The silence of the moment was deafening.

"Ash... yss...?" Eclipse repeated.

He never heard that name, but he somehow knew it meant danger.

Sirius nodded. "Yes, according to my research, we demons are constantly absorbing negative energy to make our bodies stable. Unlike humans, we weren't created from flesh that regenerates the inner energy, so we need to get it from external sources.

Otherwise, our bodies would turn dry, slowly decaying. Every demon has a different need and a speed how fast it is digested. I myself haven't found a way how to weaken this need and prolong the effectiveness of eaten energy."

"So that's why you are constantly studying," Eclipse interrupted him. He remembered seeing in buried in books every time he visited him in the library.

"Was there any suddenly withered plant near you? Did somebody express weakness in your presence?"

Those question came out of nowhere, but they hit Eclipse right in the heart.

"Yes! I once saw a flower withering under my touch!" He gulped. He was glad Amy didn't show such symptoms yet. However, it was just a matter of time before it would happen. He hugged his body, firmly pressing his elbows.

"Is Ashyss responsible?" he asked since his brother was quiet.

"The word Ashyss means The Eternal Eater. In my library, I have found only a couple of records about him. It seems he manifested in the past, and it didn't bring anything good."

Eclipse shivered, getting weak in his knees, he slid on the floor.

"I'm not sure if he is second soul searching for a new body, or an ancient instinct inherited from our Creator." Sirius came closer to Eclipse, knelt down and again caressed his quills.

"In any case, the body he inhabits is born with enormous energy supply hidden deep in the demon's soul Ashyss slowly consumes in his sleep. If my calculation based on the little facts I have is correct, Ashyss was supposed to awake after a few centuries of growing inside of the demon, in this case, you."

The small demon slightly nodded, rubbing falling tears. He felt so small and insignificant.

"Once would be Ashyss ready to awaken, you would feel the intense hunger that would slowly drive you to insanity. You would eat and eat but never felt the satisfaction. The Eternal Eater would gradually devour your soul from inside and transform your body to fit his image. There would be nothing left off you."

"Brother," Eclipse whispered, a fear seeping from his voice.

"The seal from that albino sped up the awakening process as its purpose was to suck all life energy out of you."

"I'm scared!" the small demon whined.

His older brother hugged him, but he still kept his right arm hidden.

"Don't worry, I have put my own seal around Ashyss. It won't overtake your body any time soon," he soothed his baby brother.

"Did you know about it?" Eclipse whispered a sudden question.

"I had a hunch it might be you. You must have born from a forgotten egg, so there was no way you could be like normal demons."

Eclipse snuggled closer to Sirius. This was the first time he hugged him. "Thank you for taking care of me. I'm sorry I couldn't be more useful to you."

"Don't you say that. Just because is Ashyss awakening doesn't mean you have lost the fight."

The small demon lifted his head. "Really?"

"It may be tricky to pull, but you have a good chance to control Ashyss. Turn him into your energy source, your weapon."

Eclipse's big eyes turned even bigger as he widened them. He felt so small, but right now he had a chance to fight back.

"What I have to do?" His eyes darted toward the broken golems. "Was this Ashyss' handy work?"

Sirius nodded. "Yes, when I arrived Ashyss started to wreak havoc." The older demon slowly got up.

"Wait! How did you-" Eclipse didn't finish his question as he saw his brother made the black seals pulsating.

"That echidna woman is training you here, right?"

"Yes?" His little brother answered. There was just something off with his brother here, but his brain refused to work on that problem.

"I have reawakened those seals so she shouldn't have any suspicion about you."

Eclipse gulped. Master Tikal would force him to talk, with or without Amy's help. His training session already consisted of lessons when he was completely controlled by Amy. His memories of such times were foggy. It always scared him but fighting it was pointless.

"I now have to return. With your new ability, you should be able to find the exit from this place." Sirius turned toward him. "However, don't use your transformation! It will suck you more, and my seal isn't perfect, it can successfully block Ashyss only if your mind isn't overly tired."

"I won't, I promise!"

Sirius nodded, and with his left hand, he created a small rift to their homeland. Eclipse again had to question himself how his brother got here in the first place. But the only one who could answer him was no longer in the same room.

The small demon slightly sighed and activated his enhanced eyesight. The seals on golem's forehead glowed, and the floor was covered by thin pulsating veins of beige color. He examined the thickest one, noting it's a spiritual energy of the earth.

He got up, quickly found the vein painted bright orange. He didn't need to smell it for long, he recognized it belonged to Master Tikal. He followed it till he reached a circle in the middle of a small square.

He examined his face in the mirror his brother left him. He made sure his eyes turned normal, and the veins no longer were visible for him. Only then, he stepped on the circle that took him back to surface.

Eclipse let out a loud gasp. His huge body trembled.

'I have to finish this now!'

He activated his Energy Vision, as he started to call it. The wide web of veins spread in front of him as his eyes turned purple. His focus was on the Black Arm that stood up. Three points in its body were shining the brightest, the Central Points, how his brother named it.

The Giant dashed at Eclipse. However, this time the demon had a clear objective. His first hit was aimed between its eyes. The mere fist wouldn't do much damage, but Eclipse's one was engulfed by Ashyss' flame, damaging the Central Point more.

The Black Arm's body staggered, paralyzed for a short time. The demon agent hadn't finished his attack yet. He pivoted around the monster, burrowing his elbow in the center of its back, successfully rendering the second point shattered.

"And the finale!" Eclipse yelled, piercing its shoulder through the armpit from below.

The huge body staggered and bubbles from its skin threatened to burst. Eclipse quickly stepped aside, but the Black Arm's body collapsed into itself, turning into a sizzling puddle, leaving nothing to collect.

The small demon quickly called his transformation off and assumed meditation stance. He let his inner energy circulate, recovering his body from fatigue. However, he did it mostly for calming himself down and checking on the seal of his brother. He needed a minute to examine it, finding it wasn't damaged.

He let out a loud exhale. He was glad, but he failed in his mission to bring any sample.

Meanwhile, Silver and Amy still struggled to beat their enemies. The lass was losing her breath, but she still managed to keep both at the same place per Silver's instruction.

"Amy!" he shouted at her.

Her body moved back without a second thought. She dashed behind the psychic, noticing he was holding a very unstable swirling ball of his psychic energy. Her ears pricked as she heard a crackling sound, like thousands of birds, chirping at the same time.

"How about this!" Silver shouted and released the buzzing ball towards them.

Once it touched them, the ball expanded and swallowed everything. The air and many light objects were sucked into it, and both agents threw themselves on the ground. Amy couldn't stop looking at it.

It acted like a black hole only colored in yellow and shades of light green color. The spectacle lasted for only a few seconds, but the results were devastating. The ground and walls were shining like the purest crystal. It was obvious something big and spherical was there, leaving visible marks on the surface.

Amy slowly stood up, her breath visible as the air rapidly cooled down. "What was that?" she gasped.

Silver coughed, spitting saliva around. "Just something a made at the spot," he vaguely answered and slowly got on his legs. "I figured if the psychic energy of normal density can't hurt them, I pressed it beyond my limit to create this small Psybomb."

"A bomb?" she shrieked. "You almost threw us in the air too!"

"Look, we were running off time and stamina," he argued.

Amy knitted her eyebrows a bit. "I know, but this was still reckless."

"Tell me about it." His body winced, and he looked at his hands.

"You are bleeding!" Amy leaped toward him and picked from a small bag at her waist disinfection.

"Come one it's just—Ugh!" he yelped as the lass poured half of the bottle on his hands. "Ever heard of a gentle approach?" he growled his question.

"In your presence?" she asked right back and pressed the wounds with a cotton ball.

A twisted smile appeared on Silver's face. She slapped him with a simple question. He never had a gentle approach toward anybody with the exception of Gold. He hated how she was able to remind him he was a jerk.

"Stay still, so it can heal faster," Amy said in a soothing tone.

The psychic let her finish bandaging him. After it, she cupped his hands and let her inner energy circulate through them. It was one of her abilities that sped up the recovering process he had a chance to see in her newest profile. It wasn't like it miraculously closed the wounds, but it weakened the feeling of pain and boosted the natural healing abilities of every person.

Silver moved with his fingers, finding he could move with them without a problem.

"Than--"

"Hey, you okay?" Eclipse from the air shouted, drowning Silver's words.

"Eclipse!" Amy gasped, happy to see him. She immediately remembered her shining bracelet, but there were no such traces on the collar. She was relieved.

The small demon touched the ground, and the world turned upside down. "Kyaa!" he yelled, landing on his head. Eclipse was so unfortunate he landed on the border of the bowl the Psybomb created, slipping in the surface. He caught his head, rubbing the sore place. "What's this?"

He turned on his belly, realizing he couldn't properly move. He kept falling and returning to the center. Silver couldn't help it, and he started to giggle with Amy joining him.

"Let me help you." His master offered him her hand.

Eclipse grabbed it and let Amy drag him up. Silver calmed down. In spite of the failure to collect any sample, he wasn't that grumpy.

"My clothes!" yelled the small demon when the designed place was smashed to pieces.

The psychic lifted his eyebrow. "It was just clothes," he noted. "What's the big deal?"

"Just?" Eclipse barked, holding his holey pants. "You never had to go shopping with Amy! You don't know how that feels!"

"Come again?" Amy sharply asked.

The demon silently yelped, and with two jumps he was behind Silver, pushing him forward.

"Don't use me as a meat shield!" Silver protested, trying to keep his balance.

Amy's frowning face quickly turned into a happy one as she started to laugh. Tears gushed out her eyes, and she had to hold her stomach to keep herself steady. Her tears soon mixed with sadness. "I'm so glad you are okay."

Eclipse stopped pushing Silver and sat down. "Me too," he silently mumbled. "I'm glad you are both okay."

"Let's go," Silver suggested. "There might be more of them." He moved first, and the rest followed him.

Amy secretly checked on her bracelet. No signs of the glowing letters. The strange feeling she had was also gone. She wondered what it was as it never happened before. Her blue eyes watched Eclipse's quills swaying with each step in front of her.

For a moment, it felt like the small demon was pushing against her in an attempt to get rid of her. Master Tikal warned her about it. The lass could completely control her demon only when she was stronger than him. That's why she had to keep a close eye on his progress and find out if he wasn't getting too powerful.

Her master was afraid the link between them wasn't that strong as it was rumored. Amy couldn't command a demon without any catch, just like Tikal had to keep strict control over her familiar, not letting it to use too much of its power. Tikal and Chaos might share a different link than Amy and Eclipse, but it still worked on a similar principle.

In order to keep their familiars in check, they had to surpass their spiritual energies. If the demon would turn too strong, it might overcome the limitations of the collar and attack Amy.

The lass didn't believe Eclipse would hurt her. He was kindhearted, she saw it with her own eyes even without her ability. She clenched her fist.

"I smell blood!" Eclipse shouted, halting his teammates.

Amy exchanged a look with Silver. Both of them were thinking about the Black Arms.

Eclipse took the lead on all fours, searching for the source. Silver engulfed his hands in his psychic power, ready to deliver the first hit. Amy weighted the mace in her hand. It was dirty but as sharp as ever.

Without a word, they turned three corners before they found a trace of blood from a manhole. Its cover was pushed away, laying next to it. They proceeded with caution, following the trail behind another corner.

Eclipse lifted his head. In the middle of a backstreet was laying a small body with blood around it. Amy rushed toward it, recognizing a demon. She quickly inspected the demon's life functions.

"She is still alive!" she announced.

Silver pondered for a bit how was Amy sure this demon was a girl. His amber eyes examined the unconscious demon finding its figure to be slender with some curves. The chance it was a girl was actually quite high. Its wings were ripped off, and the wound must have been fresh since it was still bleeding.

Amy opened the disinfection and poured the rest of it on the wounds. The demoness' body jerked, but she didn't regain consciousness. The lass pressed on it all the cotton she had, and the blood quickly seeped through. She was about to use her jacket as a bandage when Silver put on it his own.

"Let's take her to a different place," he merely said, not commenting on his unusual gesture. He lifted the demoness with his power.

"Alright." Amy stood up and followed him.

Eclipse was right behind them. After a long time, he had finally something worthy to report to his brother. He wondered if Sirius knew something about those black creatures. But now it was obvious they attacked everybody. Their smell was lingering on her body.