Zodiac Circle

Chapter 54: Changes

Although the friends longed to get back to Rose Cruce Order so much, the homecoming wasn't all that joyous, as the girls had to bring sad news with them - the coffin of Shiba. The whole Order greatly mourned the loss of one of their finest members, but the most heartbreaking was still the agonized shrills of Shiba's little sister, Diana the Celestial Lady of Uranus - this tiny white-ponytailed maiden left without her beloved guardian who had raised her himself while they both were orphans in the street...

"Brother!!!" she fell upon the coffin, her eyes swollen with tears, "No! B... Brother..."

All the three girls who had accompanied Shiba on his fatal mission - Riza, Tamie, and Tiger - had sadly hung their heads, and their new friends - Byakuya and Kokuyo - were sorrowful as well. 

With Shiba's part of the reward, they held a funeral for him and buried him in the graveyard on the land belonging to the town's orders, beside his faithful companion and friend, Saint Bernard dog, Bruno, who had died before him, years ago. All of the Rose Cruce members dressed in black stood at the grave and mourned and wept for their friend who had left their world, courageously fighting in his last battle.

"Today we bid farewell to Shiba Wunderweiss," Edmund, as the Overlord of the Order, sorrowfully spoke, tears streaming down his cheeks from behind his glasses, "A great Zodiac Grandmaster of Tamer Class, Beast rank. A great and loyal companion, wonderful brother," he compassionately glanced at weeping Diana, who had fallen to her knees in front of the grave, "an amazing friend," he softly pressed a hand to his own heart, "and a prideful member of Rose Cruce! Let's hold a moment of silence in his recognition - of his efforts, his deeds, his bravery and loyalty to our order!" All of the members put hands to their hearts and grew silent for a minute. Then Edmund retook: "Shiba Wunderweiss will never be forgotten. As long as the Rose Cruce Order stands, the legends of him will forever live! Rest in peace, Brother Shiba..."

"Rest in peace, Brother Shiba!" all of the members repeated.

"Rest in peace, b... big brother Shiba..." Diana sobbed, touching the grave with her tiny hand.

Losing Shiba Wunderweiss, one of the few Taurus in the group, and the only Tamer Class except for Tiger, was a great loss for the whole Order. Furthermore, it resulted in an emotional breakdown and depression of one of the strongest members, Uranus Celestial Lady Diana Wunderweiss, who didn't go on jobs for a while after holding a funeral for her deceased brother.

However, not everything was all that gloomy and sorrowful in the Order. After holding the funeral for their beloved member, the Rose Cruce accepted two new young men in - Byakuya, whom everyone was at first afraid of as he was the exact Blood Dragon, engulfed in dark legends, but whom Tamie justified herself and, with her 'sister' Riza's help persuaded Edmund to trust him and take him in; and Kokuyo, whom everyone was happy to welcome as he was the famous former leader of one of the oldest orders of the world - the Blade Warrior Order in Kenshin. 

Thus, very soon, Byakuya got to wear not only the Blade Warrior ring on his left hand but the Rose Cruce one too - the ring with the rose-and-cross emblem. Kokuyo too received his ring, but on his right hand. The brothers became members of the Rose Cruce and their links with the two wonderful girls - Tamie and Tiger - grew even more solid.

However, there was still a matter to take care of - when the friends finished their mission in Kenshin and Akuma Fujimoto, the Golden Venus Celestial Lord, was apprehended, Georg Braun the Silver Venus Celestial Lord was asked by the Prefect of Matsunoki to take Akuma's and Kassandra Braun's powers away with his Blast of Judgment, which he did, so now there was the need for a new Golden Venus Celestial Lord of the Taurus sign, and Riza's very mother, Danielle, who had already gotten back her maiden name Schatzen, was to have a pretension on the title as the strongest Taurus member of the Rose Cruce Order. 

The friends' new journey was about to begin - Riza, Edmund, Tamie, Tiger, and Kokuyo decided to accompany Danielle on the tournament - Riza as Danielle's daughter, Edmund as the Overlord of the Order, Tamie and Tiger just tagged along as Riza's friends, and Kokuyo because Goldmund had already taken another Grandmaster mission and had left for a foreign land, so another Capricorn of Rose Cruce was asked to take his place temporarily, for when it came to electing an Earth element Celestial Lord, all the existing Earth Celestial Lords should be there, and if they could not, the person of the same sign they had chosen should attend in their place. Goldmund gave in a word to take Kokuyo (he had heard of the new Capricorn member, and he knew very well his father would be too lazy to attend such formal occasions), so it was decided. The day of the Golden Venus Celestial Tournament soon drew near...