...as if hearing his deaf calling, something sparkled between the darkness.

A light blue crystal appeared above the two, with another connecting elsewhere.

Kania observed sparkling ice lines zooming from one end to another before creating a complete circle around the premises.

Then, arrows grew out, pointing towards the middle and exploding within a burst of ice. Chill expanded everywhere within the frozen air. The thick fog splattered over the walls, painting them with the same shining frost, and the mermaid disappeared for that instant.

Instead, Chyuuichi came flying out and landed on the shore, sliding with ice below his feet.

"Told ya I had a plan!"

"To drown?" Tenor asked, and Kania shook his head.

"No, but to create this circle!" he pointed around. "The problem was, her tail was wrapped around my weapon and I couldn't lift it."

"You a Demonear?" Kania asked, turning around.

"Of course I am, what did you think?"

"You?" Kania turned to Tenor.

"Apprentice. Perhaps soon to be one. Demon researcher!" he nodded.

"Then can any of you tell me what demon we just witnessed?!" Kania raised his voice.

"A mermaid." the two responded.

"Mermaids don't exist!" Kania yelled.

"Okay, know-it-all!" Tenor folded his arms. "Have ya ever seen a demon with a fish's tail?"

"Not yet, but-"

"...and never! Thank whatever that she finally let go at the end, though! One more second and I would've been dead!" Chyuuichi sat down.

"Ah, no!" Tenor shook his head. "It was this guy who threw my spear!"

"Spear?" Chyuuichi blinked a couple of times.

"Had it in his backpack." Kania informed, standing up.

"Wooden spear coated in demon seed!" Tenor smiled.

"Don't call me no expert, but I think if it wasn't a demon, the only thing it would do is-"

Suddenly, the weapon came flying back, grazing Chyuuichi's hair and sticking into the icy exteriors of the wall.

"Anger her." he finished before the three turned.

His words came true, unfortunately. The mermaid climbed around the rocks before diving into the water, with her face deformed and seeped in angered blood, moss and whatever made that terrifying creature.

This time, however, the others might've been a bit faster. Chyuuichi readied Morgana before the creature jumped out to strike in from above.

His scythe's tip met her fist before vines started absorbing most of the ice, sparkling right below his feet.

"T-Tenor!" Chyuuichi yelled, bending under the pressure. "Ya have anything in those bags that could help?"

"P-Probably!" he grinned.

"Then run for it, damn it! You-" Chyuuichi turned to Kania, who ran to the other side. His eyes were glued to the tail resting near the shore, with the Haran's plans heading the same way.

However, within that moment of inadvertence, he almost gave in to the pressure. Bending further down, Chyuuichi let go with some recoil and a wound near his nose, before the mermaid raised herself and struck at the ground beneath. He rolled off to the side, as the pressure sent Tenor plummeting from the cliffs above into the water.

Chyuuichi ground his teeth before chucking his spear across, as the ice arena created a slide that propelled him towards the treasure.

The mermaid turned, screaming, zooming towards the other Mirillian.

The tail that Kania was just about to strike at flailed up, sending the Haran elsewhere, and Chyuuichi into a bind.

He rolled his eyes before grinning, and then gulping.

"I haven't tried this one yet," he muttered, as the next second was detrimental to the rest of the battle. He screamed, before sliding his feet into the water, right as its thin surface created a thick layer of ice that shortened the paths. He raised Morgana, just as the creature was about to strike at Tenor with all of her hairs and a tail that flung Kania elsewhere, again.

Then, the mermaid quickly spun around. Chyuuichi yelled out, and her fist struck not at the blade, but the wooden handle holding it in place.

Snapping Morgana in half.

The blade was chucked across towards the side where Kania got back to his senses, and the wood rested in Chyuuichi's angered hands.

"Damn it! Atomu was right!"

Another punch struck at the ice forming below Chyuuichi, as the Mirillian now slid elsewhere with his hand freezing the water.

His eyes couldn't help but focus on trying to make the best out of the situation. Perhaps he wasn't as good with planning everything out, since usually striking at the target was the perfect answer.

However, the solution started forming itself right in front of his eyes. Kania went for the same target again, trying to pull Morgana's blade out of the evergrowing ice, while the mermaid focused on him, and not Tenor, who pulled everything out, seemingly searching for the perfect solution.

Then, the mermaid struck again, but her fist connected with the water.

A splash exploded the ice beneath Chyuuichi, and with Tenor's terrified scream, he was chucked across to an inaccessible chunk of the cave, with Yanma's nails freezing and covering most of his fall.

He had trouble breathing in, and in turn, the two sped up, with the mermaid heading either way before being distracted.

There it gleamed too, as it fell right out of Chyuuichi's pocket.

The seashell was unmoving, with a few sounds that weren't the ice reverberating or the yells of the two. Kania screamed something about a strategy, and Tenor reassured them he was working on it.

But the voice Chyuuichi heard wasn't theirs. It was something different, and one that forced him to sit up.

He brushed the blood off his hand into the ice and lifted the seashell, moving it closer towards his ear.

"Her hair." a soft voice welcomed him, as the moment, ironically, froze around him. "...is the weak point."

It was seemingly unconvincing. He wasn't sure if it was just his very active imagination playing a trick or the actual property of the item.

"Chyuuichi. Cut through Syren's hair."

Chucking the wooden broken end to the side and stuffing the seashell, Chyuuichi stood up.

Either way, what else was there to do but try?

"CUT THE HAIR!" he yelled, as the two turned, with the mermaid heading towards him.

Kania managed to pull the blade out of the ice, before heading for the tail. It barely cut through its end, as he rested at the edge.

Tenor rushed through his items before chucking a fine machete Chyuuichi's way and clenching his fists in anticipation. The mermaid yelled out before her angered eyes stared into the hope remaining in his.

A small lizard climbed around Chyuuichi's neck, as his nails sharpened into ice. "Don't have my Morgana, so both of ya, help me make it here!"

...and as was said, he leapt right above the next punch she sent. The machete flailed in the air, as Kania chucked Morgana's end towards Chyuuichi. Ice extended towards the two, catching and seemingly forcing both into one big weapon, at the very moment.

When Syren turned, however, she couldn't possibly punch again. Her hair was cut within the next second, and a scream permeated the area before everything came crashing down.

The icy walls turned back into the brown, gold and black exterior they once were. The crystals above illuminated the area, and her body descended into the depths below.

Tenor and Kania rested on the same cliff, glancing at each other, before Chyuuichi landed in the middle, breathing out.

He put Morgana's frozen blade back into its sheath, barely, and passed the machete to Tenor.

Kania scratched the back of his head.

"So... are the two of you going to tell me this story?" he asked.

Chyuuichi breathed in. Tenor breathed out.

"Told you it wasn't a witchtale!" the two screamed, simultaneously, before looking away.

"How'd ya figure it out?" Tenor asked.

"The seashell spoke to me!"

"Aahh..." Kania made a strange expression.

"As if I'd believe that!" Tenor continued.

"Okay, then who created your machete?"

"I did!"

"Haha! Mirillians aren't forgers! Ever!"

"I turn the tide!"

"The seashell spoke to me!"

Kania moved towards the exit, sighing out. "It's not them. Any of them."

***

"Syren?" Judy asked, tending to both wounds in the basement.

"That's what the seashell said!" Chyuuichi repeated before squinting in pain as the cotton ball seeped in some watery extract.

"Wasn't that a witchtale of some lone mermaid in the caves that attacks passersby and steals all their items?" Sam asked, leaning against a doorway. "It's a story for children, so they don't go too far into the caves."

"Guess witches don't tell lies!" Tenor folded his arms.

"I'm sorry, who is he again?" Sam pointed.

"Saaam!" Ranpa yelled out. "Help me out with his stuff!"

"Don't get too cocky." Judy sighed. "It rests in Sandy to decide if you're going to stay by our side."

Tenor made a very strange, puppy-like face.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Judy yelled.

"Knowing the man, I wouldn't be worried about anything!" Chyuuichi fake-punched his shoulder.

"It's dislocated. You're hurting him." Judy muttered. "...and Chyuuichi here is right, too. Recalling a few months earlier." she sighed, ostentatiously. "Let's say, our crew was VERY varied."

"What did you say your speciality was again? Except for all that demon book stuff." Sam asked.

"Belials?" Katha asked, fixing her mask.

"Legions, Jokers?" Ronpi continued, adjusting his helmet. "What are we, Katha?"

"Shh, he doesn't know!" she slapped his helmet.

"Weapons! Many weapons!"

"IT'S HEAVY, SAM! I'M GONNA DIE!" Ranpa yelled.

"Coming, coming!" the other Paladian answered, quickly disappearing around the corner.

"Well, Sandy's been pretty busy with a certain something lately. I wasn't supposed to spoil the surprise but..." she fixed her hat. "You might just be what we needed."

Tenor grinned, chuckling.

"Told ya." Chyuuichi blinked.

"That the toilet's in the other building?"

"No, the other thing!"

***

"I said it was just a hunch. No need to be all mad at me!" Lady Mama added as Kania put his head on the counter.

"Not mad, just confused."

"It's rarely not mad with you." she chuckled.

"I follow some Mirillian and end up fighting a mermaid, as they called it!" he uttered, with a few Paladians sneaking in strange glances.

"Kania boy..." Lady Mama whispered.

"Yeah, like I'd believe that." he grinned. "Whatever demon it was, we ended up defeating it. So I guess it's proof of some other strength, 'cept for the thing you were talking about."

"Heh. If I were you, I'd gather all my strength for the occasion." she slid a pint.

"Still. I'll keep an eye out."

As he took a sip, the door behind him opened. Kania turned, and as his gaze seemingly caught onto something, it was abruptly shut.

He breathed in, before continuing his drink.

On the other side of A Royal Pig, two figures stood in the rain.

"That's our opponent?" a stoic voice muttered.

The shorter, hooded one breathed out, before taking in even more. "Now I'm excited."

"I'd be scared, in your place."