He closed his eyes, excepting the last move. His limbs didn't budge, his head violently shook. But, amidst the cacophony of demonic noises, a warm, inviting sound echoed in the distance. Atomu hesitantly raised his hurt and exhausted head.

"W-Water?" he mouthed, his words turning into unsure mutters. Even Pollimer managed to budge, despite the severity of his massive wounds, and stared downwards intensely, opening his mouth in disbelief and panic. Atomu immediately concealed his demonic features, breathing out in exhaustion.

The invisible demon made one more sound, which grew closer and closer to Atomu, and the Paladian looked up, breathing in.

Then, it appeared.

A waterfall climbed up the staircase, which seemed illogical. The massive wave washed over both of their bleeding bodies and soon disappeared into the ground. Atomu moved, soaked, and when he expected nothing, something appeared.

It was Bancho, flying through the air, much like the sparrow he called for. In complete silence, as if entranced in a strange dance, he moved Saxyo like it was just a pebble against the wind, and slashed forward.

The silence was broken by the demon's yells, as blood poured out from where its stomach must've been. Atomu immediately waddled to the side, breathing in and out, as Bancho's eyes gleamed a different colour than usual. There was something green, hiding amongst the blues, which made Atomu gasp in pure awe.

His wounds were gone, and the worried expression on his face washed away, replaced with a daft grin.

The two bodies fell to the ground, the demon rolled further off the staircase, while Bancho stood, fixing his dry jacket. Pollimer got up, spewing some water out, and Atomu shook his head, quickly.

"H-How?" Atomu uttered as if he lost all manners in speech.

"Simple," Bancho answered, forcing a smile. "Your Guardian Demon fights for its survival. Fear attacks, magic... but you knew that already, didn't you?"

"Ah-" Atomu raised his wet finger.

"...and when all of the other struggles fail to work, it clings onto you for help," Bancho answered, half-smiling, looking at his hand, flipping it around, revealing two missing fingers. Atomu's eyes widened, and the old Morian quickly wrapped around the bandage that earlier found itself near the wound on its stomach. "Pretty simple. It gives, it takes. Much like anything in life."

"There's nothing simple about this." Atomu quickly shook his head. "What did you do, Mr Bancho?"

"I'd spend another day trying to explain this, Atomu. You'll learn soon, trust me." he nodded. "Now, let's not waste our precious time," Bancho said, and Pollimer waddled over, hyperventilating almost, from sudden exhaustion. "We might get ambushed once more."

Bancho squinted his eyes, hearing a couple of sounds from the thick hush, before running into the dark exit.

"I'm not good with metaphors and all that!" Atomu yelled, his voice echoing back to the staircase.

Lisbeth sat atop, carefully watching. "The Demonear still fails despite all the given odds. Then someone else comes in to save him. One strong demon can defeat one strong Demonear, two is where we draw the line, however." she spoke. "Isak."

The bleeding demon's invisibility wore off, and Isak kept pressuring the massive wound in his stomach.

"I'm surprised it didn't kill you." Lisbeth jumped down, putting her hand above his massive wound. The blood from Isak's body connected to her fingertips, much like strings, before they started a playful dance which closed the gaping hole in his body.

When Isak's energy and strength returned, he grabbed onto her shoulder, gritting his teeth. "I'm not your toy."

"Precisely. You're strong, and I wanted to test your limit. We all have our very own ways of fighting against the tide." Lisbeth explained. "Despite bleeding out, you desperately held onto life. I have to amend you for that."

"What the hell did that old bastard do?!" Isak turned to the exit. "What strength?" he suddenly went silent.

"We're stronger," Lisbeth uttered.

Isak breathed in, his half-closed eyes meeting hers. "We could've gotten rid of him. You could've jumped in and helped me."

"That wouldn't be effective." she shook her head. "We can't kill them just yet."

"Screw your stupid plan!" Isak yelled out. "Even Shi Hon's minion turned against your flaw! This is where he was supposed to take them out."

"Stupid? But you're playing along," she uttered.

"I don't care about reputation, I just want them dead!" he yelled out, his voice echoing through the staircase.

Lisbeth stood up, backing away a little, and Isak sat up, angered. "When they reach the Star Sun Cave, your wish will be fulfilled. Leopold's already waiting, and I doubt you'd want to waste his time."

"You're wasting everyone's with your wishful plans," he spoke through his teeth. "You prove nothing. Again."

Lisbeth chuckled. "We'll see."

***

It was bound to happen, sooner or later, that many of the troupe members would meet, despite being separated for such a long time.

About four days passed since they reached the crossroads, and after Totinoi, Chyuuichi, Elton and Jyuzou headed through the open caves which kept going down, as opposed to the stairs Bancho's group encountered. The dimmed halls turned into triangular patterns with many winding corridors, and it seemed Jyuzou's loud complaints were met with a loud groan. Back then, Morio swore that he kept hearing an annoying voice teasing him in the back of his head.

At first, the white-haired Morian suspected that a demon might be playing a trick on him, and started worrying about Jyuzou, walking through the corridor and yelling his name out, before finally stumbling upon the other annoyed Morian, who stood in the middle with furrowed eyebrows.

Jyuzou enjoyed the moments he spent without Morio's company, and the two, despite being close, weren't exactly happy to see each other. Ambrosia immediately engaged in a conversation with Jyuzou, with the latter showing them all the drawings he made of Totinoi, while Chyuuichi struck up one with Morio.

The Morian didn't notice a change in Chyuuichi's behaviour, so they talked like nothing ever happened, and when I say talked they rambled on and on for three hours, all about weapons and techniques, and Chyuuichi brought up Totinoi again, stealing the map from Jyuzou's hands.

Elton tried talking with Anna.

A few hours after that, the six travelled alongside green waterfalls that fell into the same shade of water which turned the surrounding formations a thick lush, and it was at that moment that Chyuuichi swore he saw Atomu's silhouette on the other side. Despite everyone's suggestions, the half-demon did not hesitate to step through the water, and lo and behold, his assumptions were right, as they usually were.

Atomu wanted to talk with Chyuuichi, but the Mirillian was too hyper to enjoy the quiet moments. Simply put, the joy of being reunited with everyone else made him really happy.

The troupe decided to rest for the night, in a small, orange cave, lit up by both ends of Ambrosia's Guardian Demon. Mentioning the Tributal, they immediately came to aid and used everything they had in their small medicinal pouch to mend the various wounds still present on everyone's bodies.

Atomu quickly noticed that Pollimer seemed fine despite what he saw, even refusing Ambrosia's help. He quickly brushed it off, interested in something else entirely.

"I think there's a waterfall on the other side." Jyuzou investigated, tapping the wall, while Morio observed, folding his arms. Whenever their glances met, Morio would shake his head in disapproval. "What's your deal, idiot?" Jyuzou asked, gritting his teeth.

"Ha!" Morio pointed. "It's the waterfall that we just passed! How foolish."

"No it isn't!" Jyuzou raised his voice. "That was miles away!"

"No, it wasn't!"

"What's the point of this conversation?" Elton asked. "It's stupid,"

Morio opened his mouth, shocked. "Stupid? Okay, but did you know that the fairies-"

"You already told everyone!" Anna raised her voice.

Morio gasped, glancing at the mentioned three and stepping away in mild disappointment.

Jyuzou continued, putting his ear against the wall.

Atomu sat on a stone, overlooking the old Morian who mouthed something, sitting next to Ambrosia. As if still sour over not understanding his words, he looked around the small cavern, meeting Elton who sharpened his dull tools, Anna who desperately tried falling asleep and Morio, who faced the wall, crossing his arms.

His attention finally shifted to Chyuuichi, who jumped around without a care in the world, which quickly reminded Atomu of his sudden behaviour change earlier.

"Yo." The Paladian said, and Chyuuichi screamed for half a second, covering his mouth with his hands and stopping.

"Hi," Chyuuichi answered.

Atomu was a little confused.

"Sorry, I never know how to start conversations!" Chyuuichi chuckled a little.

"Me neither, but we've known each other for over a year so why would that be a problem?"

Chyuuichi shrugged, before sitting down on the ground. "Okay, now that we have a moment of calm." Chyuuichi's eyes which sprinted around the room suggested otherwise. "Maybe you'll tell me what you saw on your way here?! I already know Morio's, I'm sure something interesting must have happened!"

"It's a long story." Atomu shook his head, almost reminding himself of Bancho's words that denied any explanations.

"Well, mine was a long one too! But I won't hesitate if ya want to know all the details!" Chyuuichi smirked.

"Not all of them, since I'm kind of tired." Atomu rubbed his eye. "Just... you. That's what I'm curious about."

"Me?" Chyuuichi pointed. "My story?"

"K-Kinda?" Atomu signalled with his hand. "Like, what happened earlier."

"Hm." Chyuuichi put his hand on his chin. "Oh, right!" he smiled. "It was just a little spur between two people, don't worry about it!"

"Two people? You seemed to take a lot on yourself back then." Atomu was surprised, playing with his hair.

"Pff, it wasn't as big of a deal as you'd think!" he punched his shoulder. "I think they were being a little dramatic!"

"Who? Who's 'they'? Ambrosia?"

"Ambrosia?" Chyuuichi asked. "Who's Ambrosia?"

"Never mind. Who on Errarion are you talking about, then?" Atomu demanded explanations.

"Ah..." Chyuuichi scratched his nose. "It's a long story."

Atomu clenched his fist and opened his mouth a little, before finally giving up. He was content, either way, Chyuuichi was back to how he once was, and that's what mattered to him. The same smiles, the goofy expressions, the rather challenging thoughts and ideas, and most importantly, that sparkle in his eyes appeared again.

Atomu's expression softened, with a nice smile, and Chyuuichi opened one eye. The Mirillian beamed as well.

"I'll get that story out of you one day, Chyuuichi." Atomu thought.

***

"They'll train under Koyote," Bancho spoke. "Take them to Galliath," he muttered.

"Galliath?" Ambrosia tilted their head.

"An island north of Harabara and Shimori. There's a good part in Malikan, and since you're already heading that way, you might as well make some amends. We'll see how things turn out." Bancho smiled, before standing up.

"Right." Ambrosia closed one eye.

"I think it's time to call it quits. We should all be settling down for the night," the old Morian announced, and most looked at him, while Jyuzou and Pollimer stood by the wall, listening. "I'm going to assume, that we might not be far from our longed prize, and if something were to go astray we'd be better off well-rested."

"You said that destroying a temple-" Elton asked, inching closer.

"It seems fairly easy, yes." Bancho nodded. "But I don't expect it to be. It's Shi Hon we're talking about."

Morio didn't turn around but felt the gaze of Bancho landing on his back. Stress overcame him.

"No matter what happens, we need to be ready," Bancho explained. "Don't waste your energy." he coughed. "Chyuuichi."

Chyuuichi stood up, putting one hand on his forehead, saluting. The Mirillian slept like a log after leaving Totinoi, and Elton had to drag him through a few corridors back then.

Bancho closed his eyes, sighing. "Okay, that's solved." he slowly turned to Jyuzou and Pollimer, with a loud sigh. "What are you doing?"

"Shh!" Jyuzou shushed him in anger.

"Shhh?" Bancho was taken aback. "Are you shushing me?"

"He's stupid!" Morio yelled out.

"You're stupid!" Jyuzou shouted back, and Morio stuck his tongue out, turning around.

"You're both stupid," Elton said, sitting next to Atomu and breathing out.

"That's a little rude," Atomu muttered.

"No, I... I don't think they're stupid." Elton scratched his neck. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'm tired. I don't think it's honesty anymore."

"Look, I don't particularly blame you, I just-" Atomu shrugged. "I know both of them and they're quite the individuals."

"Mh." Elton nodded. "I mean, yeah. This is Gloria's son we're talking about." Elton scratched his cheek, smiling a little.

"Wait." Atomu shook his head. "Did you know his mum?"

Elton nodded. "Heard lots of stories from Bancho, and even saw the brute weapon she possessed. Jeez louise, such was an expertise in craftsmanship I still wish to achieve today."

Atomu blinked. "Then, I guess Bancho didn't lie when he said he could do it."

"Mhm." Elton smiled a little, before yawning. "I'm exhausted, Atomu." Elton shook his head, then yawned, before leaning his head on Atomu's shoulder, the latter instantly turning red.

Atomu breathed out.

"Aw." Chyuuichi made a quiet noise.

"Even you, Pollimer?" Bancho asked.

"Shh." Pollimer shushed him too. "Yeah, definitely a waterfall."

"All that commotion over that?" Anna opened one eye. "Pff."

"See, Mrs Anna? We finally agree on something." Morio stood up, smirking.

"Not particularly happy about that," she answered.

"It's more than a waterfall," Pollimer added, blinking a few times and rubbing against the wall. A thick gulp followed.

"He's going to say something like, it's two waterfalls," Chyuuichi whispered to the Paladians.

"It's three waterfalls." Jyuzou continued.

"Damn it!" Chyuuichi yelled out.

"Three?" Bancho titled his head, the number reminding him of someone's words.

"The age is getting to him," Chyuuichi whispered, slapped then by Atomu.

"Pollimer." Bancho waddled over. "Can you destroy that wall?"

"Hm." Pollimer turned. "O-Of course, I can!" he quickly pulled out a pickaxe, and with one, violent strike, the rocks crumbled and crushed into thin dust, which cleared an opening towards an unsure darkness.

A few seconds passed, light climbed in, and a thin bridge connected towards a big island in the middle stretched before their eyes.

Everyone tried taking a peek but it was Bancho who realised what stood before their eyes.