The Chaos got a fair bit away from Potok and there were no signs of a chase after them. Now, traversing through the grassland, Phantom took out the crystals. To no surprise, they have only pointed at each other. Sighing with disappointment, he put them back into the bag.

- So are you sure that I shouldn't cast my arts?- Samukai asked.

- Yes, I am. I really doubt that after using Apostle Iscariot would be able to go after us

- Right, but Fenf can you go a little bit faster? My guts are telling me that we should get out of there as fast as possible- the hound followed the order. Soon after, the Potok was getting smaller and smaller, until it completely vanished from sight. A terrain that once was a grassland has now become a swamp. Fenfir was now carefully placing his steps to not get stuck.

- You know, it makes me miss Seiryu- Samukai started- We had much more beautiful land. Here it is only forests, mountains and swamps. Still I guess this is better than the cold marble land that Vatican probably is

- I personally say that Hell looks the best. Have you ever been to a fourth circle? They have one tree that nearly reaches the sky. And from its top you get a truly lovely sight on all of the forth circle- this has continued for a while. Noktum with a great interest was listening to the various landscapes his companions were speaking of. Despite living in Hell, he had never seen much beside the Tower of Mages, so when his master was talking about all of that there was, he couldn't believe how truly diverse Hell was in terms of land.

Before any of them had noticed, Fenfir stopped his march and was sniffing the air. Despite being in the mud up to his knees, he kept on moving from left to right trying to find whatever got his attention. Chaos quickly joined the hound when they saw what was going on. Noktum spotted something that at first looked like an enormous rock covered in moss and vines. Albeit he couldn't exactly say since it was hidden behind the trees. When Fenfir got closer it became clear that it was a horribly run down stronghold way past its glory years.

- So how do you feel?- Samukai asked- If you need to we might stay in there for a while

- I see no reason not to do so- demon said, ordering the wolf to go inside the building- I need to take off that stupid bandage anyway

The insides of the stronghold were in better condition than they had expected. While at the very entrance it was just as run down and covered in vines as the outside, the further parts looked to be well preserved, almost like it was built just a few days ago. But it wasn't really spacious, especially compared to the previous one. In fact it was just one big room with a great rectangular hole on the wall in front of the entrance, that reflected in itself the team that came in.

Samukai immediately came closer to see what it exactly was. In the meantime, Noktum helped Phantom with taking off the bandages. While the wounds were still open, they weren't bleeding. Samurai quickly called them over as he touched what at first seemed to be a one big mirror. As they came closer, he slightly hit the mirror and it acted as if he hit a water surface. Being slightly confused as to why someone would use crystal clear water for a mirror, Noktum together with Samukai were examining it.

Phantom too wondered that, but something wasn't right. After all, why would someone waste water like that, and from where would they even get it? If that was even water in the first place. Then the world turned gray and what once was a crystal clear water was now like a chaos energy. Just as he was to ask Pharaoh about something, the image on the "mirror" changed. Warrior and magician jumped away at that.

It no longer reflected them, but showed something that neither of them were familiar with. The only things they recognized were trees that for some reason were growing from some metallic boxes. The other thing was a street, or something that was supposed to resemble that, albeit it was filled with holes and had white stripes in the middle of it.

And then there were things that none of them had seen. The most breathtaking were the steel and glass towers that rose high up to the sky, being so close to each other that no mouse could slip between them. Alongside the street were weirdly shaped, multi colored metal boxes. All of them looked as if they got hit by a high tier spell, only a few were nearly perfectly intact. Some of them even seemed to have something akin to wheels, but none of them could say for sure. Just what was that?

Phantom casted a fireball at it, to see what would happen. It passed through the reflection and hit one of the metal boxes. A teleport of some sort? Perhaps, but where was the location that it was showing?

- So what are we going to do with that?- warrior asked, keeping his hand on Izanagi's hilt, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

- The image changed by meddling with it right?- Noktum started- so maybe we could make it change again- he came closer to the mirror. At first he was slightly tapping it, causing small ripples to appear. Nothing seemed to change. Then he placed his entire hand on the surface. The image got a little distorted, but nothing besides that. As he was to retract his hand, something strong pulled his hand and the magician tripped, nearly falling into the mirror. Samukai acted quickly and caught the shadow but whatever was holding Noktum increased its strength and now the magician was halfway gone through the mirror as the warrior was trying his best to pull him out. Fenfir quickly joined in grasping the samurai body with his mouth. Hellhound was trying his best, yet it wasn't enough. Not even he was able to overpower the force that held the magician and soon the entire team vanished in the mirror.

When they appeared on the other side, all of them fell flat on the broken street. Quickly turning around they saw a puddle of water which reflected the image of the stronghold. Samukai immediately reached out to it, but before he touched it, the puddle had lost its image.

As the rest recovered from the impact, the samurai was both amazed and frightened by what he saw. Those steel towers were all around them, the sky in which they vanished was nothing but dark clouds. The weird metal boxes with wheels were scattered through the entire street, some of them even stuck in the towers. Now that Samukai could take a better look at all of that, he thought that calling those towers steel and glass wasn't the best idea since nearly all of the glass was broken, staining the street. Those metal boxes were weirdly small, as he easily was bigger than them. Now that he thought about it, perhaps they were some sort of wagons. They were the right size for some treasure to be stored in them and they were made of metal so they had to be sturdy. Well maybe not sturdy enough to survive whatever has happened here. Where even was "here"?

Phantom carefully scanned the surroundings with his sight. Weirdly enough, there wasn't even an ounce of chaos here. The place was desolate after all, but still there had to be something. Especially since this looked like it was hit by a powerful spell. Perhaps he should contact the Pharaoh. Those same towers were in his desert so he had to know a thing or two about this place right? As he was about to do so, he noticed a black shape rising from between the towers. It slowly made its way to the front of the building.

Whatever it was, it was no creature that any of them had ever seen. It was all black, with four long spider-like legs that connected with one small point in the middle. It seemed like the creature had no body or head or mouth or anything. Only those four legs on which it climbed on the towers. Phantom turned his gaze to the Chaos in order to see if any of them had recognized what it was. To his surprise none had even noticed the worried look on his face as the magician and warrior were busy discussing what any of the things there could be. Could they not see it? He could wonder about that another time. He quickly fired off an abbadon.

- Oi! What are you doing?- Samukai asked- Seriously, can you go five minutes without destroying anything?

- I'm trying to get rid of that thing- he pointed at the top of the steel tower. Samukai tried his best but he didn't see anything that could worry the demon. What was the thing that he was talking about anyway? Demon too kept on looking in the same direction. While abbadon did hit the building, it passed through the creature. The being didn't even notice that a spell had been aimed at it. In fact it seemed like it didn't even see that Chaos was there, right below it. Now that he thought about it, wasn't it one of those creatures that Pharaoh spoke off? But if it indeed was such then why wasn't it giving him the headache?

Yes, I too do wonder why a creature that's using a mere decoy form isn't giving you a headache

And here it was. The echoing voice that was both a relief and a torment to hear. At least now the demon knew that Pharaoh was in fact listening to him and maybe knew an answer or two to his questions.

Right Pharaoh I'm giving you few seconds to answer me where is this place

Oh, you are adorable when you think that you are threatening me. Phantom heard Pharaoh chuckle. Just as there are many worlds there are as many if not more worlds In-Between. Acting as a mere link to various places in the vast space, I would strongly advise against even stepping a foot in one, but I see that it is too late for that

So that thing is one of the inhabitants, which I cannot hit because why?

They exist on different axis-es and spheres. But you shouldn't worry your head about that. Until they lower themselves to your level, they are as harmless to you as you are to them

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Axis-es? Spheres? Phantom had no idea about what the Pharaoh was talking about. But if truly that creature couldn't do anything to them, then he should focus on getting out of that "In-Between", whatever it truly was. He noticed that both Samukai and Noktum were looking at the map, trying to see where they could possibly be. Now how should he break the news to them? That they are in a world between other worlds? That just sounds ridiculous. More important was the question about a way back. If there was any in the first place.

- Don't bother looking at the map. I'm pretty sure that right now we aren't in any of the kingdoms. If I was to bet, then I would say that this is something akin to a Court- that got the attention of the rest of the team. While Samukai suspected as much, he still wanted to see where potentially it might send them once they find a way back.

- So I guess that we either have to kill whatever made it or find a way back to the entrance. Nevertheless, standing here won't do us any good so we should move fast- samurai said taking the lead. Phantom had to admit that seeing him so sure of himself was reassuring, especially when that creature still was slowly but surely making its way towards them.

Wandering around the streets of what they guessed was supposed to be a town, Chaos was finding weirder and weirder wheeled metal boxes. Some of them were enormous, others small with only two wheels. They took some time to look inside the towers whose entrances weren't blocked by anything. Most of them were spacious but empty, mostly having what looked to be an "L" shaped wooden desk with what were probably chairs right behind it. The most they could find on those were papers, but pretty much all of them seemed to speak of gibberish such as inc, co, CEO and others. Nothing that probably would help them in the current situation.

Yet the most intriguing of all were black rectangles that stood on the desks. Samukai couldn't help but wonder what they could be used for. One thing was sure, they were connected by something to other boxes made of a material that none of them have seen before. Probably the most normal things in all of those buildings were plants that stood proudly in the corners. But they were much tougher in touch that plants should normally be.

Phantom wanted to get out when he noticed that the same black creature was now on the outside wall of the tower they were in. Now he had his doubts about the claim that it couldn't harm them. It was patiently sitting right above the entrance, as if waiting for the moment they came out.

- You know, I think we should explore it a little bit further- Phantom said. While he wasn't afraid of the creature, after all why would he? It's only some unknown creature that exists on another axis, whatever it meant, he really didn't like the fact that it couldn't be hit.

- And how exactly? The stairs to the upper floor have completely crumbled. And from what I see the hole is too small either way for you to fly up- the demon had to agree with that. Damn it, it left them no choice but to go out and hope for the best. And why was he so unsure now? He was a demon, he should be used to seeing weird creatures, so why was he trying so hard to not catch it's attention? Probably because of that damned Pharaoh. Again he made him have doubts about himself.

Gathering all of the courage, the demon slithered out of the building with his team following right behind him. While the creature seemed to notice that they were right in front of it, it still stood perfectly still on the wall as if it wasn't a living being but a part of the tower. Phantom felt at ease. So there was no need for him to get nervous. Seriously, he was getting worried for nothing, cursed be that Pharaoh.

- Hey, now that I think about it, can't you fly up to see what's in our surrounding area?- Samukai asked, but quickly went silent as he took a look at the demon's wings that were still regenerating. Right, he couldn't fly up yet. So that left them with one option- So how about we try to get on top of those towers? I mean one of them has to have stairs that aren't completely broken

- Now that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Just you know, we might end up checking hundreds of them just to see if they have stairs. At this point my wings will regenerate faster

- Do you have any better plans? And no, burning everything down to have better field of view doesn't count

- Oi now, I didn't even think of that...yet. But so it be, lead us on samurai

- We should start with that one- Samukai pointed at the furthest tower to the northeast which looked like it was in the best state compared to the other towers- Let's go now, this place is starting to give me chills- demon could agree with that. Especially since that creature still lurked behind them. Phantom quickly turned to the left to see what that thing was doing. Behind him were only towers with no creature on any of them. It probably got bored of them and went away, or so that's what the demon hoped for.

After a few minutes of a rather uneventful march, samurai spotted yet another weird tower in the distance. It resembled a pyramid that someone has stretched to be as tall as possible, while making it take as little space as it could. It seemed to be made of red and white poles. Truly peculiar thing. While neither of them knew what it was used for, on one thing they agreed. It would make a good observation point. Granted that it was a good while of march to get there, but it was better than sitting in that dead town.

Continuing their march to the red and white tower, Chaos saw a river cutting the town in half. The water was full of debris and those metal boxes. And just like in town there was no sign of any living creature. A few meters to the right was a bridge that without a doubt was the best preserved thing in the town. Just as they were closing in to a metal bridge that linked both parts of the town, Phantom saw a black shape coming to greet them. At the other side stood the same creature as before. Despite the lack of head it seemed to stare right at them.

Demon quickly inhaled and exhaled. If that creature was so interested in them then he is going to get as close to it as he could. He led Chaos through the metal bridge and was about to face the creature. As Chaos stood on the other side of town, Phantom noticed that something was happening to the creature. It's dark skin seemed to peel off and fall to the ground, but now matter how much of it had fallen, the creature stood still as if nothing was wrong. Then it had fallen to the ground as if it was being crushed under its own weight. After a few seconds it turned still, but the demon got a weird feeling on his back. Taking a quick glance at his teammates he saw that they had it too, since Samukai was already drawing Izanagi and Noktum with Fenfir were preparing fireballs.

At this point, I would suggest running Phantom once again heard Pharaoh's voice. Confused as for why he should do so, he looked at the creature that had turned into a black mass.

From the black mass on the ground emerged another creature. It's copper body was similar to a scorpion with a great stinger that was high in the air on a mighty tail. It's face resembled a pharaoh crown, but where the human face should be was a golden skull. The scorpion easily towered over the wolf.

- The hell is that!?- samurai screamed as both the magician and wolf fired off fireballs at the new beast. They simply bounced off it's skin. The same happened to abbadon that quickly followed after them. With no visible way to damage the monster, the demon ordered them to run. Chaos quickly ran alongside the road, straight to the red and white tower. Phantom kept on firing abbadons in hopes to slow down the monster which despite its size was right next to them. The rest of the team hopped on the giant wolf. Samukai casted a blessing of Hermes on the wolf which in turn started to outrun the scorpion. The creature stayed still for a few seconds only to go under the road, with only the stinger being visible. Chasing the Chaos like that, it was easily splitting the road in half with such force that it launched some of the metal boxes right at the team. Hound has increased it's peace as the rest of the team was trying their best to destroy any incoming metal box.

- Noktum, next time don't stick your hands into weird things- samurai scolded the magician as he cut in half one of the debris of the road that was launched alongside the boxes- And what's its problem? I don't remember hurting a single scorpion in both of my lives, so can it piss off?- warrior looked behind to see how close was the beast. To his surprise it wasn't there, but the rumbling he could only guess that it went even deeper underground.

- Samukai, wouldn't you happen to have an art that could turn into a harmless shadow?- Noktum asked.

- I wish I had one. OH SHI- warrior couldn't finish as the great scorpion out speed the wolf at emerged right before it. Fenfir crashed right into it, dropping all of them from it's back. The beast was about to crush the wolf with its mighty claws, but samurai acted first and casted arts of the shadow theater on the hound. Fenfir quickly rejoined with the team. Scorpion let out a loud shriek, probably in anger that it couldn't kill the wolf, and was about to charge at the magician on the ground but an abbadon from the demon got its attention.

Samukai used that opportunity and helped Noktum get on the wolf with their leader following soon after. Warrior summoned his shadow clones to give Phantom enough time to get away from the beast. Once the demon got on the hound, Fenfir ran as fast as he could to the tower. It didn't take the scorpion long to take care of the shadows and once it noticed that the wolf was getting away, it went deep underground.

Taking a sharp left turn, Fenfir crossed another bridge and was only a while away from reaching the tower. Samukai noticed that the beast was no longer behind them and was preparing himself to attack it once it came out from the ground. Once the hound reached the tower, the beast emerged from the other side.

- Noktum go and see if there is anywhere for us to go. We will get you as much time as you will need- Phantom said as he, the samurai and hellhound took a battle stance. While Phantom and Samukai were busy distracting it by casting various spells, Fenfir tried to dig his fangs into the beast.

Noktum was slowly but surely making his way to the top of the tower. Just as he reached what probably was two floors high, he noticed something on the surface of the nearby river. But he still had to climb higher if he wanted to see what it really was.

- Remind me when next time I see some weird mirror that I should leave it the hell alone- warrior said, dodging a strike from the mighty stinger. Demon only cursed as yet another of his spells was reflected by the creature skin. He even considered casting a black comet. It couldn't reflect something of that size, right?

The magician finally climbed higher. He took a good long look at the river. It was reflecting an image that showcased a lot of light green poles. They were standing so close to each other that he couldn't see anything else. Just as the shadow wanted to climb even higher, he felt that the tower was tipping over. He clung to one of the poles as the tower had fallen and was now hanging barely over the surface of the water.

The beast has rammed in blind rage into the tower and was now stuck in it for a while. Chaos took the opportunity and came to Noktum. Samukai instantly recognized the image that appeared on the river. It was a bamboo forest, it had to be.

- Good job Noktum, looks like you have found a way home!- the warrior complimented the shadow after helping him get on the tower. Just as they planned to jump into it, the scorpion freed itself and with all of its might tried to push the tower into the river in hopes of drowning the strangers that came into its land.

The Chaos was not prepared for it and could only brace for an impact. The tower has vanished in the river.

A sound of something great crashing with the land broke the silence in the forest. A great white and red tower had appeared, destroying many bamboos in the process. Phantom found himself lying on the ground. He took one quick glance at the tower. That surely caught the attention of anyone in this area.

- Well shit- was all the demon could muster as he went to search for the rest of his teammates who probably were lying scattered around somewhere.