[b]Kotori Shirohane - Seto: Village by the Valley | Friday, July 8 2015[/b]

Kotori had barely a moment to catch her breath as the next assault began. Rui and Ryan led this one, making full use of Ayano's predictions and striking the Shiki-Ouji with a twinned barrage of both light and dark attacks. And once more, the Shadow struggled - but ultimately, its wards failed and one of the attacks send it crumbling to the ground. This was not to be the end, however. Even as Kotori gathered her strength to use the Shiki-Ouji's momentary weakness for another bolt of lightning, Ryan was already leaping into action as Geraint went for a heartstrike.

But neither was that the end of his attack, for in the next moment, Kotori had to bring up a hand to shield her eyes from the sudden intense beam of light that erupted from the piercing laser blade of Ryan's persona. Blinking behind her glasses and between her fingers as the light faded, Kotori could see neither of the two figures standing; a swirling mass of torn paper instead remaining where Geraint had before struck his deadly blow.

Yet even tearing the Shiki-Ouji to shreds would not suffice as a light, faint at first but rapidly growing into a shining beacon, began to emanate from the blade of Geraint, who had taken to the skies in the momentary blindness that had afflicted all onlookers. And just as the intensity of the glare threatened to become painful, the persona swung its weapon downward - and immediately followed through with a mighty flap of its wings; accelerating at a pace too fast for any eyes to comprehend. He seemed to transform into a beam of light that mercilessly bore down on the tattered remnants of what had once been the Shiki-Ouji - and upon impact completely vaporised every last scrap in a radiant explosion of light and grand display of power.

With their foe so thoroughly annihilated, Kotori quickly made sure that everyone was unhurt before turning her attention to the second group who'd kept their backs clear of the swarms of smaller Shadows that the strange mirror people had transformed into - but as it turned out, they seemed to share the fate of their larger companion and began to scatter back into the shadows. Whilst everyone remained on guard for a few moments more, Kotori could soon breathe a sigh of relief as no more shadows surged forth to attack; using the welcome break to actually catch her breath as everyone gathered around.

Before long though, Kotori perked up again when she began hearing sounds - and not those of conversation between her fellow Mirror World explorers. It was a different voice - stranger, as if coming from far away and... long ago? She blinked in confusion at the thought, but it seemed the most apt way to describe the sheer otherness of the experience before she managed to recognise the words as those of a marriage vow. Despite the strangeness of the situation, a brief smile lit up on Kotori's face - only to vanish as quickly as the voices did with the sound of shattering glass.

Almost immediately, the only remaining voice took on a tone of desperation that left Kotori frozen - for she had the misfortune of having heard it before, if in a different voice. She barely even realised that the cracking glass had been very real as shards were slowly floating all around them, at times giving off brief reflections of a man unknown to her. One such reflection might show him in anger, another huddled down whilst at other times he pored over something - as his voice returned once more, speaking words stranger yet.

Kotori's thoughts were racing. Was that... the leader of the Junsei Sekai Tensei cult? Was this the reason for it? Trying to somehow bring back his wife from the dead? But that was impossible - it had to be. And what did she - or for that matter, everyone gathered around - have to do with all of this? But... resurrection? What made him think that it could be done?

Unmoving and utterly lost in thought, Kotori didn't even notice that, upon Rui's suggestion, the group began heading back to the entrace - only snapping out of things with a bewildered look upon her face when a hand was placed on her shoulders. [color=green]"Huh? Wha-ah! S-sorry, ye-yes, right,"[/color] she managed to say when asked if she was coming back too, hurriedly following in the footsteps of the others - but not without the occasional searching glace back at the village they were leaving behind. She was even more quiet than usual and merely gave a weak wave in goodbye when, upon returning to the warehouse that had become their base of operations, the group began splitting up as that had been more than enough Mirror World exploration for one day for everyone involved.

It was a long and uneasy time before Kotori would manage to fall asleep that night.