Earlier at the time when Oscar and Orden started their bout, Erik led Austin away from the fierce battle. The parasitic vines continued to wriggle around, their grasp on Austin was firm, controlling the young Exalt to fight back, but it lacked the finesse of the soldier Austin was.

The flames spouted from Erik's gauntlet animas and armament and wove together in a scarlet tapestry of fire, leading Austin further and further away until Erik could no longer feel the undulations of Oscar and Orden's battle. Some of the flames scorched the ends of the parasitic vines, and the feelers tightened as their bodies trembled.

"Be careful. Damaging those parasitic vines could kill your friend." Gol-4 warned.

"How so? Isn't it best to burn them off? Or perhaps cut them off?" Erik asked.

Gol-4 shook his head. "That damage you did to them earlier only agitated them. If we can't handle them properly, the feelers will lash out inside your friend and kill him."

The parasitic vines were a vicious creation of the Forest Heart Clan. They attacked in large numbers to overwhelm their prey and take control of the victim's bodies. The trickiest part, however, lay in their stubborn nature of clinging on for dear life.

Oscar, Orden, and Erik had their fair share of killing Exalt Beasts that were taken over but did not pay attention to the tiny movements occurring as they severed those vines. Either from the pain or the last throes of its dwindling vitality, the feelers set upon destroying the insides of what they were in.

"I've only noticed this just now, or perhaps I remembered it at this moment. However, the fact is you can't handle this the normal way. Subdue him without using your flames." Gol-4 urged.

"That's not a funny joke," Erik glanced at Austin. The once ally had two parasitic vines on his head and chest, which was not a good sign. If he went for any of them without thought, the vines would crush Austin's brain and heart.

The possessed Austin swung his dagger, bursting with Ein, but it lacked the technique and graced his original self displayed in battle, like a child playing with a toy sword, and Erik smirked. Pounding his fists, Erik threw himself into the fray. Austin was not a threat at all; the dagger might as well be a stick.

"Sloppy," Erik quelled the flames on his four gauntlets, deflected Austin's dagger, and threw two quick jabs at his shoulders.

"Slow," More punches rained down on Austin.

"Pathetic," An uppercut to the chin laid Austin flat on the ground. Erik fought to avoid hitting the parasitic vines, feeling elated at Austin's terrible technique. However, Austin stood up, forced by the parasitic vines to keep moving, much to Erik's displeasure, expressed by his snarl.

Gol-4 shouted, "Calm down. You cannot allow your anger to cause any mishaps. You must bind him somehow."

"If you got any suggestions, I'm free to listen," Erik checked his space pocket while Austin tried to slice him apart. The sound of the dagger swinging through nothing echoed with Erik's speedy feet. His hand still rummaged through the space pocket.

"This can work!" Erik pulled out a long whip, an armament he had collected from one of the slain enemies. His whip mastery was nonexistent, but no rule existed against using it as a sturdy rope to bind Austin. In a flash of fire and light, Erik wrapped the whip around Austin, binding his legs and arms to his body like a mummy.

Austin continued to struggle on the floor, but it was no use, and Erik wiped his hands in celebration of his victory. "That's a grade two armament. If you could use your spells, you may be able to get out, but you're just a mindless puppet right now."

Erik heard a loud clamor coming from the direction of Oscar and Orden's battle. The battle had been going on intensely in this short time, and Erik wanted to help as soon as possible. Looking over the captured Austin, he dropped Gol-4 from his chest to observe the parasitic vines.

As Gol-4 hovered near the parasitic vines, they squirmed, and their feelers could be seen under Austin's skin like blood veins, making Erik feel sick. The sounds of gagging and near-belches came from Erik's throat.

"That is disgusting," Erik still gagged.

"This is going to be tough, but I think I have a way that can work." Gol-4 nodded.

Hope! Erik forced down his disgust, his face glowing with a smile toward Gol-4. Earlier in the vault, he had rejected bringing this head along, but now he felt grateful for Oscar's decision. "What do we need to do?"

"I can move atop the parasitic vine and give it a jolt that will cause it to go limp for a moment; Remove the vine in that time and burn it to ash before it latches onto you."

The procedure was very delicate, and Erik worried about the possibility of failure, but Gol-4 smacked his forehead.

"Don't hesitate."

Erik nodded and knelt beside Austin; the parasitic vines continued to squirm. Gol-4 landed on one of them and sent forth a jolt of Ein that shocked the vine. Erik reached his hand out and pulled with all his might.

The parasitic vine started to wriggle around again, recovered from the paralysis Gol-4 induced, and moved its feelers to stick to Erik. Flames burned and reduced the vine into ash which fell upon the ground. The red flames flickered and reflected upon the surface of Erik's blue eyes.

"One down."

"Good! Now for the next."

With the other removed and destroyed, Erik waited for Austin to wake up, but the cold soldier did not move. He smacked Austin across the face multiple times, but nothing worked. Then the ground trembled; Oscar and Orden's battle was getting more hectic.

"Gol-4, you stay with Austin. I have to help Oscar." Erik turned to leave, but Austin's groan halted his steps. The expressionless Austin stood up, rubbing his head, feeling like he had woken up from a long dream.

"What happened?"

"No time to explain; let's go!" Erik dragged Austin over to the battle.

…….

"Oscar, you alright?" Erik stared at Oscar on the floor. Sprinkles of sand and splotches of blood covered the floor under the bloodied figures of Orden and Oscar; one stood tall while the other was lying on the floor, struggling to get up. The flames danced around his gauntlets, increasing the temperature as his Ein spiked up.

Two daggers sliced through the air. Austin finished his warm-up and took his stance, ready to kill Orden, darkness surrounding his daggers. The swirls of red flames and darkness divided the area into one of bright light and another of shadow.

Orden smiled; excitement sent shivers down his spine. However, there would be no fight as Orden contained himself, rested his hammer on his shoulder, and threw out an elixir from his space pocket, the Hytr elixir.

"What is this?" Austin caught the elixir.

"Have Oscar take that with a healing elixir. You should hurry, or else his condition will worsen." Orden replied.

Austin gripped the elixir; he was doubtful of Orden's intentions. "Why are you doing this? Weren't you going to kill me? You beat down Oscar to this condition to do so."

"Most of those injuries are actually from his own doing, not mine. Besides–" Orden gazed at Austin, and Austin felt immense pressure. The pressure made him clench and curse at himself for feeling overwhelmed and in disbelief that Orden could exhibit this much pressure while injured. "I started this to kill a monster and a liability. Right now, unfortunately, you are neither. I have no reason to continue fighting as my agreement with Oscar is still in place."

Orden went over to a nearby wall, sat down, and leaned back on it, popping some healing elixirs in his mouth. Seeing that Orden had no intention of fighting, Austin and Erik hurried over to Oscar, paling at the wounds covering his body and the discoloration around them, indicating how severe they were.

"You did it, Erik. Welcome back, Austin." Oscar wheezed.

"Drink all this." Austin opened the vial Orden gave him and three other healing elixirs to hasten Oscar's recovery. One by one, he tipped the elixirs, pouring them slowly into Oscar's mouth.

"Ugh, tastes like blood," Oscar coughed.

"That's your own blood. Your entire mouth is covered in it." Erik laughed. Oscar frowned at Erik's joke.

"How about you try going against Orden alone?" Oscar quipped. "I don't even recall half of it."

"You don't?" Austin brought Oscar over to rest by the wall. The stone felt nice and cool to Oscar and supported his battered body, providing much-needed comfort. Austin and Erik sat down next to him and began cooking a meal.

"Orden," Oscar called out.

"You're better?" Orden opened his eyes, having recovered somewhat from the battle, and Oscar felt jealous at how tough Orden's body was.

"What happened? How did you end up with all those injuries?" Oscar asked. He had a vague notion of something similar happening in the past, but it was like trying to paddle through the mist without any light or indicators. The uncomfortable feeling gnawed at him, and he hoped Orden could shed some light.

Orden frowned. "Do you really not remember?"

"I don't," Oscar groaned. To his side, Austin and Erik paid attention with interest to the battle that took place here.

"Something changed about you. You became an entirely different person and fought in a way I'd never seen. I was helpless against that strength, but you suffered every moment you fought." Orden recalled Oscar's demon state. A feeling of fear rooted itself in him.

"I did?" Oscar murmured.

"Perhaps your master may know. My master always said that teachers know everything about their students or how they could teach effectively."

The words rumbled in Oscar's head like a worm digging into his ear. Something flashed across his empty mind, memories of him waking up during his spars against his master, Draven. But no matter what, he could not remember why he had been knocked out during some spars.

'Master definitely knows. How troublesome; he always keeps it suspenseful. I need to get back and ask him. Ugh, my body can't move.' Oscar let out a tired breath, and he changed topics. "Austin, how did you end up being possessed by a parasitic vine."

"No comment," Austin frowned.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Erik shouted. Orden roared in laughter before smacking his knee, which made him choke from the pain interfering with his laughter.

"I said–" Austin said coldly. "No comment."

"Hah," Oscar felt comfortable on the floor and closed his eyes. The sound of his heartbeat pulsating through his burned-out veins and tired muscles was soothing and lulled him to sleep. The others were shocked at how easily Oscar could fall asleep.

"It's still afternoon," Erik sighed. The caverns of Tectusen did not provide the comfort of night and day. But they had an excellent sense of time and kept track.

"I'm pretty tired too. The parasitic vines took too much of my Ein." Austin fell to his side and fell asleep like Oscar.

"Same with me," Orden grunted, and his body slammed on the floor with a thud. "Watch over us."

The three slept soundly without a care in the world, and Erik became angered at how carefree they were. The sound of footsteps echoed and reached Erik's ear, and he saw an Exalt Beast, one of the Drill Worms; somehow, it made its way here from the mines.

"Bastards…."

…….

The next morning, Oscar opened his eyes, wiping away the drowsiness, but his mouth tasted awful. "I need to brush my teeth."

Getting up, Oscar felt something was different. A yearning came from his core, it pulsed with light, and his deer anima bleated, prancing around it. The sign had finally arrived, the sign of advancement.