"Morio! MORIO!" Jyuzou yelled, sliding down the side of the building and crashing into debris below. He coughed out painfully, and pushed his hand on his side, in pain. His eyes met Morio's concerned face, and then landed elsewhere, spotting an odd one out of the crowd. He opened his mouth in disbelief.

His heart started beating faster and faster, like an old clock in Mistwick, and that reminded him of home for a moment, and then he recalled rather unpleasant feelings.

Not being enough to kill a demon in the Demonear test, or vowing not to be a coward. His ambitions were shut down by his limits or the reprimands of the ones closest to him.

Then, when things turned sour, he appeared in his mind.

Shi Hon, waiting there at the end of the corridor, consoling and toying with his thoughts.

But, where the demon stood, a light shone beneath him, as if the last resort for Morio to hold onto.

Something to believe in.

"I hope he's looking at me from where Shin sits and beams every time things go great. He'd want me to achieve great things, Atomu."

"Believe." Morio thought, dropping Gloria to the ground. "Believe!" he stuck his hands out, and the demons gathered around him in a tiny circle. "BELIEVE!" he screamed as if the words were courage to himself and everyone in the caves.

They echoed to the group which conquered the spider and went as far as into the ears of Anna-Pom and Bancho, soaring through the air and dodging the attacks of the chimera.

"Believe!"

"If you're there, I believe you're looking at me, Jeffy." Morio thought, closing his eyes, feeling a weak pulse in both palms. Things around him went silent, as his voice echoed back to him. Atomu, Elton, Ambrosia, Pollimer and Tenor watched from above, in disbelief, but it wasn't to Morio to register their expressions. He felt as if he was screaming, yet no noise came out.

"I believe, that... you must be proud of me!"

With one open eye, a white willow gleamed in the far distance of the cave.

Even though no other normal trees appeared around these parts.

...and as abruptly as the lights in his hands appeared, they flashed away, leaving the demons which refused to inch closer in shock.

Morio opened both, breathing in and out, as every sense came back to his body. Was it all for nought after all? Pollimer ground his teeth, fearfully reaching his hand out, with Tenor's unsure glance following his moves. The others started carefully climbing down, inclined to help the Morian.

A demon in front of him groaned, taking an unsure step forward. But, when nothing happened, a smirk appeared on his distorted, purple face. He started laughing, pointing at Morio, and the other demons joined in too.

It wasn't just humiliating. Morio thought, that everything that's been building up was over, there and then. Before he could reach Gloria, duly noting that the demons were disturbed, one leapt out amongst the crowd, spreading its wings and opening the horrors that were the insides of its mouth.

Morio had to react. Otherwise, there was only one thing waiting for him at the end of the guarded hallway. He put his hand on Victis, and took it out, praying and hoping that a miracle might just strike from above.

...and it seemed that luck favoured the brave.

When the devil's hand landed near the tip, the thunders connected from Gloria to Victis, and sent a massive thunderbolt through the crowd.

Morio gasped and beamed.

Lifting his weapon he ran through the thin line dug out amongst the army of demons. Jyuzou stood up, creating whirlwinds pushing the enemies towards Knrhum's Blade. Ambrosia started slashing, consistently running around and pulling demons in and away and even Elton was there to help, finding whatever dull sword and using it to defend. After all, Ambrosia's magic was still there to guide him through.

Finally, after an adrenaline-rushed moment, most of the demons were wiped, with a few in the middle, knowing their demise. Morio zapped around the circle, slashing with both swords.

But before he knew it, one last enemy was waiting for him to strike.

"M-Morio!" Jyuzou stuck his hand out.

"Morio, don't!" Atomu yelled, but the sudden sound of a blade hitting against another stopped his words and concerns.

Morio faced the half-demon, who held onto Morgana tightly, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Ch-Chyuuichi?" Morio asked, his eyes widening.

"Ah." Chyuuichi opened his mouth, and his pupils shrank, meeting the gleam in Morio's. His mind raced to thousands of possibilities for this outstandingly strange scenario, and the blades of their weapons slid.

The Mirillian took a step back as if stunned in shock.

The unusual frown that appeared on his face came with pulsing stress and anxiety, and the only word he could utter was a simple "...sorry."

Atomu immediately eyed Chyuuichi, gritting his teeth nervously.

"What's going on?" Morio asked, blinking with a light smile. "Did you forget what team you were on? Haha!" he chuckled, awkwardly putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Y-Yeah," Chyuuichi answered, swallowing through a lump. His gaze met Pollimer's, who huffed as heavily, squinting his eyes, before a few more words came out. "I attacked in the middle."

All of a sudden, a loud thump echoed through the cave, as if a rock had hit the ground and crashed something beneath, followed by a groan.

Everyone gave each other a strange look.

"What's the hold-up?" Anna-Pom appeared from above, using her rope to swing around freely around the towers. She opened her mouth a bit and raised her eyebrows at the sight of all the slaughtered demons which lay on the ground. "Wew..." she stepped back, before crossing her arms. "We fought a chimera."

"If you keep crashing down the caves SOMETHING AWFUL is bound to happen!" Atomu pointed.

"Surely." Anna scoffed.

"Where's Mr Bancho?" Jyuzou stepped forward.

"Here." Bancho stepped from behind the wall next to the troupe, carefully analysing one glance. He patted Pearl's back, sitting atop and carrying Saxyo in one hand. "This isn't the end of the battle. More are coming," he added, without much of a warning. The others were quickly confused, but Anna jumped down, following him. "Be wary."

"Wait, what?" Morio asked, taking a few steps forward, furrowing one eyebrow.

Then, it sounded, the familiar echoes and groans of the demons, hungry for power and blood. The young Morian's heart skipped a beat, before Bancho turned and faced the remains of Kakinoki, yet, the tallest of towers and pillars still stood.

As the buildings formed a strange, square maze, separated by a long, thin bridge, the next parts of the ruined city slowly began revealing themselves. "Run, troupe."

"W-Wait, run? W-Why are we supposed to run?!" Elton asked as if awoken from a nice dream.

"We can't waste any more time." Bancho raised his voice, and his horse started stampeding through the small hole in the wall and towards the other part of Kakinoki.

"Huh?!" Elton regained his fearful doubts, and Atomu pulled his hand.

Every single member of the troupe sprinted forth blindly.

Bancho ground his teeth, and the others caught up with Pearl's unusually slow stampede, but before they knew it, the demons tailed them. Passing through the green bridge that led to the similarly tinted structures of the latter Kakinoki, the wrath of the caves was ready to kick their bones in. One demon even jumped from above and onto the Paladians.

"Gh!" Bancho raised Saxyo in both hands, before pressing on its handle and biting his lip, stressfully. From the top, a big wall of water was created, quickly turning into a thin wall. It deflected any attack coming from above, below and to the sides. Demons, centuras and other various dark deformities struck, leaping from the ruined rooftops, yet nothing pierced Bancho's determination.

Lisbeth sat atop another boulder, holding both hands together. Isak folded his arms.

"Have you ever seen the opera in Saphrith?" she asked, turning around.

"No?" Isak answered, unsurely looking over.

"It's a place, for those talented enough to steer hearts with their voices, as they bountifully and beautifully echo around the pillars and foundations of that amusing building," she explained, stuffing her nails into the rock behind her. "I managed to sneak in there once, then teleported away. But I wasn't there to kill." she stopped, turning back to Kakinoki.

"Perhaps my mind still wasn't conquered by a needed truth." she snapped her fingers. "I simply watched and listened. The power to captivate someone so effortlessly, with the way your voice goes up and down." she signalled with her hands. "Don't you think Shi Hon would be an amazing opera singer?"

Isak rolled his eyes, sighing. "I don't get why you're doing this," he muttered.

"Who knows?" she quickly stood up, looking into Isak's eye. "People become rulers because they break rules."

"Shi Hon is not a king or a ruler," Isak muttered, gritting his teeth.

***

Eryk joyously strolled through golden and silver halls, swinging one foot forth energetically, while the other relied on Lamon's support.

Ingenius and Pagonia followed, in excited awe, seeing all the decorative patterns and the guards bowing down.

"Citizen files." Eryk suddenly uttered to Lamon.

"Excuse me?" Lamon said, no energy in his voice.

"What room did you put them in?!" Eryk whispered, angrily, and Lamon pointed forward.

"Oh!" Eryk beamed. "Okay!" he turned to the Luffios. "You can follow me inside!"

The two nodded, with smiles on their faces. The four entered a rather dim room, and Eryk sat down on a spinning wooden chair while Lamon lit various candles inside of lamps that quickly illuminated the surroundings in a bright orange, then brushed the dirt and dust off the circular window which found itself right above where the various rivers of Magna met.

"What was his name again?" Eryk asked, scanning through various unorganised papers on an unkempt desk.

"Jeffy, Jeffy Luffio," Pagonia repeated.

"Mhm." Eryk nodded. "See, we're already heading into citizen files and you have yet to tell me how any of this concerns Demonears." he put his hands together, smirking.

"A-" Ingenius raised a finger.

"Stop! I know what you want to say." Eryk smirked. "You're worried that your son might have suffered at the hands of those pricks, I get it." he nodded.

"No, Nuil." Pagonia shook her head. "The little shucklenut stayed in Magna last Yule to attend the test."

"Ahh!" Eryk raised his voice. "Well, then." he nodded and made a strange noise. Lamon fixed the helmet that fell over his beautiful, blue-as-the-sky, eyes.

The Luffios turned to each other, unsurely, and Ingenius gulped. They held their hands for a moment.

"There he is. Jeffy Luffio." Eryk said, now a bit annoyed. "Oh." his expression softened. "He passed the test." he rolled his eyes.

"W-Wait, he did?!" Ingenius smiled, and Pagonia opened her mouth in disbelief.

"Yep. Written down right here. Let me get his Demonear file then." he sighed, facing the desk once more.

Lamon folded his arms. "Were you worried?" he asked.

"O-Of course we were. Our little shucklenut... we thought he would've fled or changed his mind." Pagonia shook her head. "A boy as seemingly weak as him."

"And he passed one of the hardest hurdles out there! It's something to be darn proud of!" Ingenius smiled from ear to ear, looking into Pagonia's eyes, and even a small beam found itself on Lamon's face.

"Here we go." Eryk took out another sheet. "Jeffy Luffio, element, ice. Class, Vitaglia. Guardian Demon, Frost. Demon, Panna. What else do you want to know?"

"W-Well, the obvious." Ingenius shrugged. "Where is he?"

"Should be right here." Eryk rolled his eyes again, and Lamon gave him a mean look. The Nuil unfolded the paper, reading the words written below. "Blah, blah, blah... participated in the... blah..." he growled a little.

All of a sudden, his eyes widened, and his gaze landed on one singular line in the document, written by Kashmir after the attack on Magna.

"What is it?" Pagonia asked, leaning in with a careful smile.

***

When they reached safety, one of the first things that occurred was Pollimer's many attempts at convincing Tenor to go back home. The other Mirillian disagreed, shaking his hands as if to add flavour to his nonexistent argument, but everyone in the troupe including even the welcoming and warm heart of Morio agreed that someone like him shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Although the young Morian promised Tenor that he would bring back some 'juicy opportunities', marking his new goal.

After making it out of Kakinoki, the road towards the three-way split was, oddly enough, straightforward, be it nudged by Anna throwing down yet another boulder and blocking paths for most demons, or due to the simple fact that the roads didn't get any weirder or had things that would slow down the troupe substantially, except for the times where they slept.

Sure, here and there a demon or a centura appeared, but except for the monotony of the expanding darkened halls with a few rivers or waterfalls in the distance, nothing happened, and Pollimer wasn't even sure how far they were to begin with.

"Hm." Ambrosia made a quiet noise, standing behind Pollimer and Bancho who led the way and in front of everybody else, except Jyuzou, who matched their speed. The Tributal's gaze wandered to the ceiling, against all the sharp rocks and pulsing, colourful crystals either reflecting against the surface of the water pools or the fay skin of the Morians.

"Huh?" Jyuzou turned to Ambrosia. "What is it?"

"I'm thinking about something," they muttered, putting a finger near their lips.

"Aren't we all?" Jyuzou asked, half-smiling.

"I like your approach to things, Jyuzou," they admitted. "But I can assure you, whatever's going through my mind now is rather unique, and something I didn't think to bring up to myself earlier. How do you think the Discoverers are handling their mission?"

"I'm not sure." Jyuzou scratched his head and fixed his glasses. "We didn't get any signal from them, and I'm not sure if it would even reach us."

"But they're there to secure our chances, not the other way around." Ambrosia shook their head.

"You can never be too sure." he raised a finger.