Sounds echoed through the caves like thick drums bouncing off the ceilings and ground, eventually fading into darkness.

Water broke out of its rocky prisons, dripping in small streams or big, heavy flows, travelling into parts a human would never reach.

Among the plethora of noises, something stood out like a sore thumb. A howling, followed by strange swiping. The massive demon that once fought Bancho was now seeking new victims. He lost his weapon in a blind chase earlier, but something else took its place. Over time his arms grew in size and his legs created heavy footsteps and left markings in the heavy, rocky ground. Then, they'd appear smaller, and his entire body grew dark whenever he tried concealing his presence.

A thinking demon would use this knowledge to trick the fools that he seeks, but this one was simply lucky. Its states kept switching every thirty seconds or so, and whenever Atomu would hear the familiar sound, he'd close his eyes, not knowing what awaited ahead.

He flinched whenever he felt it growing closer, while he essentially hugged the rock he laid on, which stood at the edge of a drop into one of the caves they'd seen while minecarting through to this cavern. At that moment, a thought crossed his mind – if he were to stand up and pretend to join it, maybe the demon would spare him. Perhaps he was so good at pretending to be human that even with twisting beige horns, others believed in his humanity.

All those complicated notions disappeared in an instant when the Paladian heard a different sound coming from the edge, a familiar groan, followed by a rather loud "Damn it!"

Atomu sat up, breathing out, before he saw Chyuuichi's hand climbing on. "Ch-Chyuuichi!" he grabbed his arm, pulling him forward and forcing him to land behind the same boulder, which was fortunately large enough to handle both.

The Paladian immediately shushed him, and Chyuuichi blinked twice, nodding.

"Is it still here?" Chyuuichi asked, eyeing around.

"It keeps appearing and disappearing," Atomu whispered. "I don't get it." he shook his head.

And then, out of the blue, the footsteps sounded again, closer than ever. Atomu instantly covered his mouth, and closed his eyes, while Chyuuichi looked up, barely visible from above. He caught a glimpse of the demon, its pulsating, dark blue mouth, spewing out a strange ooze that dropped below and vanished into thin air.

The steps faded, and its dark body grew even dimmer, with only one light shining for a few more seconds. Chyuuichi moved, shaking the Paladian's shoulder. "It's over."

"Oh, my." Atomu opened his eyes and muttered.

"It's still close, though."

Atomu sighed, pushing his arms down on his lap. "We'll never get out this p-predicament. It keeps looping because it knows we're here. It won't leave until it finds us." he continued.

"Then we have to fight it!" Chyuuichi clenched his fist.

"No, Chyuuichi!" Atomu grabbed his arm. "If it swooped us in an instant then we don't stand a physical chance!"

Chyuuichi eventually noticed the blood pouring from Atomu's forehead and dripping onto his nose. He turned to his wounds, the open, gushing spot on his hand and a scar going across his mouth. He trembled a bit, wanting to muster the courage to say something, but then again, the silence was broken by the familiar echoes.

Closer, just a little closer, and it felt like both of their hearts were pumping out of their chests. Even though Atomu at first assumed that Chyuuichi didn't take things as seriously as the others, found himself in discomfort with the realisation of just how bad the situation truly was.

When it faded away after an uncomfortable growl, he opened his eyes once more, and Chyuuichi inched closer to the Paladian, putting his bleeding hand on his fingers for a moment. The Mirillian ground his teeth and then turned around, lying on his back and staring at the barely glowing ceiling.

"Phew." Chyuuichi breathed out. "I haven't seen ya this scared, Atomu. I feel like yer fear is often there, but the expression yer making terrifies me too."

Atomu turned to him. "Huh?"

"Back to what ya were saying... no one would want to leave this world with regrets, right?" Chyuuichi smiled.

Atomu sat up, unsurely looking at Chyuuichi. "What..."

"I'm sorry, Atomu. Maybe if not for my dumb plans, we wouldn't have ended right here. With Bancho out of our reach, Zuimu nowhere to be found, and us knocking on a door that never answers! Ooh, it reminds me of the entrance to Soban, then. Pity I won't be able to see it again."

Atomu's eyes twitched. "Chyuuichi, no! What are you saying?"

"What?"

"Agh." Atomu breathed in. "Well, I don't know! Look... what a-about us being special? What happened to that?" he grabbed him by his scarf. "Are you going to give that up?"

"I can't keep believing in something so idiotic. But I guess that proves yer point, Paladian!" he pointed. "Not sure if we're gonna make it out of this one."

"No, no! Chyuuichi! Get a grip already! We aren't going to die!"

"Atomu, don't lie to me. I can see it in yer face."

"See it? What?!" Atomu raised his voice, letting go. "This doesn't mean we're going to give up, Chyuuichi! Even if there's no way out, special people survive against all odds, remember?"

Chyuuichi's smile turned into a frown.

"If that's what this all leads to then, hey, maybe I'm stupid too!" Atomu yelled out, and Chyuuichi blinked. His expression quickly shifted. "Maybe even worse than you, who the hell knows?! But I'm fine with being dumb as long as I get to live, okay?! You too, Chyuuichi, you too!"

Then, the footsteps sounded again, heading towards the rock where the two rested. They immediately went quiet, both slowly gazing up, awaiting what was surely to come. The demon's face appeared, staring down at them, and making a strange, oozy and perhaps hypnotic noise.

Its face, which beforehand resembled a shining circle, turned into a sinister smile, and its giant hand immediately struck the ground in the front, large enough to hit Atomu and Chyuuichi. They stared helplessly, as it mercilessly headed towards them, and both of their hearts stopped at that very second.

Then, it stopped.

Atomu opened one eye, which was earlier covered with his hand, and saw the shaking fist frozen mid-strike. He pulled on Chyuuichi's cloth and immediately moved out of the range, just as the arm connected to the ground, sending the two flying, relatively safely.

That's when Chyuuichi noticed something that made his jaw drop. Zuimu stood on the demon's nape, with the Purpur Warfare in her hand and bloodshot eyes. She dug her hand out from beneath the demon's skin and kicked its back. A dark pulse went from the tip of the spear towards her leg and travelled into its flesh, pushing him forward and letting her slide down its frame.

Zuimu breathed out, catching eye contact with Chyuuichi, and then bounced off towards the two, grabbing them both by their hands, spinning around and throwing them right at the creature. She rested by the edge, clung to the wall, and observed as the two screamed, soaring head-first into what they thought would've been their demise.

...and following what anyone would've done at this point, they grabbed onto their weapons which were already stuck to the creature's back beforehand, and sliced through its rough and sandy, grey skin. It shrieked, violently shaking around, yet the two desperately held on, fearful and confused.

Zuimu knew that simply hanging around wouldn't achieve anything for the two. Once again, she forced herself to plummet towards the monster. She snapped here and there, still managing to move her legs bit by bit, and kicked, thrashed, and struck carefully, avoiding its shots. Atomu and Chyuuichi finally let go, gracefully hitting the ground, as their weapons bounced off their heads.

The girl wrestled, running around its body and sticking her hands below its tissue digging into the blood that spurted out beneath its feet and caused it to slip, moving its hand upwards. She took this opportunity and ran, as far as she could and with as much force as her legs let her use. She jumped on its rather frail-looking finger, as it broke in half and split apart from the body.

The creature wasn't going to give up as easily though.

It roared, and Atomu and Chyuuichi covered their ears but Zuimu's eventually started bleeding with a wave of shock. The two yelled her name twice, but she didn't seem to catch on.

Still, she wasn't going to give up either.

She put the three-pronged spear below, forced its grip under her clothes, and started striking with both fists, maximizing her input. The demon flipped around, throwing Zuimu forward, but she managed to sink her hand in fast enough, quickly returning to the creature, striking yet again.

Once more, she coughed out blood, and then spit from below her mask onto the demon's nape. Then, furrowing her eyebrows, she stabbed at the root of his neck, desperately trying to slice its head off, and partially, things started to look up. Seeing as parts of his skin moved, a glow gleamed in her eyes.

Then, something occurred that she had no way of foreseeing. The demon turned to the technique it used to outsmart Bancho, all those days ago. Small bones appeared beneath Zuimu's feet and wrapped around her legs, before climbing to her body, scratching it multiple times. The formed skeletons came out of the missing finger, and soon enough, enticed the two in the same prison.

If it were to die, it would take Zuimu with her. The demon slowly took a step towards the edge.

"ZUIMU!" Atomu and Chyuuichi yelled out, extending their arms and running forward. However, they were unsuccessful.

The two plummeted down into the deep abyss.

Atomu breathed in, sharply, barely teetering at the brink of the calcium cliff, and looking down, empty-eyed.

Both were taken aback, and no word was uttered for quite some time. What followed was, exactly ten seconds of silence. The two looked at each other in disbelief, then glimpsed back into the hole. The worst part, was, that both of them knew that Zuimu would never scream out if something like this happened. Even if, they wouldn't be able to hear it. They didn't want to have to see it happen so soon.

...and mentioning things that happen out of the blue, they didn't have to wait long to be barraged with something else entirely. The Paladian turned, and before he could mutter what brew inside his head, a massive wave of water spewed out of the rocky wall, crushing it to bits and revealing two blooded figures, clumped together.

Leopold took the initial move and managed to put Bancho in a headlock, demanding staring at the terrified two.

Bancho closed his eyes, barely able to catch the limited air that travelled around. Atomu avoided the water, jumping to the side, while Chyuuichi's grasp tightened around the Morgana. He ground his teeth, angered and immediately went into action, moving his weapon and trying to hit Leopold the same way he did in Magna.

Only now, except for a fast kick in the stomach, the Los-Los Hammer acted on its own accord and hit Chyuuichi's leg, sending him down on the ground further away from the two.

Leopold glanced at the Paladian, who moved further away from the liquid, with his shaking hand holding Knrhum's Blade.

Bancho desperately tried to reach Saxyo, which lay between a few stones far away but was unsuccessful.

"I thought someone in the possession of Knrhum's Blade wouldn't be scared of something as trivial as specks of water." Leopold suddenly uttered, as hot air blew out right from beneath his mask.

Atomu furrowed his eyebrows, turning in shock.

"Life is full of twists and turns, then. One day you find yourself lost across the sea, and the next day, you fight what others looked up to." Leopold uttered, as the Los-Los Hammer moved towards Bancho, ready to smash his face in. "It's strange, to say the least."

Clenching his fist, Atomu threw himself forward, ready to slash.

Alas, something once again stopped him.