Korona still was being plagued by the artificial angels which after consuming everything edible were now busy taking apart their most damaged companions. Chaos took the opportunity to get out of whatever was left of this town. After making a fine hole in the wall they were going downhill, still hearing angels scream in the distance. Samukai was once again studying the map. While none of his teammates could see him frown, the displeased grunts that he made were more than enough for them.

- Something's bothering you?- demon asked while firing off an abbadon at one of the angels that made its way above the wall and was about to follow them.

- Despite the fact that soon we will have to climb the mountains then no- samurai replied quickly. Before Phantom could say anything, Samukai showed him the sheer size of the mountains. While those were far from the biggest any of them ever seen, they still looked rather impressive. Besides, getting through them could have been tricky, werewolves, dragons, wyverns, and anything else that could live there to the side ,Samukai knew that with their luck the moment they start climbing they will be hit with an avalanche. Either that or they will be crushed by falling rocks.

- So how about we go alongside them? They end somewhere right?

- While they do, we would have quite a long distance to travel. And the closest town for any landmark seems to be around three to four days from here

- That's fine by me. How about you?- if the warrior was being honest, he had not expected the demon to ask them that. Perhaps he was more fixated on becoming a better leader then he gave him credits. Samukai looked at the magician who just nodded. So it was set. A long journey alongside the mountains. At least the scenery will look nice so there was that.

Taking the opportunity Phantom decided to practice some spells with Noktum. Shadow wanted to learn all of the triple elemental dragon chains. After that he said that having some more curses and blessings and perhaps even circles in their arsenal would have been handy. Demon made a short mental list of the most useful ones and was now thinking of a good way for them to use the chains. After a while he came up with an idea that to him seemed brilliant. He threw a fireball and Noktum had to strike it with a chain. A training that he did with lord Beelzebub. Samukai only prayed that they wouldn't set anything or anyone on fire.

At first came fire chains. It took Noktum some time to get precise shoots, but after the first ten chains he managed to strike more and more fireballs. Much to Samukai scolding some unlucky bushes and smaller trees were burning, yet the longer this training went the less of them ended like that. Both of the mages decided to take a short break. Demon himself had some spells he wanted to learn, but the two he thought of to be the most useful weren't really the best to use right now. One of them was a trap which required an offensive spell aimed at you and the other covered your body in a black fire which acted like armor. Perhaps when they will take a longer break for the night.

- Say, what about another story from your youth?- warrior asked, finally sitting closer to the mages.

- Maybe later- demon then summoned his scythe- I think we should finally get Noktum some proper staff

- Speaking of staffs, why do you keep re-summoning yours? Wouldn't it be better to have one on you all the time?

- And risk having it damaged? No thanks, it served me for a long time and I wish it will do so for even more

- Is that a sentiment that I am seeing?- demon just grunted at that which made the warrior chuckle- Does it have any name?- Phantom looked at samurai with a confusion on his face.

- No, why?

- I mean if it is that important to you, then giving it a name would have been a good idea. It also would have been good if the name meant something to you- Samukai then unsheathed his katana made of black lead- Just like Izanagi who made the Onogoro this blade made me who I am today, thus the name- to warrior's surprise demon seemed to pay attention to him. He then proceeded to carefully study his own scythe, watching it from every angle, even swinging it a few times.

- How about Drak? You know, the skin cover and all- while samurai had to say that it was a simple name and reason, he didn't expect Phantom to come up with anything more. And while the name was simple, it worked. Warrior just silently nodded.

Sun was slowly setting as Noktum continued his training. After learning ice and thunder chains it was time for the wind one. Interesting thing about this peculiar chain was the fact that after it went off it still could've been controlled slightly. That made it easier to hit the target and was good for chasing the enemy even if the chain itself lasted the least of all. Thus now instead of only hitting the target, shadow now also had to make sure that the spell made it go downward.

As Phantom watched Noktum hit all of the fireballs he had sent made him feel a new feeling. He had not said or admitted anything but deep down he was proud of him. Proud of someone else, the demon quickly dismissed the thought. While the shadow was a promising magician he still had a long way before him. It still was too soon to say anything, especially in regard to praising Noktum. Phantom knew demons that after being praised time and time again for their greatness rested on their laurels and no longer saw the need to better themselves. But seeing how well he had done and how Samukai gave him a thumbs up, the demon guessed that maybe a praise from time to time wouldn't be too bad.

The night came quickly and the warrior decided that it would be a good time to set a camp in order for him to see if there are any shortcuts and give Noktum a while to rest. After making the bonfire, the demon climbed upon a nearby tree, which turned out to be an apple tree, and rested on the biggest branch he could find as Chaos sat alongside the fire with the magician resting on Fenfir and Samukai sitting directly under Phantom. He considered moving closer to the wolf considering how the branch was bent and the cracking noise it made, but he was confident in his skill to outrun a falling demon.

- Anyone wanna apple?- demon asked as he grabbed one of the better looking ones.

- If there is one thing I know is to never take any fruits from a demon- warrior said adding leaves to the fire.

- Your loss. How about you Noktum?- shadow shook his head. Phantom then threw the apple into his mouth, crushing it with one bite. Then he took another one, in a much worse state. It barely hung on the branch, rotting and awaiting the fall. He examined it for a split second and ate it. Samukai shuddered at that.

- What?

- Just for the future, if it's rotting then don't eat it- at this moment the warrior felt like he was explaining something to a child.

- If that got you worried then you should see some other stuff I used to eat. Like the imp meat which tastes better when raw- samurai wanted to question the demon further on his eating habits and the imp meat, but he liked the idea of food not being related to an utter nightmare so he kept quiet.

- Master, since we have free time, why won't you tell us a story?- Noktum said as he placed all four crystals on the ground, observing how they spin, trying to point at each other.

- You have promised us- Samukai looked at Phantom. While he expected for them to bring that up he had not really had anything for them to tell. And the ones he remembered well were not suitable for either of them. Warrior saw that the demon closed his eyes and was scratching his horns so he decided to maybe give him an idea- You said that you were looking for someone equal to you. Have you ever met someone who could be called such?

- To be honest with you, there were many like that but there is one that I could truly call a rival. An angel known as Iscariot. A hooded freak that pretty much gets off when he is able to pierce me with his spear- he heard samurai snicker at the last sentence- But I haven't seen him in a long time. Last time we met I ended up cut in half and he lost his head

- Sounds like a strong guy. Do you think that we could run into him?

- I hope for that- before Phantom could say anything else, the branch on which he was resting broke and he fell on the ground, barely not crushing the samurai- And that's why I hate trees- demon muttered. Warrior only shook his head. At least he had not landed on him.

- Master, how about we continue my training- Noktum proposed. Phantom shot out a fireball which was quickly knocked down by a wind chain. Samurai observed this dance of fire and wind which later turned into water. One thing he had noticed was a way in which both of the mages casted their spells. Phantom was much more violent and even used his full strength to throw a fireball. That resulted in many of them flying way above the shadow instead somewhere close to him. Noktum on the other hand was much calmer and his spells were really precise, each of the water chains hit the ball right in the center.

One thing he had to command them for was the fact that none of the trees were set on fire. That was more thanks to the shadow but even the demon had not aimed at them. Warrior reached for the bag and took out the book of arts. Looking for anything interesting and thinking what he could teach Phantom later on. Perhaps a mirrored blade would have been good. Albeit demon probably would have liked something more destructive rather than an assassination technique.

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The night itself was rather uneventful besides for the training that Noktum underwent, now possessing all of the chains, but the dark one. Other than that, the demon tried to teach him waves of the abyss, yet for now shadow was unable to cast it.

Samukai put out the fire, hopped on the wolf, waited for the mages to join him and commanded the hellhound to go forward. According to the map there was a river nearby which they will have to cross. With their current pace they should arrive there in about two to three hours. As Chaos was walking beside a forest, warrior spotted quite a lot of deer and human looking creatures made of branches.

Tree spirits or woodland ghosts as they were called were curious creatures and often came close to towns and villages close to the forests but for most of the time they meant no harm. It's not like samurai was worried about them getting attacked, Phantom was a great repellent for most of the smaller creatures, but Fenfir could always charge at them, provoked or not and while woodland spirits weren't too strong, fighting with them at their own turn wasn't a smart idea.

Hellhound acted calmer than the warrior expected, occasionally baring his teeth at the spirits that dared to come too close, but despite that he barely even looked in their direction. Finally the forest was getting smaller and smaller until only bushes were left and any birds that were chirping were now gone. What once was a grassland was now slowly turning into rocky terrain.

Chaos felt the ground shake slightly. At first they thought that someone caught up to them and attacked them, but when Noktum looked at the mountains he saw what was making the ruckus.

From the mountain came three tortoise dragons, coming closer to them. Each of them towering over the wolf. Walking proudly on their massive four legs with a shell on their back, which could have easily been mistaken for a great stone and scales on their bodies looking like chunks of rocks, paid little to no mind to the four smaller creatures that looked at them in awe.

Samukai tried to calm down Fenfir, whose ears were close to his body and his tail was slowly making its way under his stomach. Wolf bared his teeth at the dragons and they simply answered with a low grunt that made the hellhound back away slightly.

Tortoise dragons while being giants were rather calm creatures and usually have not attacked unless they have felt threatened. And like with most if not all of the dragons that walked on this earth, they were very territorial so samurai was thankful that they were able to travel beside them with such ease.

Fenfir's ears stood up as he heard what seemed to be flowing water. In fact it was getting closer and closer. A good while had passed when Chaos finally saw the river they had to pass. From the distance it seemed calm with no other animals in sight. As the gentle giants and the wolf got closer, the warrior ordered the hellhound to stop. In the river was a dark, long shadow that was making its way towards the dragons.

From the water emerged quite a big, blue striped serpent which aimed its long fangs at the tortoise neck. Before it was able to kill its prey, the dragon caught it in its mouth, dragged it out of the water and stomped on it with all of its might, effectively getting rid of the threat.

Chaos crossed the river using Noktum's barricades and observed how the giants tossed the carcass aside and peacefully drank the water as if the serpent wasn't even there. Samukai said to travel closer to the mountains, since it will be the fastest way to get to the nearest town. When they will be nearly at the end of the mountains they will just have to turn left and then it will be a straight way to it.

As they were closing into the mountains it was already past noon. Phantom and Samukai both agreed that there was no use in resting tonight and it would be much better to just continue their journey. On their way they have expected a few things to happen. But having remains of what seemed to be upper parts of the underground maze was not one of them. Samurai double checked if he wasn't seeing things, perhaps the sun was making him see things. It turned out to be a ruin when the demon hit it with an abbadon.

In fact right before them, covered in rocks that probably have fallen from the mountains, just barely peeking out from the ground it was buried stood an entrance to the maze.

- Noktum, what are the crystals doing?- warrior asked, getting closer to the entrance just to see if there even was a way in.

- For now they are pointing at each other

Samurai wasn't sure if he was supposed to be glad because there was no king in their area or be worried about the fact that not all of the entrances could even lead them to him.

- Better question is if there even is a way inside?- now both warrior and demon were low on the ground, carefully checking the narrow hole that seemed to be completely buried in the deeper parts.

- Well, unless you can somehow get rid of all these rocks without blowing it all out then I guess no. And no, before you ask, I to do not have such spells

- Damn it. Well at least we now know that not all of them are good state and don't have to mean that the temple is near

- I'm only glad that we get to know it this way and not while being inside the maze. Right Fenf, you can march on!

- Fenf? Really?

- What? It sounds good- the demon only shook his head and hopped on the wolf. As they were continuing the journey, the warrior tried to teach Noktum on how to properly operate a map. While the shadow wasn't the best at it he was able to tell a distance from one point to another with no bigger problems.

The sun once again was down. Most of the best were asleep now and only the giant hellhound was traversing through the land, only from time to time being distracted from the rodents that ran away from him. While the peace was rather uncommon for them, Noktum was glad for that as his eye sparkled when he was taking a good long look at the night sky filled to the brim with stars. Bigger or smaller they all shine beautifully making the sky look like a water reflecting the sun, albeit much more pleasant for the eyes.

- Noktum, have you ever seen stars before?- samurai asked. The way the shadow looked at the sky reminded him how he first reacted when he saw snow. Or at least what he can remember, which isn't much. Just the fact it was cold and white.

- No, but I have read a lot about them. Look, there is Leo!- Noktum pointed at the stars that formed a polygon and a few more forming what could have been a tail on its top right end.

- You think you could memorize them? Could be useful to know where we are going

- If I had my books then yes, without them I really doubt it. Especially since it would be a first time for me

- At least you seem to have a good head for it. All I know is the polar star and that it exists. Could you tell what else is on our sky

- With pleasure

Ah, astronomy. Something demon wasn't found off. He never really knew why everyone was so excited about the stars. Just bright spheres in the sky. How are they different from the sun? Because they shone at night? He can cast a fireball and will have the same effect, maybe even better. But he would have not guessed that Noktum would read about them. Just how much has changed in the tower of mages since the last time he was there? Were they also teaching about other stuff, not only combat magic? Or did the shadow wanted to learn about them by his own wish? Well, either way he had no idea about what he and Samukai were talking about right now. So that's how samurai felt when he and Noktum were talking about spells. Surely a new feeling and not one he wanted to feel often.

- I know this might come out of the blue, but I often heard how the demons were praised as deities. Has this also happened to you?- samurai turned his helmet to face the demon.

- There was this one time. It was when I was much younger. I've got into a fight with Iscariot. It ended up with him retreating and me being wounded rather badly. To make things worse we fought in some big forest, maybe even in one of those from western islands. Due to the wound I couldn't cast a portal back to Hell, so I had to rest. As I was searching for some place to sleep I found some armored soldiers marching deeper into the forest. I guess you know what I did to them. But I wasn't alone. As it turned out, those guys were pillaging some tribe and I have stopped their fourth or fifths attempt if I understood everything right- demon took a few seconds to recall his story and saw how warrior and shadow were focused purely on him- Some of the locals who were hiding to ambush them then came to me and lead me to their village. Apparently I looked similar to their god who was supposed to help them. Honestly if you ask me, there was little to no similarity between me and that god. But I stayed there for a while to regain my strength. I don't remember much from their welcome ceremony beside the fact that they gave me some weird green fruit with stripes. After that I returned home. Heh, I wonder if they still think that I am their god. If their tribe still exists that is

- You know, I expected many things from you, but not to save a village and not burn it down. Even if that was an accident- while Samukai wasn't sure, the way the demon quickly turned his head away from them could mean that he was embarrassed. Surely a thing he wasn't expecting to see.

- Oh come one, I only let them live because they treated me like a god

- Yea yea, whatever you say

The night finally came to an end and the samurai was checking the map for the last time. During the night Fenfir had marched greater distance than he expected and now they were a few hours away from the nearest town. That is if nothing will go wrong. And for now their journey was rather peaceful, almost too peaceful up to this moment. Either now or in the town something will go wrong. Samurai just felt that. It was a weird feeling on his back. Albeit it felt rather unnatural, more like something was moving than a tingling.

- Samukai I don't want to scare you right now, but you might want to check your back- Noktum pointed at the samurai. As the warrior proceeded to touch his back in order to see what shadow had in mind, he froze. At his hand came a thin, but long legged spider.

Samurai carefully reached for Izanagi. After it was in his hand, he furiously smashed the insect with the handle and then wiped whatever was left of it on Fenfir's fur.

- Where did it come from?

- Fenfir perhaps?- magician said. Hound let out a low woof on that as if trying to say that it wasn't his. He was a clean hound after all. He just bathed in rain not too long ago.

Just as shadow was about to apologize to the wolf, the demon's tail started twitching. He even nearly stood up to try to smell, what Chaos guessed to be an aura, better. They immediately got ready for combat. What worried Samukai was the smirk on Phantom's face which never meant anything good. Before the samurai could ask him what it was, the demon laughed, startling him.

- He's here! Ha ha! He truly is here!

- Mind telling us who or are you too busy going mad?

- I believe that I have mentioned Iscariot already

- Yes, so what...No, you are not doing that. No way, no. Not with us on board

- Don't worry your helmet about it. I promise to make that quick. Oh and just a simple warning. You might want to wait for me outside the town. If there will be any left

Samukai sighed. He really needed to have a talk with Phantom about the decisions he makes by himself. He could try to do that now, but he doubted that demon would even pretend to listen to him. So that was that feeling in his back. That and the spider. At this point he would take five more spiders rather than a demon going against some angel.

- Now Fenfir, go a little faster. I can't let him wait too long- and with that hound increased his pace as Phantom already prepared himself for a combat with an old rival. Just a little longer. Soon he will finally get to go all out. And it's going to be brutal.