave, if you don't want them to pester you.' I am telling you to do so because I want you to live in peace." Ryu said slowly as he closed his eyes.

"Wait, what?...Shin..." Ken looked at the masked man in disbelief.

"Shin..." Izumi's pupils contracted as she watched the mask man. Zeyner had already understood who he was.

The masked man stopped in his tracks and turned back to face Ryu and the others. The mask on his face split into six pieces and retracted back into his body, revealing his face.

"Alright then...ask away..." Shin said as he turned his face towards Leo and the two guardians.

"What do you mean by 'ask away'?!! What do you mean by that 'I don't care' face?!!" Kenji shouted as he looked at Shin.

"Shadow..." Leo called out calmly as he looked at Shin.

"Wait...Shadow!...you mean...The...Shadow!!..The Seventh Guardian...!" Zeyner exclaimed as he looked at Shin. Izumi and Ken looked at Shin in disbelief as their jaws fell with their eyes wide open.

"No...not a Guardian anymore...I was...but not anymore." Shin said calmly as he looked at Zeyner.

"I don't have...The Seventh Dragon sprit within me anymore..." Shin said slowly as he looked at Leo and the others.

"What?! Where is he then?" Erina looked at Shin with a question mark face.

"Shin...I need to know what happened from the starting...I did get many reports about Tristina, but they were all stories of the citizens who escaped from Tristina. No protector was there to see what happened nor were any citizens. Shin...what...happened...in...Tristina...?" Leonard said word for word, clearly.

Shin sighed as he gazed at the clearing sky. 'What happened in Tristina, huh?' Shin thought to himself.

"Alright, Leo....I will start from the beginning of the story. But let's find a suitable place for us to talk first." Shin said as he looked towards zeyner.

"We can talk in the protector's office...let's go there." Zeyner said as he led the way while the others followed him.

-------------------

Everyone settled down in the meeting room as they stared at Shin, waiting for him to start explaining things. Shin released a small gust, putting out all the lamps in the room.

"Everyone does remember that the whole royal family was invited to attend the summer festival in Tristina...don't you?" Shin asked as he looked distant to which everyone replied with a simple nod.

"Explaining it would be tiresome...why don't you guys watch exactly what happened...the memories, The 6th Shadow left me with..." Shin said as he waved his hands making different symbols and gestures. A layer of thin energy covered the eyes of everyone in the room.

Date : 23\07\753.

The Four guardians guarded the four great cities in the North, South, West and East as any other day while one of the guardian among the two guardians who were supposed to guard the capital in the heart of the country, accompanied his highness along with the previous shadow guardian to Tristina as his guard. I was travelling to the South to take care of some business at that time.

"Your Highness, My Queen, My prince...this way, please." The Sixth Guardian, Kiyoshi Ishida said as he led the way to their rooms to rest from their tiring journey.

"Drop the 'Highness', Kiyoshi...we are here to enjoy the festival. Don't stiffen up the mood. Can't we enjoy a like we used to 20 years back." The King, Reo Asterisk VI said as he looked at Kiyoshi with a blank glare.

"Well you both used to be close friends, but now you guys have rarely any chance to meet each other. Loosen up a bit Kiyoshi..." The one who spoke was Eshima Asterisk, The Queen.

"I think you should loosen up as well, Kiyoshi..." A voice came from the shadows. This was the previous Shadow Guardian. No one except the royal family and the prime minister knew his actual name, everyone called him 'The 6th Shadow' and the one's close to him called him Kuro. It was the same with all the Shadow guardians except the First Shadow, even though everyone knew his first name was Alan, no one knew his last name. Only the one's with the blood of a Shadow could inherit the Shadow Dragon, similarly only the Royal family could inherit the Divine spirit. The rest of the guardian spirits choose anyone they deem worthy.

"Well...with you protecting him, I am sure I can turn a blind eye to his highnesses's safety." Kiyoshi smiled as he looked at Kuro.

"Yeah...you can, so will you stop calling me 'Highness' already." Reo asked as he leaned forward a bit as they made their way to their rooms.

"Yeah, got it your highness..." Kiyoshi smiled sarcastically as he said those words.

Reo face palmed as he said "You are having fun teasing me like that, aren't you..?" The prince, Takeshi Asterisk smiled at the whole situation as he looked at Kuro who smiled back.

"Why would I dare to make fun of you my Liege...? I don't have a death wish." Kiyoshi couldn't beat the grin out of his own face as he replied.

As they kept on chit chatting walking towards their rooms, a swift wind made it's way into the corridor before them. "You are enjoying, chatting with each other while I was checking the perimeter...isn't that unfair Kiyoshi." The one who entered was The 1st Guardian, Atsuhiro Yamamoto.