Ran opened his eyes and was surprised to see that no one was hovering over him. He had expected for the ordeal with his mother to have taken so long it would have had everyone worried.
But as was usual she had played with the ripples of time as easily as a child skipping stones.
It appeared that everything he'd just experienced with her had lasted no longer than a second.
Ran stared at Professor Ikira angrily. This was all his fault. The man casted an illusion around the room and dared to speak the name of the Yōsei no joō expecting that the illusion would be able to block her out.
Ran had sensed it all before he'd been ensnared by his mother. If he hadn't also sensed the Tanuki's emotions he'd have been wondering if he did it on purpose, but he knew the man had only just underestimated the capabilities of the Yōsei no joō.
Still, he could not stop himself from being angry. Now he was stuck with her. He wondered if the price she'd be paying was worth it.
He would never know until it was time for her to actually pay, but until then he was stuck with her. She was seeing, hearing, and feeling everything.
That was dangerous. It meant he had to tiptoe around plotting against her. He had to make sure he was as removed from everything as much as he could be.
And he had to start that now.
Turning he looked at Haru. "I believe you can fill the Tanuki in." He looked at the man. "I can't say it was nice meeting you."
With that he left the office, muttering something about needing some air. He took the elevator down to the floor of the administration building and went out to the grounds.
There was a forest in which a stream ran through just a kilometer away so he headed there, thinking hard about his new situation.
He had to find a way around this to work against his mother. At least part of the price had been that she would only make use of his senses and not touch his psyche.
He couldn't go back to that era of receiving horrible dreams from her. There was also the Ether Orin mind link he shared with Haru, he didn't want her corrupting that.
As if the very thought of him had evoked his presence, he received a message from Haru in his mind.
"Are you alright, Ran?"
"Yes, Haru. At least, I think so."
"Well, you didn't look so when you left. So what happened?"
Ran still wasn't sure if he could trust his mother to stay out of his mind even though he knew a Feys word was their law, so he kept the truth to himself for now.
"I just had a bad feeling about something. I will tell you later. Anyway, do you think its possible for a Shadow Hell Lord to possess Eirasens?"
"Definitely. Why do you ask?"
Ran finally reached the forest and started in the direction he heard the sound of water coming from. "I killed one in a Blood Toll. Do you think that's enough to fulfill a Right of Conquest?"
"Most certainly. Blood Toll does fall under Fates Laws. But, Ran, why do you still need Eirasens? You are half Fey now. We finally know why you were pure enough to hold the Holy Book of Light and engrave your flesh with a Fey rune. You can learn the Fey elements now, you don't need Eirasens anymore."
"I know. I need to make the Celestial Omamori still, for Kigana."
That statement was received by silence and Ran focused on his trek through the forest, following a trail that as he progressed through the sound of the water became louder.
"Alright, I understand that. So what are you going to do now? Go to the realm of shadows and take this Hell Lords' inheritance?"
"Exactly," Ran sent, grinning at the feeling of exasperation his friend sent back. "Then I will return here and leave it for my father to find someone who would engrave the full runic constellation of the seven Fey Elements on them here in Kurana then after our journey to the Fey realm, we'll wait a while and return to see if the person is done and I will present it to Kigana as a gift."
"Don't worry about finding someone. I know a monk at the Monastery who will help us do that for free."
"That's good then. I need to make sure Kigana is not the only one of us helpless to the nature of hell if she still insists on coming with us."
"Oh, she will. She's stubborn like that as I've noticed. But she probably won't let us leave until we help her find her urchin."
"Urchin?" Ran asked, very confused. "What urchin?"
"In your absence your cousin made it a habit to care for the street urchins in Hena Village. One went missing and was who we were looking for in the school when you saved us from Matsuda. I think he's likely dead."
Ran sighed and stopped to lean his back against a tree, rubbing his forehead in worry. "I will need to speak to her."
"You know something?"
"Shinigamis like to keep playthings," was all he said but it was enough to have Haru swearing.
"I really hope this Tanuki Professor will be able to keep Matsuda off our back. I don't like the idea of that Shinigami having his eyes on you and thus also on us."
Ran smiled grimly. If only his friend knew that it was much worse than that now. They may loose the attention of the Shinigami if the Tanuki Professor was capable of distracting him, but that wouldn't stop his mother from monitoring them—a shard of her essence lived in his soul now.
"Hopefully. In any case. I think I will be able to get Kigana's friend back to her."
"She'd love you for that. And then going to love you even more if you manage to craft the Omamori for her an–"
Ran pushed himself off the tree and continued his walk towards the stream as his friend paused all of a sudden.
"Is there a problem, Haru?"
"Ran?"
"Yes?"
"I know it's been barely eighteen hours since you regained your memory back, your memories of both Ran and Reficulus."
"Indeed."
"And you have not really had enough time to think of how the things you experienced as Ran could affect you as reficulus."
That was quite true, he had barely had a moment to breathe. Getting possesed by Xin, almost destroying limbo, confronting his mother, returning to Kurana, reuniting with his friends and father, plotting against his mother, and now seeking allies against his mother's servant.
"That's true, but… where are you headed with this Haru?"
"Ran, remember the meeting at Principality? Remember what was decided? What had Mukoku unleashing her wrath, which now I can understand… do you remember all that?"
Ran staggered to a halt as he remembered the visit to the diplomatic capital of Naraku, the call for a solution against the Lagarakeis—the decision that was made.
"Oh no."
Haru sent back sad thoughts of confirmation. "Indeed. All that and the Noxsphere broken. Naraku would be a truly dangerous place now."
Ran couldn't agree more and felt that was even an understatement.
There was no word to express the gravitas of the fact that Lucifer walked again, unchained.