"So...what have you got to tell us?", Lass walked alongside Tiki.

They all traversed the destroyed city.

Tiki sighed. "Where to begin...if you know any form of history, you'll know about the Great War. As soon as it started, everyone blasted Corosta with reinforcement requests for handsome rewards on our end. They were so hellbent on winning that some of the deals we received far outweighed what the other parties could afford without having some form of economical ruin."

"They enlisted the help of demons? But...", Ikarisa frowned.

"It ain't gonna be the first time. Some records even say that multiple other instances of demon requested help happened. Even in the Previous Era and with the War Of Zero, demon assistance was there.", Anya said.

"A smart move if you think about it. Demon's destructive nature makes them a force to be feared with. And given how volatile their everyday behavior is due to it, nobody wanted to sign a straight up alliance with them...not that they would accept it to begin with. Being a third party, it can come quite handy when war brakes out and everyone wants a piece.", Lass scoffed.

"I'm surprised you're as dumb as you look.", Tiki smugged.

"Do I look that dumb to you?", Lass said.

"No, but your fighting is. Anyway, amongst the first request we received was the finalization of multiple genocides previously taken place in the War Of Zero. Not our proudest times...I'll admit that much. We were asked to get rid of the remaining Landyl, Sarkaz, Refenel and Kalona forces. We were told that the other ones were going to be handled by the requesters."

"Wait...that's so awful. Who would request something like that?", Terna frowned.

"I dunno.", Tiki shrugged. "I'm a mere officer. I'm just told to and do as told. All I know was that there was a grim look on the kings face after receiving that request. He called Neker in, his son, inside as soon as he dismissed me. Afterwards, when I finished kicking his ass in the training grounds his attitude and smile dropped to the floor and bellow...he was grim for the entire day. At night, during our patrol, he asked me the most bizarre thing I could've ever imagined. 'Hey, Tiki...if you were to kill something, or someone...how would you make it painless?'. A question which of course I replied with a shrug. What followed was a brief mentioning of a special assassination mission his dad talked to him about, no specifics, no nothing. He was declared missing by the 7th day of absence and dead by the 21st day of absence...my guess was that he was captured and killed during the mission...", Tiki's face dropped, along with her voice.

"You...liked him perhaps? As a friend, I mean?", Yuno approached Tiki.

"Back off.", she punched Yuno away.

Yuno grabbed his face. "Gah! What the hell?!"

Tiki cleared her throat before crushing some rocks in their way. "Like I was saying. The king of course did not receive the news lightly and instead went berserk. I've never seen him acting like that, even during the darkest times of the Previous Era and the War Of Zero. He deployed me, specifically, to multiple heavy assault missions with seemingly random targeting. I've assaulted "Gardard", "Vardard", "Reingard" as well."

"Why are you calling them like that?", Terna asked.

"Because that's not their names. Gardel, Veriti and Reinheart. Whatever sort of bullshit treaty they wrote to dispose of their foul history with a simple name change, I don't buy it one bit."

"Foul history? I mean, I know they've been to war, but-", Anya was stopped by Tiki.

"Well you don't know shit. I've lived through multiple wars to come and know what they've done and are capable of."

"Wait...how long have you been with Corosta?", Lass asked.

"For 500 years. Demons have the third longest lifespan than measly immortals and dragons. I've got a a good two and a half millennia to go."

Ikarisa stuttered. "That long, huh?"

"Yes. Anyway, after said assaults, most of them successful, we managed to almost single handedly end the war by diminishing numbers and energy reserves. The rest was done after with the remaining cities and kingdoms going on either wars on themselves or civil wars. But what we didn't know was that this "alliance" due to the treaty had taken effect while we were away. They pushed all our forces back, and that was it, supposedly...but it didn't end there. That's when...this happened."

"So after everything was done and the war subsided...you got destroyed?", Ikarisa asked.

"Yes...but not from enemy forces. The entirety of Corosta fell under one single soul...and forced me into fighting in this hell for the next couple of decades that followed.", Tiki scoffed. "And I'd be a moron not to remember her name. Cecilia. Cecilia Elysia. She was responsible for the genocide that befell Corosta."

"What?! No...no way! You're lying!", Ikarisa yelled. "Cecilia...she would never do such a thing!"

"I knew her! How could I mistake her?!", Tiki yelled back.

"You knew Cecilia? But...how?", Ikarisa paused.

"I...I went against my orders. I had conspired with her during the War Of Zero to prevent the genocides requested by other parties. While I was 'assaulting' the targeted cities, I simultaneously, along with her, tried to help many escape...it was widely unsuccessful. Even with their escape, the other soldiers from both the Corosta side and the third party side hunted them down. The only few we could save were the Draganovs from Dirunon. That was because Cecilia herself was instead the one who fought against us that time, allowing me to rescue the few remaining. They then escaped to Gardel, somewhere in the mountains and built a town or city there. That was the first time I took a glance at what her true fighting capabilities were...they were terrifying. After that, Dirunon was no more and she escaped with the other Draganovs to the new place they found. And after all those years, all of a sudden, I see her in front of my city's gates...she murdered everything and everyone in sight. She spared me for some reason...an insult. It was as if she was leaving me be for the sake of suffering by watching everyone die."

Ikarisa geared up. "Oh my god...Cecilia..."

Lass comforted her. "I...I'm sorry..."

Anya sighed. "And...what about where you are now?"

"Right. Cecilia went for the king as well. But she was stopped by...a knight? A warrior? I don't know what she was...but she shouldn't have intervened. With her lance at hand, she single handedly destroyed Cecilia, pushing her back completely. Though not dead, Cecilia fled back, that would be my guess. After the warrior disappeared and the city was almost left to ruins, the king...changed. He completely went mad, crushing what few things were left and causing what you see around you. Shadowers, as they are called, flooded the streets and took over everything that was still standing. It became even worse when the Destruction Zone we had to convey our destructive nature ran out of enough energy, and the very few that were left, grabbed their swords and guns and took to the streets to fight against the enemy."

"A Destruction Zone?", Terna quirkily asked.

"It's a place that spawns a number of items, created by demons for demons in order to calm their nerves whenever they had the urge to destroy. It was a pretty brilliant way to convey their innate instincts without causing any trouble, I'll give you that much.", Anya said.

"We...we aren't bad. We are just different. We too can have feelings to convey, despite what you may think. We are alive too.", Tiki frowned. "Though...blaming you for this wouldn't be right. Because throughout history we've proven otherwise by our examples."

"Humans are destructive too. But unlike items...they seek to do so to each other.", Lass smugged. "I completely misunderstood you, however. I now see a different side than what I had believed...shouldn't have judged solely on Shadowers."

Ikarisa wiped her tears. "So these Shadowers...what are they?"

"Hell if I know, hell if I care. They are aggressive, hostile and that's enough for me to kill them all.", Tiki shrugged. "As far as all the information goes, we might be able to find something in the royal library inside the castle. The only one remaining should be the king himself, so it's a simple walk in, without any guards. The king himself resides in the royal garden so, we can completely avoid him in the meantime."

"I say that after that, we go have a word with him...an end has to be put somehow. So, who is that king exactly? Doesn't he have a name?", Lass asked.

"Izuko Belial."

"Shit...that’s a Sentinel, isn’t it?", Lass said.

Ikarisa widened her eyes. "Izuko is alive?! But much like Kako..."

"Well...you did misunderstand Magi's signature for Kako's at Reingard Risa-chan. So, there's still a chance. Let's not go too far ahead of ourselves.", Lass calmed her down.

"Wait, the king could be a Sentinel?", Tiki jolted.

"Like I said, speculation. We will have to see for ourselves first.", Lass repeated.

Tiki scoffed. "Whatever. Hey, big one. Come help with this rock and make yourself useful.", she said to Anya.

"Alright." Anya cracked her knuckles.

Pushing the giant rock aside, they revealed a hidden trap door, leading downwards. They all swiftly jumped in closing the entrance behind them. Once Tiki turned on the lights, they were greeted to a decent sized safe room with multiple stocks of food, weapons and a map of the entire city, marked to the brim with red lines and "x"s...

"This is the place.", Tiki sat down.

"It'll work.", Anya grabbed a drink. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Drinks are fine. Food is running short. So, how should we do this?", Tiki leaned forward on the map. "Supplies are only located within the castle itself, but have been gathered towards the royal garden, somewhere where you don't wanna be."

"If Izuko is as crazy as you told me, even more than Kagh's level, then talking will be a plan B. Fighting should probably be the plan A.", Lass took his thinking pose.

"Agreeing with Lass on this...he must be under the god's control. Fighting will be almost unavoidable. This is going to be your first, true experience against an enemy such as him..."

"I'll manage. Or, we will.", Lass looked around.

"Fighting in numbers will be wise. However, there's a big chance that the king himself is the summoner of those Shadowers. Which means, if he feels threatened, he can just blast us with those things from all sides.", Tiki said.

"If he's positioned right at the royal garden then there's only three ways they can enter. One off the front and two sides. We can split forces and hold them off there.", Anya pointed on the map.

"What if he summons them inside the garden though?", Terna pointed on the map.

"If we count me in, then there's six of us. Two in the center for Izuko and four to block them off should be good enough, right?", Yuno said.

"Which two tho?", Lass said.

"I'm in for sure. I'll just need another.", Tiki said.

"Lass?", Ikarisa looked at Lass.

"Yeah, I'll go.", Lass said.

"No...that's not what I meant. Actually...could I please go with Tiki?"

Tiki started to laugh. "You're kidding, right? A barrier isn't gonna do the deed princess, we need more firepower."

"Risa...are you sure?", Lass asked.

"Wha-Big guy ain't showing resistance on this?!", Anya jolted forward.

"If I show resistance, we will have a meaningless fight till I'm forced to be convinced. So let's instead skip that and allow Risa to go in. Plus, given how she showed more than enough times that she's capable and the fact that this is personal, I will surely lose the argument in the first place anyway.", Lass sighed.

"Thank you. You won't need to step in, or regret it."

"You guys can't be serious. I'm getting her with me, just because this meat-bag said so?", Tiki got pissed.

"Risa can do it!", Terna cheered Ikarisa on.

"Ugrh. Fine! So what do we do about the rest of the plan?", Tiki asked.

"I'll take the left path from here. Terna, you want the right?", Yuno asked.

"Yep, I'm fine with it!", Terna nodded.

"That leaves the big middle lane for me and big guy then...actually I have an idea.", Anya said. "These things have obviously got some brain in them, we saw them using a bunch of weapons of even high complexity just fine...so if they're summoned, they will most likely head straight to the center to assist Izuko. So, if we push the holding points of left and right a little bit further up, we can force them to cave in in the middle where we are sure to wreck some ass!", Anya wagged her tail.

"Not a bad plan, mutt.", Lass nodded. "It looks solid enough. So, we will need the preparations done as soon as possible then."

"Actually, is it too much if I ask you to prepare the middle for us big guy? I wanna go to the royal library with Tiki before we start the thing.", Anya asked.

"Uh, yea, sure. There's not much anyway. Mostly just breaking the sides to let them leak in and get destroyed."

"Alright, guess we will be going on a little study project.", Anya finished her drink and got up.

Lass leaned forward to check the map. "So I'm gonna start from...here, I guess?", he whispered.

As Lass leaned forward to check the details of his plan, his amulet managed to slip through his shirt, coming out in open view. It was mere seconds that took Tiki from being somewhat calm, to realizing what standing in front of her. She aggressively got up and yanked Lass by the shirt, bringing him close to her face.

"You son of a bitch!", Tiki grabbed his amulet. "Who the [REDACTED] are you?!"

Everyone took their combat stances, preparing for the worst.

"Woah, what the hell got into you suddenly?!", Anya yelled.

"What is it?!", Lass tried to pull back. "Leave that alone!", he tried to push her arm away from the amulet.

"You wish to harbor that, huh?! Hea!"

Tiki punched Lass straight to the face, knocking him backwards and snapping the amulet off his neck. She then jumped back, huge axe in one hand and mullet to the other, pointing her weapon against everyone in the room.

"You came here to mock me?! I'll kill you all!"

Lass got up, taking out his sword. "You give that back before I bury you with it."

"Come on then!", Tiki provoked him.

"Why the hell are you like that all of a sudden?!", Yuno yelled.

"Lass, don't!"

"We can all relax and talk about what's going on before we jump into battle.", Terna took her stage stance.

"Wait...you're shitting me, right? You are all oblivious, aren't you? This guy bright here...he isn't what he's been telling you. He's with Cecilia!"

Everyone paused in an instant.

"What...", Lass relaxed his stance.

"This right here is a demon seal. Not just any demon seal...it bares the crest of the house of Elisia. You're a family member of Cecilia, aren't you?!", Tiki yelled.

"What the hell are you talking about?!", Lass yelled back. "I don't even know her! She's just Risa's friend!"

"To be a moron worth of his fate...declining your own identity!", Tiki jumped at Lass.

Before their weapons could collide, Ikarisa swiftly pinned them both back with her chains.

"These chains...", Tiki chuckled. "Goddess Ikarisa. How could I not realize it...you concealed your aura, didn't you?"

"Not at first. But I had to hide it for the sake of our mission, to not be found.", Ikarisa looked at Tiki.

"You can let me go now, Risa.", Lass said.

"Not until we get one thing straight. No one is at fault here...Senpai doesn't know a thing...and you don't either, Tiki! You simply jumped into a conclusion! So please...don't engage in meaningless conflict like that!", Ikarisa yelled.

Somehow, someway, her mellow voice increasing its tone, despite the circumstances, felt soothing to the ear.

"Tsk. Fine. I'm keeping this. I don't give a shit for how big of an emotional attachment you have to it. Until I know what it's all about, I won't give it back.", Tiki said.

Lass sighed. "Alright. We will go with that."

"Good. I'm letting you both go now...", Ikarisa dispelled the chains.

Everyone relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jeez, that came and went fast...", Anya relaxed.

"Now move it. Let's not waste any more time with this meat-bag.", Tiki looked at Lass. "The dog comes with me. Everyone else do what you were set to do."

Not saying another word, not even Lass, they all got up and prepared to leave the safe house. But just before it.

"Before we go out...what did you say about the amulet?", Yuno asked.

"It's a demon seal. It was used to bring horrifying ends and entrapment to demons all around the world. Hence why Corosta was initially made for a way to help us survive back at The Beginning."

"But...I was sure it was a king's insignia.", Yuno said.

"The Dirunon tradition? Hell no...you got it horribly wrong. This is a crest from the house of Elysia. It has been additionally turned into a demon seal...or it could've been one from the beginning. Moreover, it's active...meaning someone must be trapped in it.", Tiki clenched the amulet. "God damn bastard."

"He isn't to blame. He honestly doesn't remember a thing!", Yuno said.

"How can you tell?", Tiki asked.

"Because he seems to be suffering from some amnesia. His memories become extremely hazy the more I go back to them. He and I are linked...I'm his Hyrusa guardian."

"Wait...so could this mean that he's from...no, there's no way. If he was from Dirunon then...", Tiki paused, her face taking on a surprised look. "Tsk. I'll need to see for myself."

"Just...don't hurt him when he doesn't need to get more hurt. Or the goddess.", Yuno pleaded.

"So be it. Let's get out and get a move on. I can't drag ass around all day.", Tiki jumped up.

Yuno sighed. "Yea, got it.", he whispered. "Lass...buddy. What happened. Who and...what are you, really?"

Yuno gazed upon Lass, with more questions for him than answers, as well as himself. As more and more mystery started floating around their bodies and minds he had but only hoped that he would be able to light some of the darkness in the nearby time to come...