The Paladian sighed, standing up. He folded his arms, eyeing the two demons.

"What can that weapon do?" Ronpi seemed slightly intrigued.

"Oh, you know, just... wipe out and eliminate every threat in Errarion!" Sandy made a lot of strange body movements, sitting on a red carpet. Unlike the other room, this one seemed clean, with two beds near shut windows and yet another fireplace separating stone from wood. "If it works and I get enough seed."

"SO COOL!" Chyuuichi yelled.

Atomu sighed. Katha looked at him for a second, before swiftly glancing away and tugging on Ronpi's clothes.

Sandy looked at the two. "Oh, I get it." he smiled. "Do they have a thing for each other?"

"I'm pretty sure they're like siblings!" Chyuuichi nodded.

"I'm talking about the Paladian," Sandy whispered.

The Paladian in question leaned against the doorway, with a rather smug expression. Whatever Chyuuichi reasoned seemed strange enough, but even if he wished to fix his previous mistakes, he had to make the best out of what he had. Fingers tapping against armour, he stared at the two. "I'm waiting."

"Mmh..." Katha scratched the back of her head. "We... uh."

"We ran away back then." Ronpi finished her sentence.

"What else can a coward do?" Atomu shrugged. Sandy seemed interested. He kicked his legs back, putting his hands behind his head and resting them on the bedside. Chyuuichi sat still, turning to both demons. "You ran away to save your skin. Because you were scared of what you did."

"N-No," Katha spoke up. "We..." she stopped. "Okay, we did." she sighed. "I felt awful about my choice, though!"

"Like that's gonna change anything." Atomu shook his head.

"I mean it, okay? Like... you're a demon too, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Sandy looked at her. "Cool!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Atomu asked.

"I'll get there, promise!" she put her hands together.

Atomu raised his eyebrows.

"E-Eventually, we found our way up to the Lignorian Mountains." Ronpi pointed. "Stumbling into that town, Taigase!" he nodded.

"Mhm." she continued. "But that place was..." she gulped. "Weird." she looked up. "Unlike anything we've ever seen."

"What do you mean by that?" Atomu asked, furrowing his brows.

"What are they wearing?" she pointed, strutting through the streets.

One glance from a nearby human only revealed a black cloak with an animal skull covering most of their face. Facing the demons, they only nodded to each other, before bowing.

Ronpi scratched his head, blinking a few times.

"Cult-like." she put her legs together. "All those cold stares from people we expected would hide or attack us on a whim, but none of that ever happened. No human had thought of coming close to hurting us!"

"Even though we were still uneasy from what happened back then, this provided some relief until we could continue with our plans!" Ronpi nodded.

"All until we wandered up to that church in the middle."

The doors flung open, with a dark grin revealing itself from behind the shadows. As a figure stepped out, eyes met Ronpi's shocked glance.

"Da-"

"Disappointing," Leiru uttered, with his hand landing on Katha's shoulder.

"Our father was waiting for us there along with some other demon girl," Ronpi explained. "He... scolded us for not finishing up on our mission."

"Mission?" Chyuuichi chimed in.

"To kill you guys." Ronpi nodded.

"Sorry?" Atomu squinted his eyes.

"That's what he told us to do so we listened! But we failed, so we ran!" Katha continued. "...into another trap."

Atomu seemed genuinely intrigued.

"I've never seen my dad so angry. But he didn't scream or anything, he was as calm as he always was. Calm when locking us away in the church's basement, cold when he tasked those people to..." she looked down. "D-Do this."

Katha revealed thousands of scars across her arm. It was paler than the rest of her greenish body.

Chyuuichi's eyes shrunk.

"They locked us away, tortured us for days or weeks." Ronpi ground his teeth, fingers a little shaky. "C-Collecting all our blood in the process."

"Dad kept saying our otherwise useless power would suit that demon girl better. They took the bow we attacked with, and said that without this gift, we'd be nothing but limp." Katha explained. "...and..." she stuttered.

"He..." Ronpi breathed in.

Grabbing her by her hair, Leiru leaned closer, staring into her one open eye.

"Weaker demons always listen to the strongest in the pack," he whispered. "If you can't crawl, you might as well just die serving as the king's stool. Do you understand? You pathetic weaklings."

He struck.

"Just like back then," Katha spoke, her voice shaky. "A demon attacked another demon. I c-couldn't believe it. Are we not the same?"

"But you did try to kill me," Atomu spoke.

"I know." she closed her eyes. "A-All my life I've always been told that there are enemies that need to be killed, but when it comes to killing it doesn't feel right," Katha explained. "The things they did didn't feel deserved. Their reasoning was strange and we couldn't understand half of what they were saying."

"Cultish for sure!" Sandy muttered. "That reminds me of something."

"I don't know if I wanted to harm you guys, or... if I was just told to do so because otherwise I'd get punished," Katha spoke.

"We managed to escape, though." Ronpi nodded. "One time one of those humans left the door unlocked by accident-"

"...ya did the thing ya do the best." Chyuuichi continued.

"We didn't come empty-handed."

"Definitely," Atomu added. "If I believe the things you're saying, and the fact that no one in this room has attacked each other as of yet-"

"No." Katha stood up. "Loud and proud, I heard it." she turned to the window. "Those people, my father and that girl. They want to attack Saphrith."

Atomu's expression shifted from moderate, intrigued anger to mild shock.

"Using all that power they talked about, summoning something I don't understand." Katha closed her eyes. "They want to harm everyone here. Humans want to hurt other humans like that demon girl hurt us."

Katha stood in the doorway, hands pressed against the wooden panel, eyes wide open, with a wound going down her lips.

"He's not listening, is he?" Leiru asked.

"I can't follow orders that aren't from him, Sir Leiru." the girl shook her head.

"Open your eyes," Leiru commented, his cane tracing something along the ground. "You were the one that started it all. Marking these shapes with your very own blood. But you never made a strong enough sacrifice."

"I atone for that sin." She responded.

"This is what he'd want us to do." He grinned.

"What are they talking about...?" Katha whispered, with Ronpi shaking his head in response.

"I'm sorry." she continued.

Leiru shook his head. "If it isn't going to be Katha and Ronpi, it's going to be all the humans in the world, stuck sticking swords against one another. Saphrith," he muttered. "It all zeroes in there."

"S-So, please." Katha put her hands together. "We promise we won't harm you!"

Chyuuichi quickly turned to Atomu, who, even if he did look a little shaken up, wasn't entirely convinced. Nevertheless, it was the Mirillian who spoke up. "Of course! Hearing all that..."

"How can I tell you haven't made that up?" Atomu shook his head before his eyes landed on Sandy, who slowly raised his hand. He rolled his eyes, before nodding.

"About that cult, foo! Judy brought something back in once." Sandy scratched his head. "Sacrifice people to make better demons and whatnot."

"Really?"

"I think I still have that book she showed me! I can't read though!" Sandy quickly stood up, wobbling out of the room.

Atomu looked back at the two demons.

"W-We promise we won't step in your way again." Katha gulped. "Swear it on my father's name!"

"That doesn't make you fighters." Atomu leaned against the doorway. "Because if what you're telling is true then it means that you won't be able to face people trying to harm you," he asked, opening his mouth slightly. "You'll just stand there and take it."

Ronpi turned to Katha, and she slowly shook her head. Atomu furrowed his eyebrows, putting one hand in his pocket and staring at the ground.

Maybe, he didn't want to fight too. Chyuuichi eyed him for a bit, before Sandy stepped back in, carrying a light tome in one hand.

The Mirillian quickly snatched it from him, straightening up and tapping Atomu's shoulder. The Paladian glanced, as Chyuuichi opened one of the few pages in the middle.

There it was, written as black as day, in the same handwriting as before, suggesting that the mysterious Judy researched on her own. Ink wrote about the same things Sandy described, with a note at the end. "Wakon. Look into it further."

"Wakon," Atomu repeated, blinking. He put the book down and stared at the two demons.

Cults weren't something uncommon in Errarion. You'd often hear more mature witchtales about humans stepping on that dark path and creating something murkier. But that was supposedly all it was. Made-up stories.

"It says here that most cases were human sacrifice. Then why would you be involved?" Atomu asked.

"I'm not sure. It was a fitting punishment, as our father said." Katha gulped. "Now I have a reason to wear that mask."

"You..." The Paladian stopped. "You could've just heard that somewhere." he walked into the other room, signalling with his hand.

"Atomu!" Chyuuichi called to him. "Please."

"Why do you want to forgive them so bad?"

Atomu stopped again. He kept looking at nothing, but Chyuuichi knew he was thinking about something. He had a hunch and squinted his eyes.

All of a sudden, a sound came from outside. Bells rang, echoing through the streets of Oldenklow, carrying a strange feeling through the air and an announcement heading their way.

As if alerted, the Paladian took a few steps towards the window and peeked out of the curtains. "I-It's starting."

"Oh, crappers!" Chyuuichi put both hands on his head.

"Sandy, how do we get back to the castle?" Atomu asked.

"Just through the door. This isn't even the main laboratory, but they closed off Montana Street because of an elephant parade."

"Ele-" Atomu shook his head. "I don't want to know. C-Can you keep them here until we return?"

Ronpi and Katha eyed Sandy.

"Of course!" Sandy muttered. "They still have lots of seed to replenish, then harvest! Although, there's a limit, so make sure to return."

"You need to explain this in detail later on, pal!" Chyuuichi stated, patting his back.

"Judy knows more, even if she's hesitant about my plans." Sandy shook his head. "Ooh, she's gonna kill me for these two." he pointed at the Demons, who gulped. "Anyways, of course!"

Atomu raised an eyebrow.

"But I'll need you to do something for me later, in return!" He raised a finger.

"D-Do what?"

"You'll see! I still have to make sure the seed is plenty for that other gadget. Plans, too... recipe book..." Sandy explained. "WHERE IS JUDY?!"

Atomu glanced at Chyuuichi, who seemed strangely amazed by Sandy's erratic behaviour.

With another pint of a yellow liquid (it was apple juice, I promise), Sandy breathed in, air puffing his chest up. "Okay!" he raised his voice. "Good luck out there!"

***

After stepping through a corridor, erecting a path from yet another door towards a wall at the end of the hallway, the two found a barely visible doorknob sticking out in the middle. Atomu started taking his vial out, but Chyuuichi digressed, immediately turning it on a whim.

Atomu tried saying something, but the sound of movement stopped his thoughts halfway. The wall was... light, to say the least. Well, it was only painted to resemble everything else in the unlit hallway but turned out to be a rather hefty bookshelf on the other side.

"There's lots and lots of hidden paths in the castle!" Sandy uttered.

"Why?" Chyuuichi asked.

It was a family thing. Lots of rulers often found themselves desperately avoiding any interactions in the slightest. What was a castle without a hidden room or thirty-five?

Atomu sighed, leaning against a wall, helmet dropping to his side.

Chyuuichi, in turn, put his hand on the bookshelf, perhaps searching for one of those books that in witchtales opened up the mentioned secret corridor. Alas, they travelled back to his Paladian friend, who stared at the ground again.

Chyuuichi's back met the same wall, as he scoured over to Atomu, who dared to take a small glimpse.

The hall was quiet. Marble floors contrasted with the massive, flowy purple curtains, which obscured the sunlight, but one look outside suggested everything else was noisy.

The only thing that echoed were footsteps and Atomu's words.