In the realm of Zariel, every person can manipulate one of the four elements their zodiac belongs to - Fire, Earth, Air or Water.
Tamie Wingfield dreams to become the greatest Zodiac Master of all time. For that, she decides to join the Rose Cruce...
After an awesome dragon flight of Tiger and Scott, a lot of fun talks in the hall, and parties, the night came. Everyone went to their rooms to sleep - Grandmasters on the second floor and casual members in the basement.
Byakuya too went to sleep in his room, and so did Tamie in hers. However, this time, she did not dream of her muse, because Kokujin, even though he revealed he was not worried anymore and had made up his mind, was still concerned about Tamie's choice of Byakuya to lay her eyes on, so he had decided to sneak into Byakuya's conscience this time (as he was already a powerful muse due to Tamie becoming a Grandmistress, he was able to sneak into other people's dreams for some time, without them noticing). Thus, he sneaked into the dream of Byakuya von Drachen.
It was a bright day in the dream. Birds were chirping in cherry blossom and pine trees, and the grass was waving in the green field. Kokujin soon noticed Byakuya von Drachen there, sparring against a long-blue-haired, brown-eyed girl who had many of Tamie's features. He immediately hid behind one of the trees to remain unseen and continued observing the duelists, his fists clenched as he eyed the blue-haired girl:
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Damn, so he too took an interest in Tamie... This girl looks so like her!
Then he realised that neither Byakuya did look decent in this dream: his stature was the same, but here he wore his black hair down and not tied in a ponytail. Instead, he had a crown-like headgear in which Kokujin recognized the Crown of the von Drachen Clan from the history books Tamie had been reading in a library once she took interest in Byakuya von Drachen and thus wanted to find out more about his clan. Furthermore, his garments were totally different - instead of his purple kimono, he wore an ominous black one and had a white tunic as if a man of high rank. His katana was the same, but he sure looked far nobler, and his eyes too, looked far darker blue and more serious and stern than ever before, and as if... they even contained a cold spark in them...
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"What's this weird outfit and appearance?! I knew something wasn't right here..."
However, there Kokujin made a mistake - both of the duelists heard his whisper. He gasped once saw how both of the swordsmen halted and looked right at the tree behind which he was hiding. Byakuya furrowed his brow and ordered something to his blue-haired companion. She too frowned and sprang forward, appearing beside Kokujin in an instant.
She can use muse speed like me?! He was astounded - wasn't she just some silhouette of this weird guy's dream?
"You," the blue-haired girl grabbed him by the collar of his blue tunic, "Who the heck are you? You do not have the vibe of this dream world..."
"Huh? And how would you know that? I am a powerful man, so be careful with me. I cannot always hold myself even against women..." Kokujin sneered back at her.
The blue-haired girl chuckled, glowed with purple energy, and dragged him out of his hiding-place:
"I am the lady here. You have no powers in the dream world other than yours, fellow muse".
"Ugh, you! Let go of me!" Kokujin tried to fight back, but to his complete astonishment, he indeed had no Blue Fire powers but was just a simple human in this dream world. Not good...Why aren't my powers working? This Byakuya guy doesn't have a muse_ He widened eyes - Byakuya guy didn't have a muse? Then why did this girl say 'fellow muse'? It meant... He trembled: Damn... I should have foreseen this - Sworder is an Artist Class!
Now he got truly desperate - he appeared in the dream world which was ruled by another, and as much as it looked, more powerful muse, so he had no chances to escape now if it weren't for the dream world ruler's will, thus this blue-haired girl's one!
"Shut up!" this latter shouted at him strictly. Instantly, a lot of ninjas sprang from out of nowhere, seized him, and tied him up.
"No!" Kokujin struggled to get free, but the ropes were glowing with the same purple energy as the blue-haired girl had.
The ninjas dragged him forward and threw him to his knees in front of Byakuya:
"We have an intruder, my lord".
"Oh, now, what a surprise!" Byakuya chuckled coldly, not even resembling his normal self he was in the real world. He rubbed the sharp head of his sword and glanced down at Kokujin: "If it isn't Tamie's muse, Kokujin D'Infernal, stuck in my conscience..." a soft, but vile smile flickered on his face as he turned to his blue-haired female muse: "Thank you, Debbie..."
Kokujin glared at him:
"You... traitor! What's the meaning of this?! You have a muse and you kept it secret from Tamie after she has told you everything about herself?"
However, then he hushed as the tip of Byakuya's blade touched his neck. Sweat poured off his forehead as he looked up at the frowning young man.
"I think you know, Kokujin D'Infernal, that if a muse is killed in the conscience of another mused one, who is far more powerful than the intruder muse's Creator, the said muse is going to die, for real... You abandoned Tamie's conscience to sneak into mine. If I make a sharp swing with my sword, you're going to be forgotten by Tamie forever, and your existence will be ceased... am I not right?" the tip of the blade touched raged and frightened Kokujin's chin and made him look up into his flashing dark blue eyes. Kokujin gulped as he realised this man was serious. Byakuya smiled and continued with a softer tone now: "I will not execute you just yet, though... Even if you return to Tamie's conscience, you won't be able to tell her anything about what happened here, since it is tabooed for muses to tell their Creators what happens in other Creators' minds. So, let's have a little fun, shall we? I know from Tamie that you have a second face which is a Blade Warrior... so spar with me. I want to see what has become of you since I'm training Tamie".
Kokujin sneered and wanted to refuse, but as he noticed ninjas all around him, the flared-up muse whom this guy had called Debbie, and the tip of the blade to his neck, he sighed and accepted the order, changing into Byakuya Ikemoto's form of a Blade Warrior. The duelists took their positions inside the circle of blackened ninjas and Debbie supervising them so that the intruder muse wouldn't escape.
