Morio's grip around the sword tightened, and he locked his eyes with Isak's, feeling a drowning fear, pulsing in his head. His heart was beating faster than ever, and his hands were shaking and cold.

Despite his vows and raging determination, the Morian was scared. Was it death, or simply the demon standing before him, extending its bending horns and swallowing its saliva at the idea of another victim slaughtered?

Morio felt powerless, he was sure that his sword wouldn't do him any justice, and in the end, he'd lose. There was no other way out of this situation but down the ruins, plummeting to his demise. He thought of his mother, and how he felt back then, but this time, it was his life that was on the line, and he didn't want to admit it, but it felt way more terrifying than what happened back in Mistwick.

He closed his eyes, crawling back and teetering on the edge. He couldn't even dare to glance down, Isak was wary of every move taken, and simultaneously let out a loud laugh, before reaching his hand towards Morio. His sharp nails moved closer to his arms.

"S-Stay back!" Morio swung his sword forward, missing him entirely. "G-Go away!" he yelled out in a panic, feeling a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead and falling onto the snow. "Go away!" Morio's voice broke down.

"It's amazing!" Isak raised his voice, taking another stomp, inching closer towards Morio. "It's so fascinating how desperate they all get, in the face of death! Look around, Morian!" he extended his arms. "Demons are crawling all around! They're all surrounding you, one's even climbing up to try and steal this prize. What are you going to do?! Pray to your stupid Shin?!" he moved his head, sporadically. "No more running now, Morian." he chortled, looking down, with a grin, extending from eye to eye. A snowy wind picked up from behind, with some flakes sticking to Isak's face, highlighting his shining, brutal eyes.

The demon stepped back, readying another punch.

Morio breathed heavily, shaking his head, as if denying that everything here wasn't more than a dream. Maybe, in that aspect, Jyuzou could've been right. He wished none of this was real, much like everything one could consider childish or... strange.

Everything that Morio had worked towards would be gone in a flash, without warning, and much like everyone said, much different from what he imagined. His eyes widened.

Isak swung, before suddenly stopping right in front of Morio's face, who almost fell with a shout. His hand landed on a brick that fell off the structure, but he grabbed onto a side of some broken masonry. Then, he dared to look back at Isak, who glanced down at his stomach.

"Huu..." he breathed in and out, slowly turning around. "But-" he spotted someone, holding a sword through his body. "-how?!" he asked, weakly.

The person yelled out, pulling the weapon back and kicking Isak's side, as he tumbled from the ruins stretching above and into the distant white puffs below.

Morio wrapped himself around in his cloak, and stared forward, shocked and from the snowy hail, stepped out a red silhouette. "A-Atomu?" he asked.

"Get up, Morio," Atomu said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We need to get down from here and hide."

"How?!" Morio yelled out.

"I'll answer all of your questions later, I promise!" Atomu grabbed his hands, and the two jumped above the hole in the ground and onto the next bit of ruins, to large rocks and thick tuk branches.

The demons started crawling around, eyeing Morio and Atomu with their gleaming stares but not acting upon their instincts. At that moment, something held them back. Some fell from the crowns of the many trees, others crawled up the rock from below, with the hailing wind pushing them away.

Morio looked down. In just the span of a few seconds, Isak's body was gone, leaving a small trail of blood behind. He gulped, turning to Atomu, as the two went down into the woods, once more.

***

Jeffy and Jyuzou went up a hill that stood among fifteen trees, all in a circle, leaving an empty spot for the moon to shine in. Both Morians quickly looked around and then Jeffy threw a thin rope onto the big tuk.

"Are we climbing up?" Jyuzou scratched his head.

"What else are we to do, darn it?" Jeffy asked, looking back at him, and breathing, moving up. "You wanna stand here and wait for them to strike, or are you gonna come at them?"

Jeffy leapt where the branches formed a stair-like path up and down, left and right and between the smaller and bigger trees, up towards the ruins and some to the undergrounds.

Jyuzou gulped, before following through. With one hand on a branch, however, he stopped, turning to the side. "Wait, Jeffy!"

"He?" he made a noise but kept treading.

"T-There were demons above in the branches and crowns. I saw them all earlier." he quickly glanced to the sides. "What are we going to do?!" he whispered, panicking.

"They're not attacking us, Jyuzou," Jeffy informed.

"How? W-Why?" Jyuzou put his hands together. "This goes against any of the beliefs and r-rules that humans have about demons!"

"We don't know them, do we? We're not demons to tell what shuckle-seeded things we can do. All this thinking will only make your head hurt, and I'd darn use the opportunity to try if nothing else works!" Jeffy stopped.

"They'll kill us!" he muttered in response.

Jeffy breathed in. "I was afraid too, Jyuzou. When all the lights went out, the two of you disappeared for shuckle good, I was left all alone, with everything towering above me. I don't know why they're here, but... I recalled something Mama said once. When you can't do something because you fear it, do it scared! The thought of the two of you dying struck an even bigger nerve in my darn heart."

Jyuzou fixed his glasses, blinking around a few times.

"Like, you'd never leave Morio behind, if he was in danger, would you? You don't just turn your back on your friends when they need you the most, and, I'd like to think we're that too, you know?" Jeffy nodded.

"I..." Jyuzou stopped for a moment. "A-Alright, I get it." Jyuzou continued, crossing his arms and grinding his teeth, seeing a black silhouette climbing up the tree they stood on. "What's the plan?

"Kill a darn demon, at least a weak one. It'll all be over once that's done!" Jeffy explained.

"Right, we'll need to find Morio first, though." he nodded.

"I saw that Paladian chasing after him earlier, he's not alone! We need to focus on the objective for the three of us and get out of here alive." Jeffy clenched his fist. "Crackers, I'm acting like that's gonna be easy."

"But damn, how do we kill a demon?!" Jyuzou put his hands in his hair. "Ahh, it's all so much!"

"Jyuzou! Get yourself together! I'm starting to think that you're not as cool as I first made you out to darn be!" he pointed, putting his foot up.

"Ah?" Jyuzou moved back. "No! I'm c-cool!"

"Then, let's go!" Jeffy yelled out, hopping around and Jyuzou followed, amongst all the gazes sent their way, and a few hands signalling something to the other creatures. "We need to set up a bigger trap than any we made beforehand! We need it to destroy itself!" Jeffy shouted. "Rocks, lines, ropes, anything will work!"

"Bait?"

"That's one idea as well! You look like the darn person who'd make all these weird plans!" Jeffy continued. "...and they'd somehow work out!"

"No, no! I suck at that!" Jyuzou announced. "I'm... no!"

"Then make something out of what you have. Death or hope, what do you choose?" Jeffy asked.

Jyuzou squinted his eyes, thinking of Morio at that moment. "H-Hope." he gasped.

"Then, don't ask questions! Mama says that if you ask too many, you'll only receive more!" Jeffy climbed up a branch, and the two stopped near an open field, where two ends of the long twigs created a bridge connecting one tuk with another.

***

Morio and Atomu passed by a few larger barks and moved inside a bigger entrance through the roots of the trees, hidden behind a snowdrift. The Paladian signalled him to keep quiet, as he turned to a small hole in the wall, glancing out. He grabbed a big branch that fell off earlier, covering the tight opening. Then, he moved back, sitting on the ground and breathing out in exhaustion.

Morio eyed him carefully, and then Atomu turned to him, biting his lip and squinting his eyes. "We're safe for a bit." he finally spoke up. "As you'd guess, though. We can't sit here until the test ends."

"I know." Morio nodded. "Shouldn't you be with your team, though? I appreciate your help, but..." Morio put his hand on his shoulder, blinking.

"Yeah." Atomu huffed. "There's not much time. Sooner or later, this forest will become so swarmed that none of us will come out alive. Even if they're not attacking, per see." he took another gander, as one demon from above quickly moved out of view.

"Not what I meant, Atomu!" Morio ground his teeth. "We still need to kill a demon!"

Atomu closed his eyes for a moment. "Our team already slaughtered one earlier."

"What?!" Morio raised his voice, and Atomu shushed him, gulping.

"It was that girl, Zuimu. She did it. When we weren't looking, she wandered off from where we sat, and brought its head back, much to our surprise. We tried to get her to explain what happened, but as you'd expect, nothing." Atomu bit his thumb. "She and Chyuuichi are safe, but I heard screams not far from where we were, so I came running." Atomu smiled, putting his hands together. "I think I might've been just fast enough, then."

Morio sighed. "Thank you."

"No need to. Remember what I said back then? We're looking out for each other, especially now." Atomu said. "Don't be afraid to reach your palm out if need be."

Morio nodded again. "Okay." he put his hands on his knees, frowning.

"Now." Atomu breathed out, whispering. "I want to ask you some questions as well. Do you know where Jyuzou and that other Morian are?"

"They ran off together when Jeffy rolled a boulder down," Morio replied. "I didn't see much, though."

"Knowing Jyuzou, he'll probably find his way out of this. Especially when he's with someone else." Atomu continued. "Maybe he'll lose another boot, who knows? He'll squeeze through, though. Your thoughts?"

"I don't know," Morio whispered.

"Hmm?" The Paladian inched closer.

The Morian shook his head.

"Morio?" Atomu was unsure.

"I... I'm worried." Morio said. "But I'm sure nothing will happen."

"Me too, then." Atomu continued. "Best if they find a safe spot, then. I don't know about the others, though" he added. "I glimpsed at that Tributal earlier, Ambrosia. Th-their teammates were dead."

"What?" Morio's eyes widened.

"They were on the ground, repeatedly stabbing a demon," Atomu explained. "One glance later, I spotted that the creature was long dead, yet they insisted on the same thing."

"How did they kill them?" Morio shook his head, opening his mouth.

"N-No clue. There was this scary shine in their eyes as if they were possessed, at the very least. They didn't say anything either. Just... stab after stab, and blood splattered all over those beige ruins."

"Beige ruins?" Morio looked down. "That's Sig-Num Fort!" he moved forward.

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"Back when the goblins first invaded Magna, Tributals held them off in these woods, building a massive wall that they defended for weeks," Morio recalled, standing on his knees.

"Wait, wait, I know the story. The wall fell, but they still managed to slaughter a massive goblin which would've destroyed most of Magna." Atomu pointed.

"As if, there was something there that helped them! L-Like a witch!" Morio stood up.

"Morio, Morio. Calm down. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, alright?" Atomu proposed. "Don't Tributals also have magic powers like some Demonears?"

"Then how did someone like Zuimu also do it without much struggle?" the Morian asked. "That must be the answer!"

"That's..." Atomu bit his thumb, again.

"If we can't get Zuimu to tell us how she did it, then Sig-Num Fort's our only hope," Morio muttered.

"Morio, I'm telling you-"

"I saw a witch before, Atomu!" Morio raised his voice. "I'm sure of it. Please, believe my words, I'm not lying!"

"I d-don't doubt that."

"So we have to call for her. She'll come when she sees me, right?" Morio asked, excitedly. "Let's kill the demon and get the hell out of here, all of us-"

Suddenly, Atomu grabbed Morio's hand, shushing him. Big stomps sounded around the tree they hid in, and a loud breathing noise could be heard. The two of them looked through a small gap, noticing a ten-meter-tall white creature, with a black hole for its face, creating a heavy gust of snow every time it moved along the sleet. It soon passed, but its distant stomps echoed and loomed over their minds.

"Like I thought!" Morio pointed. "It wasn't snowing inside the forest." he gulped. "This demon that caused it."

"Errarion always surprises you, eh?" Atomu asked, breathing out, with a certain strange glance in his eyes. "L-Let's go to that fort, then."

"Before it's too late!" Morio clenched his fist.