As Ashyss turned to face Amy, to sink his teeth into her exposed neck, she shouted, "Nolite!"

A vast circle grew under him, and the gravity rose ten folds, pinning him down.

>What!< he screamed, growling and struggling to get free. >She still had that much strength?< His eyes shook, but the biggest shock came from his mind.

Shining chains wrapped around unconscious Eclipse, dragging him to a pillar. Letters shone all over it, completing the seal that immobilized him.

>No!< The same chains aimed at Ashyss, who slashed them, burning his half-way formed claws. Yelling in pain, he pulled his limb toward the chest. A chain raced an inch before his face, and he bit it, intending to suck the energy.

The moment he touched it, burning poison spread through his body. He cough. The shackles slashed around him as they tried to capture his fleeting form.

He had no choice but to retreat. He traveled deep into Eclipse's mind, but the chains kept spurting out of nothingness.

He slipped through a few of their attempts to capture him. In the end, he had no other choice but to hide in his former prison. Once he slipped through the seal, the chains stopped, turning into dust. He watched them with hatred.

The seal he cursed saved his skin.

Irony had no bounds.

Unable to do anything, he could only observe what happened outside.

Once Ashyss left the control to Eclipse, his body limped, losing consciousness.

Amy let out a deep breath. It was over. Yet, Silver didn't relax, lifting his hand and creating a psi lance. It chirped above him as he compressed it into a dagger. Smaller size projectile packed more strength.

Waving his hand down, he aimed at Eclipse's heart.

"No!" Amy jumped around his neck, toppling him, sending his last attack off course.

Their eyes locked onto the blue energy, and their hearts silenced. Neither of them could stop it. It dug into the ground, fizzling before it dissipated.

The dagger missed Eclipse's neck by hair width.

Amy let out a sigh.

"Are you out of your mind?" Silver shouted.

"That's my question!" she retorted, tears pushing into her eyes.

"He needs to be put down!" He tried to get up from under her, but his body twitched, a series of pangs cruising through his body.

Amy placed her bloody hands on his chest, pouring what she had left into his wounds.

"You are crazy," he mumbled. "Look at yourself."

"You are one to talk." She averted her gaze toward Eclipse.

"Don't think about releasing him!" Silver barked, taking a heavy breath. "He almost killed you! Like I suspected!"

"You don't understand!" Amy argued with tears in her eyes. "That wasn't him! That wasn't Eclipse, I know. He told us how demons need negative energy to sustain their bodies!" She hiccuped on her tears. "He promised me to eat it!" She retracted her bloody arms, wiping the tears.

"More of a reason to end him!"

Her stare almost burned him.

"It's obvious he is disobeying you!" The psychic rolled onto his side with heavy breathing. "You are losing your control over him."

"I never wanted to control him!"

"And now you see the results!" Silver barked. "He almost killed both of us! Do you realize he was just an inch from breaking free and massacring whole settlements?"

She averted her gaze. He was right. She had let Eclipse roam free once they finished with their training or lessons. Each time she would ask if he had seen or experienced something interesting. He would tell her stories about merchants, animals, or flowers he had discovered.

Eclipse's talk about cakes and sweets from the shops often worked up her appetite, and they raced to buy the sweetest piece. They laughed, gluing their faces into the shopping window. Not just once they purchased a piece from everything, sharing them.

Eclipse then would struggle to pick the most favorite piece, promising to have all of them the next time too.

Amy clenched her fists, finding no will to ball them. "He isn't my slave! He is a living being like you!"

An echoing roar startled them, cutting their breaths in half.

"Don't tell me!" Amy perked up her ears.

Silver didn't need to know what type of enemy was approaching. He already stood on his unsteady legs, shaking like a blade of grass in a storm.

Amy's touch stopped the bleeding and recovered his energy reserves for a few attacks. Back in his mind, he felt something else stirring, howling for a release. It reminded him of the black hole and gave him shivers.

Unleashing it now would devastate this place and kill them all.

'Yet, it may be my only chance.'

He huffed.

"Amy, get out of here. Quickly." He took a staggering step forward.

"How about you?"

"Don't mind me!" His body jerked, tensing up as the voice came closer. "Deliver the sample! Report everything!"

"I can't leave you here!"

"You have to!" he barked, not looking back.

Silver was sure tears poured down her cheeks. If he would look back, he wouldn't be able to push through this suicidal attempt to ensure her safe return.

Stones rained from one of many upper tunnels, and a black roll had followed them soon enough. It thudded, sprawling out with coughing and clouds of dust growing.

They run out of time!

Silver moved his energy into his hands, preparing his Psi Bomb, their last hope. From the clouds emerged a black figure.

"Mister Shadow!" Amy exclaimed, a heavy boulder falling off her heart.

"A-Amy!" Shadow rubbed his eyes. "Silver!"

The psychic let his arms hung down. It wasn't Black Arms or Finitevus. "Where's him?" he spatted, alerting himself into battle mode.

Shadow bit his lip. "I'm sorry! I lost him!"

Seeing his battered figure, cuts, and bruises, Silver couldn't be furious. Relief washed over him; all of them were alive.

"We need to regroup, but first..." His cold eyes glanced laying Eclipse.

"Mister Shadow, please, don't let Silver hurt Eclipse!"

The priest jerked, his head snapping back and forth, slowly accepting a bounding circle under the smaller demon.

"Why?"

"Eclipse had attacked and almost killed both of us!" Silver made a step forward. "I deem him too dangerous to be left alive!"

Shadow gasped for air, turning to inspect Eclipse's body. Blood and bruises covered him. And the worst was, Shadow detected a great deal of originating from Amy and Silver.

"I'm out of juice, but I'm sure you can wring his neck."

Shadow's fingers twitched. An opportunity to bathe in blood arose. And nobody would hunt him for it. He headed toward the demon.

"Mister Shadow! Please, don't do this! Eclipse is innocent! I have just a few scratches!" Her words contradicted her clothes and bleeding arms. She had lost enough to succumb to darkness any moment now.

Shadow crouched, taking Eclipse's arm, but he couldn't lift it. The seal didn't hurt him, but it prevented Eclipse to move by any means.

"Amy, please, undo your seal."

She shook her head.

Shadow repeated her request, and this time she broke into tears, mumbling. "Emissio."

The circle dimmed, and Shadow took Eclipse into his arms. His small body was lighter than he remembered. Did he lose weight? The priest barely heard him breathing.

Ashyss squirmed inside, pushing his presence even deeper. For whatever reason, he felt Shadow had glimpsed him. What else would cause the shiver running down his back?

Silver spatted, "Kill him before he wakes up!"

Shadow took a deep breath, answering, "I refuse."

"What?" The psychic ignored the pain in his legs. "Are you crazy? I'm telling you he almost killed Amy! I pushed him in the last moment!" The agent stumbled over a pebble, falling onto his knees.

Shadow came closer, kneeling.

"I smell yours and Amy's blood all over him. I trust your words."

"Then why you refuse?"

"Because there seems to be something wrong with him that's caused this behavior. I've seen him before occasionally when we returned to The Order, and he didn't give off any murderous aura."

"He just hid it!"

"That's not it!" Amy barked. "Eclipse told us he needs negative energy from emotions to survive! Demons need it to keep their bodies stable! And you know it!"

"More of a reason to get rid of him!" Silver barked, his urge to murder the naive girl arose. "It's just a matter of time before he goes on a rampage!"

He coughed, his throat turning dry like a desert.

"But I had none in the past ten years or longer," Shadow said in a haze of confusion. He directed his gaze on sleeping Eclipse. "Perhaps it had something to do with me being an adult, while Eclipse is still a growing child."

Amy clasped her hands. "That must be it!" A spark of hope shimmered in her eyes.

"What? You expect him to grow from a wolf to sheep?" Silver couldn't keep his sarcastic question to himself.

"No, that's impossible," Shadow muttered.

Silver smirked. He was right, as always.

"I know it firsthand."

Silver's eyes opened in the realization that another bloodthirsty demon sat just a few inches in front of him. Leaning onto his useless legs, he freed his hands to defend himself.

Yet Shadow's eyes filled with softness.

"I, too, fight with my inner demon day and night. And every time, I feel the scales are tipping toward insanity more and more. It's just a matter of time before I gave myself into the madness."

With the gentleness of a mother, he stroked Eclipse's head.

"Even now, a voice screams at me to rip you apart." His crimson eyes trailed from Silver to Amy. "To bathe in your blood and crunch your bones as you scream under me." The priest closed his eyes, letting out a quiet breath.

"But I keep pushing it back. I have to. I can't let it take over me!" He bit his lip. "Laugh if you want, but the time I spent as a simple priest were the best years of my life! I experienced love, kindness, and happiness." He looked deep into Silver's eyes.

"Eclipse is experiencing the same thing. He is learning life is more than just killing and hatred. He had found a person who sees him for who he is, not for the monster form he has." His gaze flickered Amy's way.

"If he is pushing his need to absorb negative energy, he is torturing himself just to spend one more day with Amy and others."

"Silver," Amy whispered, and he turned his head around. "You know Eclipse was looking up to you, do you? He still does. He is really trying hard to fit in. Please, give him a chance."

With a huff, he hung his head. Digging his fingers into his tattered pants, he said, "I have a condition." He stared right into her eyes, straining his neck. "You will question him under your command, and he shall answer my questions too. If this was really caused by his hunger and unbalanced body, I see no problem. It would be just repeating what he had already said, right?"

Amy knew Silver was following a different direction, but she agreed. "I accept."

"Let's get out of here before we take a swim in lava or something." He snickered under his sour joke.

Finitevus leaned against a wall of his main laboratory. He could still feel Shadow's stare burning into his neck, or it could be his green flames. He couldn't tell.

"What was that? Such ferocity! So much power!" He took staggering steps forward. His plan to capture high-quality specimens crumbled. He deliberately let The Order to discover his old laboratory, using Black Arms he perfected.

"Yet even those had fallen. I'm picking no signal from them." He tapped his wrist's rings. A small screen popped up, and a red text Alert shone. "But how?"

Typing, he searched the recordings each of them could make. He only wished he could perfect it as the images weren't of the best quality. He would need to be directly connected with them to see what was happening alive, but his brain wouldn't take it.

He would experience all the injuries at the same time, so he designed a special Mind, as he called it, to control all Black Arms.

"Load up, dang it!" he cursed, as the footage couldn't last for too long after the particular Black Arms died. Searching for it inside Mind would take far too long as it contained the memories from thousands of Black Arms.

"Bingo!" He stopped, replaying the last moments. Finding the best point of view, he squinted his eyes. "Another demon?" The stopped image flickered as it slowly turned into nothingness.

He zoomed onto the attacker, recognizing it. "Ah, it must be that insignificant creature from the last time." He almost tapped the closing button. "But... I shot it, didn't I?" He racked his brain. "I gave it only a few days."

He caught his chin, his eyes focusing on a distant memory. "How it survived?" He glanced back at the image. "What happened to its eyes?" He scowled. "How unexpected, I didn't calculate this possibility."

He walked toward the office, hitting the walls back and forth. Too many questions swam in his mind, and he found himself drowning among them. When was the last time he felt so confused? When he couldn't comprehend the problem in front of him? When the obstacle grew so high, he couldn't scale it?

Before he had reached the entrance, he had a sickening grin.

"I've found more interesting objects to try my calculations on."

From deep corridors, screams and pleading echoed, but he paid it no mind. On his way to the biggest room, he had met his assistant, a gray hedgehog with a big, orange mustache. He held a stack of papers, ready to hand them to his boss when Mephiles emerged from one shadow.

The assistant shuddered, but Finitevus didn't bat an eye.