(Davian's P.O.V)

With a plan, Deadman And I wasted no time at all and left for Nanda Parbat.

The shrine of the goddess of Karma and the scales of balance, Rama Kushna.

Scoff. Hard scoff.

Barragan had claimed to be a god. He'd still died by my hands.

The only reason I was even remotely interested in talking to Rama Kushna was to learn more about those after me.

She had alluded to something of that nature, back when we'd met on the jet plane before it went down.

My senses were individually strong enough to know someone or a few someones were always watching.

The only problem being I didn't know why they were.

Rama Kushna could shed light on that and help me know my enemies.

On other matters, the group was splitting up. Albeit temporary.

Cheshire was a big girl. She could protect herself, so I wasn't really worried about leaving her behind.

She could handle anything short of a possessed Superman. I usually caught myself rubbing my chin in memory of the hardest punch I'd ever received.

The world was lucky the Man of Steel stood on the side of justice.

Back to my point, we would only be gone for two days at most.

I didn't want to waste too much time on this. I was already far behind on the schedule I had made for myself.

Finding Bronze Tiger was not supposed to have taken this long. I couldn't help but feel as if the world was conspiring against me.

Hindu Kush was a series of mountain ranges that occupied an area of 800 kilometers or close to 500 miles.

The mountain range stretched across Central Asia. Dipping from western and central Afghanistan to Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Normally it would require going around or using a chopper to get to where we needed to go.

Nanda Parbat was deep in the mountains, hidden from normal access through the goddess Rama Kushna's power.

The means to get there wasn't the problem. With my Fullbring shielding me, I could just fly there.

Deadman was a spirit, he was untethered to the physical world and unhindered by the challenging prospect of climbing a mountain to look for a mythical city.

*******

"How do we get there?"

I asked Deadman after we left Hong Kong, moving towards Afghanistan while high up in the clouds.

It had been a few hours since then. I was seated cross legged inside the Fullbring shield, deep in meditation while using my Reikaku to steer the bubble shield around me.

I had spent those few hours training with Chase in my inner world. Well, not exactly training but trying to understand the core of Barragan's time erosion abilities.

I might have absorbed his Ressureccion but actually using it needed me to achieve control.

So far, I was confident I could tap into his abilities. The only thing remaining was testing it's effects.

When the training started yielding less results, I decided to take a short break. Besides, all that was left was testing it's practical applications.

Deadman had blinked in surprise at my out of the blue question.

I couldn't really blame him. Upon departure, I had sank into my inner world and ignored everything.

Only occasionally did I stretch my Reikaku range as much as I could to scan for danger.

"Well?"

I prompted.

"Oh, uh...the goddess leads me. I can feel something pulling me towards a certain direction."

He answered.

"Mmh."

I hummed, removing Chesha Neko and beginning to clean it. Remember kids, take care of your tools and they'll seldom fail you.

That had been the case with Mystic. Mystic was my personal handgun. Papa Fred had gotten it for me for my birthday. About the only nice thing the fucker had ever done.

And it still managed to be negative.

Giving a 14 year old kid, a Wonder Mine semi automatic pistol? And the award for best adopted father goes to...

Ironic that I had used the same weapon to kill them all.

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Chase had chuckled morbidly.

But that's besides the point. I let my mind wonder while falling into a trance as I wiped clean Chesha Neko's blade.

My earlier question seemed to have opened up Deadman to the possibility of a conversation. I didn't mind. It was a good way to pass the time.

"Normally you would need an invisible map to get there. At least according to Constantine."

I perked up a little at that. This was the first time he'd mentioned Constantine. I knew the exorcist was no longer in hell, so that was interesting.

Deadman continued. He hadn't seen my reaction.

"Get this, the supposedly 'invisible map' consists of seven separate pieces. I only know 4. A tattoo, a birthmark, a piece of special parchment and a poem."

He scoffed.

"A poem?"

I asked in curiosity. Man, magic was weird.

"I know right? A poem. The rest could at least be considered occult materials. But a poem?"

He shook his head, chuckling in mirth.

Occult.

That word grabbed my attention but I had no idea why.

"Maybe because it keeps on being mentioned in many of Raven's magical books?"

Chase pointed out.

Mmh. Could be why but...

That thought was cut off as a massive blizzard appeared out of nowhere, blasting against my bubble shield.

Deadman stopped, as the snow passed through him, along with the wind roaring loudly.

"I...ah... can't feel her directing me anymore. I think the snowstorm is messing with the connection."

"Did you feel it?"

Chase asked, alluding to something strange. A brief sensation that had appeared in my Reikaku range.

It was gone before I could even know what it was. Clearly this snowstorm was not normal.

"Yeah. I felt it."

I frowned, turning to Deadman.

"We should go down and wait it out. I need to take a leak anyway."

The disembodied spirit made no objection. Without him leading us, we would probably find ourselves way off course.

Besides, I needed to investigate what this was before we moved forward and found ourselves in more trouble than we could handle.

No more impulsive actions for me. Barragan had shown me I wasn't all powerful (yet).

So I directed the bubble shield towards the slopes of the range.

Visibility was an issue but I managed to land in a cave along the range by using Reikaku to scan the terrain.

The howling wind buffeted the rocky outcrop, sending a wave of cold air into the cave that even I could feel despite my reinforcements.

The cave wasn't big, only going a few dozen meters inside. There were signs of a camp fire in the middle, which meant we hadn't been the first ones there.

As if to reinforce that statement, trails and paths up the mountain were inscribed onto the walls of the cave.

"Interesting."

I spent a few minutes looking at them while Deadman was meditating to try and reconnect with Rama Kushna.

It was almost half a hour later, when he released a long sigh of frustration.

"I don't get it...it's not supposed to be like this. Why is she silent when we're so close to the Shrine?"

"Davian...it's coming this way."

Chase informed me.

The storm wasn't natural. That much we had established. Whatever had caused it wanted us trapped and confused.

Which in essence we were. But I wasn't confused, I knew exactly what to do.

I turned towards Deadman.

"You stare here, keep trying to reconnect or whatever, I'm going out."

I informed him, removing my boots. My trench coat and shirt were next to go.

"What...what are you doing?"

Deadman looked at me weirdly as I undressed, finally standing in the middle of the cave in only my pants and Chesha Neko's scabbard.

I tied my hair back as it had started to get long enough to become a nuisance. Only then did I answer him.

"I'm going out to train for a few hours. Don't wait up."

I told him, passing by his confused form and leaving the entrance of the cave.

Fortunately Deadman didn't follow me.

What I had told him was half true. The harsh winds hitting my skin made it much harder to pull on my Reiryoku.

My skin shivered, muscles tensed as my blood tried to fight off the cold.

I trudged in the snow, careful where I stepped so as to not go tumbling down the mountain.

Of course that wouldn't even be close enough to harming me, but it would be embarrassing.

I kept Reikaku up, stretched to it's limit as I walked.

And a few minutes away from the cave, I stopped.

The other reason I'd come out of the cave was to meet out guest. Or rather, the fucker responsible for trapping us in this hellish cold landscape.

"I know you're there."

I yelled out into the snowy range.

"You're not as good at hiding as you might think."

The wind howled.

No answer.

Chesha Neko left it's sheath with a slow ring.

"I won't say it again...show yourself now or I promise to make your death terrible when I do get around to killing you."

The wind kept on howling.

Something entered my ears. Laughter. Booming peals of laughter.

"Hahahaha! Kill me?! I knew you were arrogant but this...this bravado is something else."

I smirked.

"I only care about Facts. Fact no. 1, it's not bravado, it's confidence. Fact no.2, the bravado worked. It got you to show yourself, didn't it?"

The voice was silent.

Then the wind stopped howling.

I blinked and found myself in an inferno. Scarlet flames surrounded me on all sides.

My body got numb, almost seizing up due to the instant change in temperature. The looming mountains above me disappeared and I found myself in a hellish landscape.

One where ash drifted in the air and the ground was blackened with soot.

The sky was a glaring red. And everything else was on fire. I gripped Chesha Neko tightly.

"Chase, where the fuck are we?!"

I asked my Zanpakuto spirit.

"Mmmh give me a minute."

He answered and I felt his consciousness retract as he did something.

Before me the flames parted, revealing a hulking figure advancing my way. It had green skin, red eyes and in its hands, carried two huge axes.

I had to crane my neck to stare at it. God and I thought I was tall. This fucker was 8 feet tall.

"I heard a song of sorrow. A song of torment. A song that came from an unique soul. One with the potential to become the strongest of mages but can never surrender to magic. Such is your symphony. I heard you and have arrived with a bargain. I can give you that which you most seek."

It's voice was oily and almost pleasant.

"It's a lesser demon. This entire space is an illusion."

Chase came back. His voice was tinged with annoyance.

Annoyance that I shared.

"Seriously?"

I asked the demon with a glare.

"Yes. I am known as Shantoz. You lost a lov..."

Chesha Neko Swung out. The pressure blast produced pushed everything away. The fire disappeared and the terrain changed back to the same snowy landscape.

All I could think of was...why was he so weak? I felt no danger from him. Even Condiment King, a minor Batman villain could probably handle this guy.

"What...How?! What are you?!"

Shantoz yelled in fear, backing away as he looked around in terror.

"Bored."

I answered Shantoz, lifting up my Zanpakuto and releasing it.

Shantoz eyes widened at the pure blast of Reiryoku I exuded.

Then the sword unravelled into millions of strings that swam through the air, combining and weaving together to form...

Shantoz breath hitched. He dropped his axes and sank to his knees as Chase in his Giant Cat form loomed over him.

"You wasted my time and a favor someone who owed me. All because I thought you were a genuine threat, little demon. This...is personal."

Chase stalked forward with a terrifying snarl on his face, exposing rows and rows of sharp teeth.

"Mer...mercy..."

A demon asking for mercy huh, now I've seen it all.

Loud screams of pain filled the Hindu Kush ranges.

A few minutes later, I was back in the cave and Deadman was there to meet me with some good news.

He could feel his goddess' pull once again. We set off on our journey and this time, nothing weird or strange happened.

On the next day, we arrived in Nanda Parbat without issues.