“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Alice’s high pitched screaming filled the air, she held her eyes closed tightly as she could feel her body moving at immense speed, suddenly she would slow down somewhat. This gave her enough courage to open her eyes for a moment, the scene she was greeted with was that of the amusement park the four of them had decided to visit just an hour earlier. It was nothing more than a whim really, but the four of them had had a very fun time in the park. But at this moment, Alice felt immense dread as she could see the roller coaster cart she was in slowly move upwards to an even greater crescent than the last one. Looking before her, Oda and Mifuyu occupied the seats in front of her while Evelina sat next to her. Closing her eyes in preparation for the great descent that was soon about to happen, the black haired girl would let out another high pitched scream.

As soon as the ride was over the group would walk through the cold, mostly empty space that constituted the amusement park. Despite being the twelfth of December, the park was still open. The general policy was that the park would close with the first snowfall of the year, but it seemed like winter just wouldn’t wake up this year and make it official that autumn had ended with the year's first snowflakes. Indeed, it seemed like the only snow they would be granted was the artificial one planted on top of the ice cream that Evelina had just bought. Oda, however, would only repay her kindness with dismay. “Isn’t it a bit cold for ice cream?” The four were clad in warm clothes but that did little to dismay the cold December winds from cooling their bodies. The newest member of the friend group spoke up and indirectly defended her action. “If you don’t want yours I could take yours.” The white-haired man said and before the blonde had a chance to react he had already snatched two ice creams from Evelina’s grasp. The short response that Oda gave to that action was practically seeping with pout. “Fine! I don’t like ice cream anyways.” Picking up on the emotions in the man's voice, Alice would offer him her ice cream as soon as the brightly haired woman handed her it. “You can have mine if you want.” Upon being made aware of that offer Oda would simply shrug as a smile appeared on his face. “It’s fine, you can keep it.”

As the group of four slowly moved through the amusement park the fact that it was getting late became more and more apparent with each passing second, fewer and fewer people being seen moving through the area. As time passed, it only became more and more painfully apparent that the group would only have enough time left for a single ride. Naturally, each of the three more extroverted members started arguing about what attraction they should choose.

“I want another go at the rollercoaster, the only thing around here that doesn't bore me to death.” Said Oda. “I want to try bumper cars, never got the chance to try those before.” Evelina said. “I think we should finish our visit with something relaxing, maybe the spinning teacups would do?” Mifuyu suggested. Since each of them had come up with a different suggestion, it ended up being Alice’s responsibility to decide which of the three options they would go with. But to everyone's surprise she ended up giving a suggestion of her own instead, something that was quite brave for a timid girl like her given that she had everyone's eyes and anticipation placed on her. “I want to go to the ferris wheel.” Not giving a reason for her choice like the others, she ended up having the weakest claim out of the four. But thanks to Mifuyu who almost immediately nodded his head in approval upon hearing her choice.

As soon as Oda realized that they would finish up the day with a so-called boring attraction he let out an audible sigh, but was quickly quieted by a sharp elbow to his side from Evelina.

As the group walked over to the great wheel in the distance, Mifuyu would reveal a bit of Pandemonium lore that the group were previously unaware of. “Did you know that the town of Pandemonium was originally named Mizuki Town? Although, back then it was more like a village.” Oda turned his head to look at the white-haired man as he spoke, finding the information interesting enough to listen to while walking to the ferris wheel. “Back in early 40s a project was started to turn the village of Pandemonium into a proper town, the reason why Pandemonium was chosen was because apparently some great war hero was born here, although with the defeat of Japan most propaganda along with the information about who that war hero was were burnt.” Mifuyu took a short pause from talking, during that time it seemed as he managed to catch both Alice’s and Evelinas attention. “Still, the program ended up continuing even as all ties to that old war hero were scrubbed which led to the current state of Pandemonium.” Nodding idly, Oda would try and find something to keep the conversation flowing. Eventually he came up with something to say to do just that. “Since you know so much about Pandemonium, do you know how it gained its name?”

“I didn’t say I knew much about this town…” A short pause ensued between the white-haired man's words. “... but I do believe it originally gained its name from the book of Paradise Lost. The story goes back to when it was just a village, the elder got the book as a gift from a foreigner and ended up liking it enough to rename the town.” Oda would scoff a little, he knew the story but found it amusing that the elder had chosen to name the town after the capital of hell. He had created the perfect moment to point that out by asking Mifuyu his previous question and Oda’s grand plan was finally completed as he stated his mind on the issue. “He must have been a really weird dude to name the town after the capital of hell, don’tcha think?” After a second of silence, Evelina would be the one to respond to his statement. “Or maybe he just really hated the town.” “That makes sense.” Oda responded to her just as the group arrived before the ferris wheel. Looking up the colossal, circling structure, the four people below it would notice that the line to it was mostly deserted except for a couple people, half of which looked like foreigners. “Shouldn’t take too long.” Mifuyu stated as he took a spot in the small line, with the others soon following.

Waiting to get on the attraction, the group of friends would chat a bit more before finally being let on. A single cart on the ferris wheel was large enough to fit all of them at once which meant they didn’t need to split up during the ride. Once they were at the highest point of the ride, Alice’s face would be almost pressed against the glass window that separated her from the twenty or something meter drop to the ground. It was her first time riding this sort of attraction and it showed. From where she was standing, all the lights of the city seemed to shine brighter than even the stars at night and she found the scene to be strangely entrancing. When she sat her feet on solid ground again the satisfaction of having experienced that was practically beaming off her face. “Looks like they are starting to close down now.” Oda said, referencing how the park attendants were shutting down one attraction after another and some were already heading home.

“I suppose I should start heading home as well.” Oda said, tightening his beige jacket. At that moment, a cold wind blew through the area. But before he left, he looked to Mifuyu and asked a well deserved question. “Hey, since you really are 300 years old or something like that, have you ever been here before? I mean, way back before the town was called Pandemonium.” It was quite some time ago that Mifuyu had also let Evelina and Alice in on his open secret that was for just how long he had really lived, from the era of ancient Samurai to the modern day. While he had initially been forced to answer dozens if not hundreds of questions, the three younglings eventually grew bored as he started to sound more like a historian with every question. While they certainly thought that living for so long was weird, what they had been through the past couple weeks had been even weirder.

“I have traveled through this general area before, but I do not think I have ever visited this town before, no.” With those words the blonde ended the conversation with a simple ‘I see’ before turning around to leave the group as he was about to go home for the day. But at that moment he would be so stunned by what he saw that he stopped moving completely, not even being able to complete a single step before freezing in place. Similarly, no one else said or did anything for the sight they beheld was so strange that no words would be fitting.

Approaching them, what appeared to be a man clad in iron armor, its steel covering every part of his body, walked alongside a much shorter girl with tan skin and white hair; Maru-Maru. Despite his odd appearance, it did not seem like the people running the amusement park paid him any special attention, perhaps they had assumed that he was just playing dress-up. The two walked at a comfortable pace like they were used to each other's presence, or at the very least could tolerate each other. Not wanting to provoke the monstrous woman nor the iron-clad man she walked with, the group would simply stand still in the mostly empty amusement park. When the two groups were within speaking distance of each other the odd duo would stop their stride.

“Finally, I have been looking all over town for you!” The white-haired woman would say as she looked Alice straight in the eye, ignoring everyone else present and focusing solely on her soon to be victim. On the other hand, the armored man seemed solely interested in Mifuyu. “The sins of the past still haunt you old man, no matter how far you run or how long you wait, ultimate justice will reach you in the end.” The reason for those grimm words seemed clouded in mystery for the four, they did not have much time to ponder what he meant by saying that as he continued speaking. “As promised, I’ll leave the black haired girl to you. Thanks for helping me sniff out this traitorous coward.” As soon as he was finished speaking the knight would point towards a nearby forest that was bordering on the amusement park that was already in the very outskirts of Pandemonium. “If we head there there will be a smaller chance of civilian casualties, let’s go.” Mifuyu stood still for a few moments before he realized that the armored man in front of him was waiting for him to turn around and walk towards where he had pointed. Although showing your back to your opponent was usually bad, they were several meters apart and his manifestation would allow him to watch the opponent even while behind him, as such the white haired man turned around and slowly began walking.

Oda, Evelina and Alice stood like petrified as the two walked towards the forest, the one to act first was the girl with multi-colored hair as she spoke to Oda. “Go and help Mifuyu, I’ll stay here and protect Alice.” Unsure whether that was a good idea or not, the blonde eventually decided to trust Evelina’s confidence and began following the armored individual away from the girls. Seeing how she was now alone with Alice and Evelina, Maru-Maru would take a step forward. “Oh my my, it appears like we three are all alone again.” A quick glance around the amusement park put a few holes in the tanned girls statement as staff was doing the last work needed to close down the park. “Mostly alone… but don’t worry I’m not like Shirou who hates getting civilians involved in this kind of stuff.” A slight gesture would be made towards the man in iron armor walking away, revealing his name to be Shirou. It was less than two seconds before she began speaking again.

“In fact I prefer it, more for me to eat and all that. Now then, which one of you two delicacies wants to be eaten first?” Her eyes would dart to Alice, locking onto the black haired girl once again. “I have had my eyes on you for a while now, therefore you will have to serve as dessert and for the main dish…” Her mischievous gaze would be redirected to Evelina. “Oh right, I never did get back at you for slicing my arm off, that did hurt quite a bit. But I’m stronger now so you better be careful, or you might be the one who ends up getting sliced instead!” In a flash the monstrous girl had covered the distance between the two and aimed a powerful kick towards Evelina’s abdomen. Although she was able to react, the monstrous speed Maru-Maru possessed was too great to allow her to dodge the attack and as such the bright haired girl was forced to block it using her arms instead, the force she received being enough to knock her back several meters. Upon contact, the force released from their clash resonated loudly through the park.

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Walking at a comfortable pace, Mifuyu didn’t exactly rush to get to the forest where he would be forced to fight the unknown foe now walking behind him. He had noticed Oda tailing them both, although he did his best to try and remain hidden it was glaringly obvious to the both of them that he was there. “In case you had forgotten your sins, let me give you a quick reminder.” Not having said anything for several minutes, the armored man’s voice suddenly ringing out caught Mifuyu off guard. But nevertheless, he continued walking as the other man spoke. “When you were given a choice, three hundred years ago, to give either your life or the lives of your clansmen. You choose the path of a coward, letting their blood spill so that your’s may remain intact. For three hundred years you have escaped justice, but not anymore for my blade will take your life this day.” With that, the armored man drew his blade from his sheathe. Or to be precise, he drew the blade from the air, for although there had been nothing but emptiness next to the man he would somehow be able to produce a shining sword seemingly made out of silver from nowhere.

Not long thereafter, Mifuyu did the same as he produced a sharp katana from seemingly nowhere. This could only be explained as another side effect, or maybe use, of their manifestations. Oda wondered whether he himself one day would be able to do something similar, having been given the general rundown on his own manifestation by the white-haired man. Despite both men before him being armed it seemed like they were in no rush to fight as they headed further inside the forest and walked almost fifty meters inside of it before Mifuyu finally turned around. Upon seeing that the man before him was ready to face him, the silver clad knight would stop in his tracks. “It’s not too late to turn around now, you don’t have to be a part of this.” Obviously speaking to Oda, the armored man would not even turn around when addressing him, but it mattered little what he said for the blonde was already determined to help Mifuyu, even if he could just help a little it could be the difference between life and death against this new unknown foe. But, even the man he tried to help opposed the idea of receiving help from Oda, at least in his current state. This became glaringly obvious with Mifuyuy’s next few words. “If you are unable to turn into that thing again, I don’t think you will be anything other than a burden.” Although the words were harsh they were true and he knew that deep down.

Therefore, the blonde man would walk away to a distance that he believed to be safe before leaning against a tree to watch the battle. He had no idea if he would even be able to transform into that monster again, or if he needed to take drugs to do so in the first place. Therefore, Oda was at best dead meat and at worst a lethal flaw for Mifuyu who could probably be considered the real powerhouse among the group of friends, having lived the longest and faced the most opponents in real combat. The white haired ronin looked at the man before him, he could not see his face as it was obscured by the heavy armor, in fact his entire body was hidden by the protective coat of steel. He had a theory about where, or rather from who he had found out about his past but it was too late to care about that now.

Seeing that the blonde was beyond the reach of danger, Shirou would take the first move as he lunged forwards with his sword to perform a powerful horizontal flash against the white haired man. However, the moment he moved his body even the slightest the seasoned warrior would already have figured out what the opponent was trying to do. Deflecting the blow and redirecting the force upwards, Mifuyu would quickly realize that he was outmatched in sheer brute force as he himself was forced backwards quite a bit despite just how well he had managed to deflect the sword. Although his opponent had him beat in a contest of strength, Mifuyu still remained confident in his superhuman speed. Quickly recovering from being pushed back, the samurai would use his katana to unleash three quick slashes against the man's midsection. While the superhuman strength Mifuyu possessed would normally be enough to cut cleanly through this type of armor, it seemed as the superhuman durability almost all manifestation users possessed carried over to this man’s armor as well, his slathes barely being able to leave scratches upon its surface. Reconsidering his strategy with that in mind, Mifuyu would aim to block the next attack instead of just deflecting it, taking the full force of the swing to push himself away from his opponent putting them at a distance of around five meters.

Both warriors knew that the battle hadn’t truly begun yet, this was merely an estimation of each other's abilities. Mifuyu's ability to perceive everything within a hundred meters wasn’t good for one versus one combat and was mainly used in large-scale battlefields or when he thought that he might get ambushed. Along with that, he had no idea about what his opponent was capable of. But at the same time, his opponent probably wouldn’t be able to know what Mifuyu himself was capable of doing and have that as an advantage during their fight. Since Mifuyu’s manifestation was a closely guarded secret that he had only revealed to a few people over his long life he was confident that the foe could not know what he was capable of, intending to use that to gain an edge.

Dropping his guard and letting his sword idly rest by his side, the white-haired man would try and taunt his opponent into attacking. Or rather he would try and make it seem like that was what he was doing while in reality it was a trick to make it seem like he was overconfident about whatever his manifestation was. But, his plan was quickly squashed as his opponent immediately capitalized on the opportunity to launch another attack. This time he struck from above after performing a vertical slash. There existed several possible reasons for why his foe did not fail for Mifuyu’s trick. First his foe might just have capitalized on the opening from pure instinct or muscle memory, being either a very talented or skilled warrior. Second, his opponent could have seen through his bluff or simply not viewed the threat his manifestation could pose as that great, going through with the attack anyway. Third, it was entirely possible that the man before him did not think things through and merely attacked the instant he saw an opening.

Regardless, the situation Mifuyu now found himself in was not a good one as he had only been able to muster a meager defense before Shirou’s attack landed. Trying to block the heavier sword with his katana, the two blades ended up deflecting each other, but due to his lesser physical strength the ronin was also put off-balance for a split moment. That moment was all the knight needed to hit him with a powerful punch as the iron fist made contact with his forehead and sent him flying through the wooded area before crashing into a nearby tree, or rather, he crashed through the three causing it collapse while Mifuyu himself managed to regain his balance on the other side of it. Although the damage certainly could have been worse, it was enough to evoke a few drops of blood from his nose. Looking down on his bloody nose, a realization hit the extremely old man, it had been quite a while since he last had bleed.

“Heh, show me what you got.” Was what he would quietly say before launching an incredibly fast attack towards the man in armor, although he did his best to block it Mifuyu’s superior speed allowed him to redirect his strikes so they would slip past his guard. Even then, they did not carry enough force to penetrate the armor. It seemed like if he needed to do that he would need to focus on heavier but also slower swings, giving up his one advantage against this opponent. Truly it was a tricky battle, but the white haired man was confident that he would be able to come out on top somehow. But, now it was his opponent's turn to move and it seemed like he would try and eliminate the speed advantage by grabbing a hold of Mifuyu.

But, the swift ronin easily evaded the clumsy hand of the armored man before delivering a slash to his extended arm, still not penetrating the armor but certain that some force of the attack were able to go through it and hit the flesh inside of it. Seeing that he was outmatched in speed but superior in terms of both durability and strength, the man before Mifuyu came up with a very brutish but effective strategy. He would continually rain down poorly aimed and quick strikes at the ex-samurai while steadily moving forwards. Although dodging one or two normal attacks would be possible for Mfiuyu, given the sheer number and speed of the assault he was now facing he had little choice but to deflect them. Each deflection would force him backwards and slowly but surely he would start losing his footing until the knight found his opponent to strike, bringing the greatsword down towards the unprotected man.

It was only by gambling and putting his all into jumping backwards that he was able to narrowly avoid being cut in half, still he was not fast enough as evident by a large wound across his upper torso. While he would lose quite some blood from the injury, it was not enough to keep him out of the fight just yet. Counterattacking swiftly with a barrage of stabs, Mifuyu actually managed to gain some ground on the stronger man, it even reached the point where Oda considered moving from his position in fear of accidentally getting caught up in the action. He did not have time to do so, however, as Shirou lashed out with a powerful blow towards Mifuyu who in turn responded with an attack of yet unprecedented strength from him. As the two swords clashed, powerful shock waves would emanate through the surrounding area, one of which knocked Oda against the tree he was leaning on with enough force to rob him of consciousness. Both Mifuyu and his opponent noticed this almost immediately as evident by both their heads turning towards the incapacitated man. Then, the armored man before him did what Mifuyu least expected. He turned around, leaving his back completely exposed to the samurai while walking towards the unconscious man. He himself remembered the trick he had tried to play mere moments ago and found himself unable to muster the courage to exploit this opportunity to attack the man from behind, what if that was what would spell his doom due to the unknown factor of the opponents manifestation. If he even had one to begin with.

In the end, Mifuyu ended up wasting important seconds and Shirou passed the line that determined whether the ronin would be able to catch up with him before he got to Oda or not. Realizing that his inability to act had put his friend in mortal danger the ronin felt shame like he hadn’t felt in hundreds of years, but there was little he could do now as he did not dare approach the armored man lest he puts Oda’s life in jeopardy. Standing above the blonde man, the knight would look down at him from underneath his obscuring helmet before firmly planting his sword into the ground next to his head. The knight kneeled down and put his hand over Oda’s mouth, removing it after a moment. “He’s still breathing… good.” Were the muffled words that could be heard from him. Although Mifuyu would like to repay the respect this man were showing to innocent bystanders such as Oda, he realized that if he wanted to survive this uphill battle he would take every opportunity he was given and right now his enemy was showing his back to the dishonored samurai without a care in the world. No longer believing that he had the luxury of caring about what the opponent’s manifestation was capable of, Mifuyu slowly began gathering power through his legs as he prepared to strike.

After inspecting Oda for another moment, it seemed as if Shirou was satisfied with his condition which meant he likely wasn’t in any mortal danger. Standing back up without turning around he would reach for his greatsword as he spoke. “Now then, shall we con-” Before he could finish the sentence, all the energy Mifuyu had gathered in his body was released as he lunged forward with a single and swift motion, piercing through the ironclad man’s chest with a single powerful stab. He had moved so quickly that diverting his course would be impossible, so he was forced to wait for the exact right moment to unleash the attack. The sound of a loud explosion could be heard emanate from Mifuyu as he moved through the air that seemed to tear at his skin and almost set him on fire. The iron man simply stood still for a moment, likely not even realizing that his heart had been pierced from behind. But then, defying all common sense, he grabbed the sword next to him and raised it from the soft ground. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, this is the kind of person you are after all.” He sounded almost disappointed as he spoke. Quickly jumping backwards out of fear, Mifuyu looked down at the blade he held, he swore he could see it penetrate through the iron armor and come out on the other side yet there was not a single drop of blood on the blade. Looking at the man, or whatever it was before him a horrible realization dawned upon Mifuyu’s mind. “No, don't tell me. Your manifestation… that suit of armor, its-”

Before he could finish speaking he would be interrupted by the other man. “Indeed, it is! To punish evil without fail I needed a body that would never give up on me, something that would keep functioning regardless of how many times it was hammered, slashed or stabbed. This steel is who I am and I am this steel.” As he finished speaking the suit of armor would tighten the grip on his sword like he was going to swing it. “Now then, let us continue.” No longer a question like the time he was interrupted, the iron man declared that the battle would continue until only one of them was left standing. With a single step, a step that spoke more than a thousand words, Shirou would slowly begin to walk towards Mifuyu.