Chapter 25

Vali and the others were walking through the ruins, when along the way they both saw a Mistle, prompting Krul to do the same thing as before: restoring it.

Upon seeing this and glancing around to see if they were alone, their resident red haired Revenant heaved a weary sigh. "Let's take a break here guys." Yakumo said as he sat down on some debris, placing his large sword beside him so he could grab it quickly if the need arose. After doing this, he took out what Vali had recognized as an onigiri, before he began to eat while the others also sat down to rest. They had been going around here for a while now,

"Huh… an onigiri."

Glancing at Vali when he made this muttering under his breath, having picked up on it with his superhuman hearing, Yakumo gave him an easygoing smile as he held the object up in front of him. "Yeah, the type of food where it's easy to carry around….. But not that there is any point in eating food for a Revenant. What with us only being able to taste blood and all." he mused, shrugging his shoulders.

Something which drew a confused frown from Vali's face as Keul and Louis started talking to one another about where they were going to be headed next. "Then if that's the case, why are you eating it then if you can't feel hunger?" he questioned curiously.

"Good question. If you ask me, I'd say that it makes eating all the more meaningful for us, kinda like trying to keep some semblance of who you are. We fight, we drink blood, we revive, we fight some more…. Our lives are pretty much one endless loop." Yakumo explained, and while he seemed pretty chill about the whole thing, Vali could sense bitterness behind his words. Bitterness which he somehow felt like he could understand, even though he couldn't really relate to him in many ways.

"I see….. An eternal life where you repeat the same mundane lifestyle every single time…. Must've been hard for you when becoming a Revenant." The silver haired male mused, remembering that these Revenants were basically just offsprings from the Vampire race despite not knowing how the heck that had been a thing.

Yakumo nodded, trailing off as he stared down at the onigiri with a look of yearning in his eyes, a yearning for… something, something he wasn't sure of though he got his answer in the following seconds "Yeah….. You know, I envy you for living outside of the mist…. I've always wondered the reason why we are stuck here, in this prison….. I wanted to know if we can be free from the mist…. And live our lives outside."

"Maybe….. Who knows if we could know if it's possible."

"Heh maybe so…. Hey Vali can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Can you… tell me more…. Of how life is outside of the mist?"

"... Sure." Vali replied, feeling pity for Yakumo. He knew that immortal lives can be both a blessing and a curse, because you get to live forever but you'll outlive your own friends, family…. And your children. He had no desire of becoming an immortal because despite being a battle maniac… There was still some stuff that Vali wanted to enjoy before settling down.

After a while they continued their journey as they went up the destroyed building as Louis dealt with the lost and Yakumo slicing them in half. They went up and saw another flower that was filled with Miasma, something which was Krul's cue to drip her blood on it to clear it out, restoring the air quality for Krul and the Revenants.

They went to the ledge as Vali dropped down first before others joined as well, each of them looking around to see how they were at what looked like some sort of park, before they continued on their journey. They went through the path, wandering across two Lost which had been sitting on the ground, though instead of a drawn out fight Krul dispatched them easily by shooting through the air like a human bullet and performing a double spinning kick to decapitate their heads.

Once the two Lost had been dealt with, the group walked forward until another corrupted flower appeared before them, prompting Krul to do the same thing as she had done before. Afterwards, they entered what looked like a large, open platform with a rocky surface. Not only that, but there were these unusual looking webs over at the back of the platform, where they could see what looked like a way forwards. However, something stopped the group from proceeding, with Yakumo whistling under his breath. "Man, looks like we won the race after all…"

Vali and the rest nodded in agreement as they beheld the sight before them. That sight being a girl with silver hair styled into braids in some places, wearing a gray shirt and a black skirt. Turned out this girl's instincts had been quite sharp, for not long since the group had arrived she sensed a presence behind her prompting her to glance at them with frightened eyes. "You…." she whispered, her eyes shining with fear and fright.

Seeing this, Louis chose to be the one to step forwards. "Hey its alright, we're not going to hurt you." he stated in a placating manner.

'Not going to work, Louis…'

Vali had been the one who thought this, and it turned out to be correct when the girl stepped backwards every time he stepped forwards, as if the idea of approaching him revolted her. "Liar! Your saying that because you want my blood don't you?!" she bellowed

Still, Louis didn't give up and Vali had to hand it to him, judging from what he could hear from him and what he had learned about Revenants from the others, Louis had good control over his instincts. "Calm down I know that you're afraid, but we can help you, I promise you that." he once again tried, making a point to stab his Longsword into the ground beside him to show that he had no intentions to harm her, stepping away for good measure.

THIS seemed to work on some level, as the girl didn't step back as much this time though her fear had still remained. Mixed with other things like confusion and suspicion. "H-how do I know that you're not lying?" she yelled at him.

"I know someone who can take you to a go-hold on this place."

Suddenly, something about their surroundings drew Louis' attention, causing him to warily look around for a bit. After a couple seconds, his eyes widened in horror and realization as he turned to the girl. "Oh no, quickly hide!" he yelled,

The girl blinked, momentarily confused before Vali looked to where Louis had, before he too widened his eyes when something began to move behind the girl. With quickness, Vali summoned his Divine Dividing before he quickly flew forwards, grabbing her by wrapping his arms around her waist before she could react, and then flapped his wings to propel himself backwards. This had the effect of him avoiding a surprise attack from something… large. Something which had only attacked right NOW.

Vali looked and saw what attacked them: what looked like a mix between a humanoid and a butterfly. The humanoid part came from how it looked to resemble an adult woman with long bone armor of the Legs which was shaped almost like thigh high boots, ending in sharpened tips. There were no arms from where the Shoulders would have been, but instead about 6 long Butterfly wings protruded out the upper back with a crown of what looked like bone spikes protruding out the top of the head. Furthermore, and likely the most glaring feature, turned out to be the monster's 'Tail', which protruded from the tailbone and took the form of a large worm-like construct with multiple glowing yellow eyes and a HUGE ass maw filled with sharp fangs.

"A greater Lost! Everyone, be ready!" Louis called out as he grabbed his previously embedded sword like that one from the myth about whoever pulled it out would become a ruler. After Vali had put the girl down behind them, he rejoined the group while deploying two MSs, with Krul drawing her Dragonslayer and Yakumo holding his Greatsword at the ready.

The fight promptly began after this, with the Greater Lost getting the first move in the form of twisting around and swiping it's Tail horizontally towards them. This resulted in several purple balls of sludge being launched from the Tail at them during the spin, of which each of them dodged in their own manners.

Louis however, opted to mix his with his counterattack by jumping forwards, seemingly covering his body with a red mist of sorts which then made him vanish like he had blinked out of existence. Only, this lasted a few seconds before he reappeared before the creature with a reverse horizontal slash already in motion. This allowed his Longsword to cut into its abdomen, causing the Greater Lost to growl as it headbutted him, the man having abled his weapon to deflect it in time so it only knocked him back as he dug his feet into the platform to halt his movement.

Before the creature could do anything more to him, Yakumo took his chance to charge in after his friend, his eyes briefly flashing red. After this flash, Yakumo leapt forwards once he had ran past Louis and launched two strikes at the beast, although the Greater Lost managed to strafe sideways to dodge them then swung its Tail at his exposed flank. Fortunately, he managed to jump back to dodge it, though he had to quickly angle his Greatsword in front of him like Louis had earlier, doing this so that he could block a sludge projectile launched from the Tail. "Shit, that may have been a woman once, but she hits hard! Must have been a bitch before, too…"

'Ridiculing the dead aside, what are your guesses on that sludge being poisonous…?'

'Most likely, Vali. Best not to let that touch you.'

'You and me both, Albion…'

That conversation being done, Vali glanced at Krul who nodded her head at him, prompting Vali to do the same as the two came at the Greater Lost from multiple flanks. Vali got to it first, going for a downward slash towards one of its wings. However, he quickly changed his tone when he saw the creature curl its wings inwards, sharply ascending high into the air to escape an eruption of purple gas.

Unfortunately, Krul wasn't so lucky as, while she DID manage to jump back in time to avoid a direct hit, her eyes widened when she felt her strength rapidly leaving her, resulting in the former Vampire Queen to fall onto her backside and struggle to get back up. "Ugh… shit, poison…! Must have inhaled some for a moment…" She muttered under her breath, weakly raising her arm which held her Dragonslayer and stabbed it into the ground, using it as a crutch of sorts to support herself while she felt her healing start purging the poison from her system.

It didn't work fast enough in her mind however, for the beast had already closed the distance between them and had launched its Tail which had its mouth open wide, sludge dripping from its fangs like drool. Fortunately for Krul, she had just enough energy left to use her Wealth of Power ability, allowing her to form a pair of wings that she used in a manoeuvre similar to what Vali had done previously. This not only saved her from being bit and further poisoned, but also allowed Vali to attack in her stead.

Attack he did, doing so by hurling a bunch of MBs at the creature from behind which resulted in countless silver explosions to rain down on the Greater Lost. This caused it to stumble forwards due to the impact of each one being akin to a large boulder being slammed on top of it, before the creature growled as it turned around to face Vali, seeing how he had already changed up and fired another Mana Ray. Quickly, it strafed to the side to dodge it, but due to the proximity between them it couldn't avoid the attack fully and, as such, it grunted in slight pain when one of its wings had a bit of its tip blown off.

"Tch, wanted to blow the entire wing off…" Vali muttered as he decided to promptly equip his Balance Breaker. Since the sludge had indeed been poisonous thanks to Krul (who looked to be mostly over it by this point), he figured that some protection against it getting into him through any orifice it could was in order, plus in this state Vali didn't need his MSs to deliver damage. Thus, to that end, he dismissed them before shooting forwards and delivering a flying kick to the side of its head, causing the Greater Lost to tilt its head to the side to respond to the impact, before it tried to bite him with its Tail. Vali held his left forearm out…

CHOMP!

… And just like he had theorized, the Armor covering his forearm did NOT relent to the beast's bite one bit. 'This Balance Breaker is tough…' the male thought with a pleased smirk, hearing a snort of pride escape Albion's voice within the depths of his mind.

'Pft, of course! Dragons wouldn't be so feared if something as minor as poison or a mere scratch-causer like this thing would be enough to damage our scales!'

That boast aside, Vali cackled as he gripped onto the Tail with his free arm and held it close, preventing it from moving. Loud shrieks escaped its lips as the Greater Lost proceeded to struggle to break free from Vali's hold, but the male held firm whilst glancing at his comrades. "Now, while I have its main weapon!" he bellowed.

"RIGHT!"

Louis and Yakumo went first as they dashed in, the former vanishing into red mist like he had done before only to reappear and cut off the three left wings in one big downward slash, before landing behind it. A similar thing happened with Yakumo, only he managed to cut through the other set of wings on the right, leaving it completely crippled.

Sensing that it was indeed in danger, the Greater Lost howled louder whilst increasing its struggles to break its Tail free from Vali's grip. Sensing this as well as its panic, the half Devil chuckled darkly behind his Helmet, planting both feet into the ground and activating Divine Dividing's ability.

[DIVIDE!]

Albion's voice boomed loudly throughout the scene, as the Greater Lost grunted when it felt its energy suddenly leaving it, causing a momentary lapse of movement which Krul promptly exploited.

"Payback's a bitch, bitch!" She bellowed, dashing forwards and, through the use of her wings, promptly increased her speed as much as possible. Thus, she became a human bullet once again as she swung her Dragonslayer sword in a horizontal slash, which resulted in her blade cleaving through the Greater Lost's head in one fell stroke. She landed on the ground behind it with her wings dispersing themselves into her back, as the Greater Lost's head fell to the side whilst its body slumped down into a kneeling position on the ground. All the while, it began to vanish out of existence, much like the rest of the Lost in this city.

Now that the threat had been dealt with, the group reformed in the middle of theplatform, Vali dismissing his balance breaker whilst stretching his arms above his head. "Well that was not any other Lost I have seen before." he remarked, thinking back on previous encounters with the Lost that he'd had.

Yakumo nodded his head with a forlorn expression. "Sometimes Lost can evolve to a different type when left alone for many years."

"I see….."

At this point, the girl from before poked her head out from her hiding place. "Is….. is it gone?" she questioned fearfully.

Whilst Vali hid his surprise at her not having run away like a coward, Louis nodded his head warmly at her. "Yeah, it's dead, don't worry."

"O-okay… but how will I know you won't trick me?"

"Simple, you're the one who decides how you live. The time for sacrifice is over." Louis said as he gave a paper to the human girl as she looked at it before taking it.

For a moment, the girl stared at it until she raised her head to look back to him. "I thought all Revenants were the same…. I guess there are some guys like you." She said as she then went to the direction where Louis base is. They look at her retreating figure before deciding to go with their objective.

They went through the path of the strange webbing as they entered a room where one has an elevator and ahead looked to be a Bloodspring. It didn't take them long to gather before it, to which Louis gave Krul a look. Said girl nodded her head in his direction, before Krul dropped her blood on it. In the following seconds the Bloodspring got restored, producing Blood Beads as Vali got two of them for inspection.

Louis and Yakumo looked in amazement as they saw the bloodspring restored and began to comment on it..

Meanwhile, Vali ignored their conversation as he talked with Albion 'Hey Albion, you think the bloods are the same?'

'Hmmmm let me see…. I'm not an expert in blood but I know some stuff. These blood beads, from what the Revenant said that its taste are the same and the only way to reproduce them is by a blood bank of someone who could reproduce blood an instant like those comic books' deadpool'(Hey! I'm not some kind of blood bank you know assholes! #Ah great now deadpool? That's it, Hunter get rid of this dude. Got it. Commencing deadpool elimination system (pulls out a rubber and rubs deadpool out of existence) Hey hey hey come one, I just got here man!)

'Huh I see….. Then if my hunch is correct… then it must be either that or a large group of humans.'

'Maybe, but we can't be certain Vali, sometimes the future can be unpredictable.'

'Got it.' After this conversation ended, Vali glanced to the side to see a green line that was going forward, Furrowing his brow, he put away the Blood Beads in his storage before glancing towards the rest of them. "Our destination is this way." the silver haired teen called out.

Louis looks at the side and sees the elevator. "This should get us there."

"Lead the way."

With Nepgear...

"Was it really wise to leave Uni alone?"

Compa asked this to the rest of the Party, who had now relocated back to the Lastation basilicom having returned there to inform Kei about the situation's progress. The situation being what they had been up to as foreign citizens from another land, as well as informing her about what had happened with Uni. Since she had been the Oracle, they each felt like she had the right to know, especially since with her being the Oracle, one of her duties would have been taking care of the CPU Candidate in this City during the Goddess's absence.

Though, to say that the mood around them had been a happy one would be a mistake, since the entire group had been laced with this sense of awkward tension, like a bag of popcorn about to pop and its contents about to erupt from within like an explosion. The reason for this? Nepgear who stood in front of them, not having looked at any of the girls since they had left the resort to return here. Well, to be more specific, the entire mood switch that she had flipped back there had been the reason why they had been so on edge before, for in all of their time knowing the Planeptune girl, NONE of them (not even Compa or IF), had ever seen her lose it the way that she had. Not once, Nepgear usually had this sort of passivity about her, and whenever she was faced with a conflict acting aggressive and domineering would be the LAST thing on her mind. True, her CPU and SDD Forms differed with one being more serious while knowing to fight when necessary without hesitation, and the other being slightly more aggressive, but the way she went the way she did with Uni… it had thrown them for a loop.

Not in a good way either.

Finally however, Nepgear who had her head lowered initially so her hair covered her eyes, spoke at last while lifting her head, showing the serious and stern gaze that lay beneath her bangs. "It is…" She began, trailing off for a moment before she shook her head. "I don't know what came over me back there, but when she said those things….. I couldn't ignore it, she said some really hurtful stuff." she explained, or at least tried to.

Truth was, even she HERSELF had been caught off guard with how she had reacted towards those words. Usually she wouldn't have reacted with such an extreme response, she would have tried to say something to try and peacefully resolve the situation. However, that had NOT been the case today, something which worried her slightly.

Finally, Kei interjected after pondering on the situation. Nepgear didn't show it, but she also caught the inquisitive look that the Lastation Oracle had sent her way too, though it hardly did much to lift her depressed mood that had been born from her previous actions back at the resort. "I can agree with that. Uni has been through a lot since her sister got herself trapped in the Gamindustri Graveyard, she blames herself and believes that she could've saved her if she went there."

"I…. see…" Nepgear tried to say as genuinely as possible, but much to her dismay it only turned out as fake as forged Credits. To be frank, she couldn't see what Kei had been talking about, she couldn't understand it at all. She didn't get why Uni thought that she would have been able to do ANYTHING in the situation that had resulted in Eden's fall, and this came from someone who had been in the thick of it. If anything, Noire had made the right call to leave her sister behind before coming to Eden, as otherwise they would have been down TWO Candidates and Lastation would have been in a much worse position than it seemed to be in today.

"Give her time to calm down. Once she gets her mind clear she will decide whether or not she will join you."

"... Alright Kei."

"Good, so anyway since you're here you can do some work for me. Information does not come for free, you know."

Now that this issue seemed to be resolved for the time being, the Lastation Oracle shifted the topic into something a bit more… confusing. As proven when Compa asked the following question while Alexia and Alpha glanced at one another, already having an idea as to where this was going. "What do you mean?" the naive Nurse questioned.

"Properly exchanging information through an agreed upon value system is key to any business."

After hearing this and knowing this to be more on Shadow Garden's specialty, Alpha then walked forth, standing beside the confused Nepgear with a hand on her shoulder, telling her through that gesture that she would take it from here. "If it's to do with credits, I'll give you as much as you want." she stated.

Though this only got a chuckle from the Lastation Oracle. "Haha! No, money is not required lady Alpha, rather for the exchange for the information I gave you for a….. Personal favor." she stated after a moment's worth of deliberation.

Though this made a wave of confusion sweep across the ENTIRE party this time. "What kind of personal favor do you want?" Nepgear asked.

"Our nation is currently developing a very special item. All we lack are some crucial materials. Perhaps you've heard of these? We need a treasure gem and a good chunk of Hematite." Kei explained like she was explaining the weather.

That did NOTHING to quell the surge of shock from the others though, with Alexia practically breaking character upon hearing this. "Pfffttt! WHAT?! You fucking with me?! Those items are so rare, rarely the last time someone found them was 60 years ago!" she proclaimed, much to the CPU Candidate's confusion.

Confusion which prompted her to point it out. "Uhhh…. How rare are we talking about?"

"...(CLEAR THROAT) you see Nepgear these items are so rare you won't find them at any regular vendor. There's no info about where to find them, either. This is basically a one sided trade!"

"Eh…...Eeeeehhhh?!"

Knowing this to be true, and knowing how Kei would operate thanks to this situation, IF figured that they had no other options but to adhere to the Lastation Oracle's demands. That didn't mean she felt any happier about it, nope the exact opposite actually, she'd rather go out questing than do sich an errand. However since that would mean that they would be breaking their word, that didn't sit well with her either. If they broke their word, they'd be no better than ASIC, thus with a snort of frustration the brunette turned on her boots to head on out towards the exit. "Tch, looks like we don't have any choice. Like what Vali said we will keep our promise then."

"Good, alright have a safe journey all of you."

With Vali...

"... dammit, not again." Vali grumbled under his breath as he got up from his spot, followed by his companions.

They had just experienced another memory point like when Krul had first touched one of those Vestiges, thus they had heard a voice echoing out like some kind of narrator in a broken story. Only, the thing with this one was that instead of some random Revenant's voice, they had heard Louis' voice at the Vestige when Krul picked it up. As a result, they had each seen a bunch of things from it… things which opened up some disturbing doors.

There was simply no way for them to overlook what they had seen, hence why Krul had glanced towards Louis himself with eyes narrowed in suspicion. "That girl…. Who was she?" She questioned slowly. One of the things they had seen was a young girl in an attire that could only be described as fitting for a hospital patient… or someone who lived inside a laboratory all their lives, not a place she would have wanted to see members of her kind (albeit artificial abominations) being raised at. Not to mention, Krul had felt a sense of… familiarity with her, strangely enough. A sense of kinship one could say, and she did NOT like it one bit.

On his end, Louis looked down at the ground, his eyes downcast and his mood plummeting into a depressing one. "She's….. She's Cruz, a girl that volunteered for the experiment that the professors were spending a lot of time on researching." He explained, slowly striding forth towards the ledge they were on. Speaking of ledge, they looked to be going along a pathway which looked to be built into a tall cliff face, one could even see the lair from which they had fought against the butterfly-shaped Greater Lost earlier from, whereas the path lead into another series of mountains in the form of a kind of Canyon, with the Red Mist being visible in the distance.

"And we saw what happened at the hospital….. That girl has the same appearance as the queen." Vali stated suspiciously, remembering what he had been shown about the 'Queen' who had apparently been the one who caused a lot of damage during her Frenzy, someone who a load of Revenants gave their lives to take down.

"Because she was the Queen."

"WHAT?!"

Vali and Krul exclaimed that in unison as their eyes almost flew out of their sockets. THAT had been the Queen?! Just what the fuck?! Their stunned faces did little to quell the guilt inside Louis however, since in his eyes the revelations of what he had just seen reminded him of something he didn't want to have ever remembered. "I should've done what she told me or else… this wouldn't have happened." he mumbled sadly, clenching his Longsword tightly in his grasp.

In that Vestige, they had his memories that in the hospital he was spending time with a girl named Cruz. It went further in detail that she was resisting something that was injected to her. Then chaos happened as they had heard another voice aside from his, to which Louis had said belonged to Karen, his sister. According to him, these Vestiges restored the memories of the Revenants they were formed from once that said Revenant died and revived, as apparently while they could do so every time they died they lost portions of their memories. The amount of which varied every time, but regardless the more memories a Revenant would lose, the more driven to survive they would become to preserve what they could of themselves.

It had been a… lets just say mind-numbing revelation.

"I couldn't stop Cruz from going into a frenzy. So many people lost their lives, including my sister. I wanted to forget my fragility..." Louis mumbled as he stared into the distance, his eyes glazed over as horrible things returned to the forefront of his mind. Screams of the dying Revenants and the roars of the many Lost that they had encountered. This only lasted a few moments however, before his eyes returned to full clarity and hardened with a steely resolve. "But if we can find the source and ensure a stable supply of blood beads, then revenants will be free from their thirst. Once that happens, there will no longer be any needs for Silva's levy system, and humans and revenants will finally be able to live together in peace."

For a moment, all became silent thanks to this declaration, with Vali and Krul not knowing what to say in this situation. From what they could tell, it seemed that Louis had his head on straight and had been thinking of the future… just like what a leader should, instead of a simple researcher. This became especially apparent to Krul herself, since she had been a former leader herself.

Meanwhile, the sounds of footsteps soon resounded near them, and before the two could react Yakumo slapped Louis on the back of his right shoulder to snap him out of his reverie. "... then you need to no longer live in the past and focus on the present instead, what happened in the past was a long time ago."

"... your right I do need to focus on the present, let's go everyone." Louis said as they all continued their journey through the mountain. They went along the curving path as they dealt with a Lost that had been walking forward, Vali incinerating it with his Hellfire to turn it to ashes.

So far for the past hour or so they found a Mistle which Krul restored before seeing the corrupted flower too as she restored it they began to take a break to restore their breath from the misama.

During this break, Vali took the time to think about what they had learned so far about the situation. With this whole thing happening all because of an experiment that Louis told them, he wondered if the Vampires were involved somehow, but he wasn't so sure. Not to mention that all this hunting of the Lost and seeking answers seemed… quite familiar to him.

'Hunting, huh… Ah, yes… wasn't something like this part of what happened back then…?'

Slowly, Vali began to close his eyes, remembering the time where he met Delta.

Flashback

Vali stood in the middle of a snowy field, Leanbox having developed a system that allowed snow to appear in december with the help of Lowee. Normal people would have used this time to build snowmen, starfishes in the snowy plains or hung out with friends during this occasion, but Vali wasn't interested in that stuff. Instead, he used this opportunity to train while being in the snow so that he can get used to the weather. Perhaps he could maybe use this chance to visit Alpha, Emilia and their aunt when he had the chance, but for now time to train.

"HIYAH!"

With a loud war cry, Vali kicked down a tree as it broke close to the base before falling down. He was about to grab it for the purpose of building a fire to warm up their home, but just after he got the Tree up, his ears twitched when he heard some kind of voice nearby. A frown marred his lips while he narrowed his eyes, before he put the Tree down beside him with a loud THUD. He then glanced around to see where the sound came from, until his gaze fell onto the sight of and spotted someone approaching.

'Hm? This is…'

The silver haired lad's frown deepened when he saw that the culprit was a Beastkin, a dog one if he wasn't mistaken, stumbling out into view while being clad in tattered clothes. However, what REALLY caught his attention was the fact that there were those huge ass purple marks on her, much like the ones which Alpha had been tormented by when he had first met her. Seeing these allowed Vali to identify the female Beastkin as a possessed person.

"Hhaa…..hhaaa…..I can still….hunt."

The girl muttered this under her breath as Vali arched a brow at her. "Who are you?" He questioned.

Instead of answering him however, the girl's gaze landed upon him with a feral look shining through. "Grrrrr!" she growled like an animal.

Gradually becoming irritated with the girl before him, Vali once again tried to be diplomatic about the situation despite his instincts telling him that a fight would be incoming. "Oi I'm asking you a question."

"Grrrr!"

Vali dodged an attack by her as he then had his eyes turn slitted. "You want the hard way then? Fine." Then Vali gathered his Mana before he jumped towards her as she did the same as Vali.

Flashback end

And that's how Delta joined the Shadow Garden. She always constantly challenged Vali whenever she had the chance, though to little success. By this, he meant that he would beat her every time though that didn't mean that she would give up, no sir. Ironically, this turned out to benefit him in a way, since it gave him a pretty damn durable sparring partner and, after seeing how simplistic of a girl she had been, made Vali somehow warm up to her. To the point where he had to question his taste in women, or if he were a masochist somehow since he apparently got attracted to a woman who tried to fight him every chance she got.

Initially, he didn't know why she always wanted to fight him either, back then he wasn't into this romance stuff (mostly due to his image of women being ruined by people like that bitch noblewoman who he had now forgotten her name, as well as his older 'sisters'.), but thanks to the fact that he had entered into the relationship he had with the girls that had changed.

Now he knew why she wanted to beat Vali: So that she could prove she is not a useless girl to him… And also have some kids, something which caused Vali to shudder. No way he will have kids right now, he wasn't ready to be a father. Sure the time would come, especially if his mother (he had to wince at the mention of her, knowing her current state) had a say in it, but he'd wait till then to decide.

Anyways, after recollecting the time he had first met one of the girls in his Harem, Vali opened his eyes just in time for everyone to get up and continue their path. Eventually, Vali and co arrived at a large area surrounded by tall spikes, black ones which looked like miniature skyscrapers, though considering what had befallen this city that wasn't too much of a surprise anymore. Not to mention in front of them looked to be… some kind of barrier of sorts if they had to guess, one which had a pattern on it that looked similar to a Bee Hive or something, and THAT wasn't a good sign.

Not like it was needed to showcase the danger here, some of them had already sensed it.

"This place… a lot of blood's been spilled here…" Krul mumbled under her breath, furrowing her brows as she cautiously scanned the area around them, the party responding to this through their actions: slowing their pace and holding their weapons at the ready in case of an ambush.

An equally cautious Yakumo nodded his head in agreement with the former Vampire Queen's hypothesis. "Yeah… though to be fair, I've been getting real bad vibes about this place from the moment we first started navigating it." he admitted.

Vali nodded at that. "You could say that again…" he mumbled, not liking the feelings he was getting. This wasn't something he had felt just now either, but from the moment they first stepped foot here before they got distracted by Louis's Vestige, and during that time Vali had felt that there had been something SERIOUSLY wrong with this area. This place, everything had been making every instinct inside of him scream to leave and never come back, not because of him being frightened or anything but rather, the unnatural formations this place had disturbed him on a whole new level. The way the terrain reminded him of a mountain range, or a highly natural-looking 'cage' of sorts, really rubbed him the wrong way.

"I know what you two mean…" Louis admitted, drawing their attention. "This place… I've never been here myself, which only makes sense since it used to be covered completely by the miasma. But… the way this place looks… it's making me suspicious." he explained.

"Of what?"

"Good question, and one I lack the answer to Vali."

Before any of them could continue this hushed conversation, a flurry of movement caught Krul's attention, and quickly she reacted. "Everyone, scatter!" she yelled, the group acknowledging her and instinctively moving in different directions.

Good thing they did, because the very SECOND they had darted off, something slammed into their former position in accompanied by a flurry of slashes, slashes which were dealt using a pair of bladed weaponry that remained unseen thanks to them being in motion.

Only when the group had stopped their movements did they raise their heads and get a good look at their mystery attacker: a bipedal humanoid with what looked to be reverse jointed, thin-looking legs that ended in clawed feet. The whole thing looked to be quite frail in appearance, not very powerful save for the chitinous armor growing around the forearms and out its back. Additionally, it seemed to wear clothes like one from a tribe would have worn in the past amidst its chitinous armor. What looked to be some kind of helmet formed over its face, resembling a canine of sorts while two glowing red eyes bore their hungry gaze into the group, its maw filled with sharp fangs whilst it hung open. As for weapons, it possessed two large knife-like blades… whilst there also seemed to be something stuck inside its chest.

"Looks like we got some kind of roguish Greater Lost on our hands… let's catch it!" Vali declared, activating his Balance Breaker and taking to the skies all while summoning a bunch of fireballs around him. He quickly launched them at their opponent in a wheel-like form, intending on hitting the ground AROUND it to limit its movements for a few short seconds.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The following fireballs exploded like volcanic eruptions around the beast upon contacting the ground around it, perfect for the following events to happen. Using the same technique he had used against that butterfly-type Greater Lost, Louis teleported via that red mist ability he had, swinging at its legs a few times before he rolled forwards, dodging the retaliation it launched in the form of a few slashes with its knives. "Everyone, go for the legs! We'll inhibit its mobility and finish it off!"

"RIGHT!"

Those orders aside, everyone proceeded to do their bit, not even needing a SHRED of discussion between them to convey their intentions. All the group did was seemingly glance at one another for a few seconds, before they took action. The first one to take action turned out to be Yakumo who leapt forwards and slashed diagonally at the Greater Lost's head with his Greatsword, of which it crossed its knives in front of itself like an X to block it. A few seconds later it headbutted Yakumo and forced him to stumble backwards, to which it followed up by raising its hand with crimson mist gathering around it…

BOOM!

Only for Vali to stop it from continuing whatever it was intending to do by hurling a ball of Hellfire dow at it, followed by repeatedly kicking at it to launch a bunch of crescent-shaped blades made from his Hellwind that flowed in the directions of his kicks. He even summoned a bunch of MB's after activating his MZ above his head like he did with the Fireballs, and had begun preparing to toss them down at the Greater Lost while Krul attacked from the side with her Dragonslayer.

However, it seemed like this creature learned from previous mistakes for it quickly threw one of its blades like a boomerang at him, forcing Vali to stop his attempts and dodge out of the way. Sure his Balance Breaker managed to defend against its edge when it skimmed the shoulder armor, but Vali wasn't willing to risk engaging in direct combat with an enemy he knew nothing about. Although as it grabbed onto Krul's sword and used it as a way to throw her aside, Vali quickly launched his Tail and hooked it around the moving Blade by its shaft, expertly catching it within the said prehensile appendage.

"Oi, ugly!" he yelled, catching the beast's attention as he hurled the blade right back at it with the force of an angry dragon. The creature made to try and catch it as the blade sailed down towards it like a divine blade meant to smite it thrown by the gods in their heaven above the mortal plane, however it screeched in pain when the blade proved too fast and instead, tore its way through its hand to the halfway point. It stumbled backwards, holding its damaged hand while barely keeping its balance as it dropped its other weapon to the ground below.

Yakumo glanced up at his companion with a look of approval. "Good one, Vai!" he called out, before he quickly jumped towards it and swung his sword at its unimpaled arm, intending on severing it though the Greater Lost barely rolled out the way of the swing in time to dodge. Not only that, but its uninjured hand glowed red like before and, before Vali could stop it with his Hellfire attacks again, the creature summoned what looked like a bunch of red crystals into existence around it like they were some form of protection.

However, to Albion's gaze they were anything but, proof being in the following words he yelled to the rest of them through Vali's wings.

"All of you, destroy those crystals! They contain Lesser Lost!"

"What?! Shit!" Louis cursed as he summoned a few small fireballs using his Revenant powers, then hurled them at the Crystals to try and destroy them. Just to make sure, Vali supported him by sending a bunch of MRs down from his hands while Yakumo and Krul held back… well, the former did, the latter stabbed her Dragonslayer into the ground beside her and held her right hand out. She then started moulding her Wealth of power to shapeshift her hand, turning it into something… something which resembled a chitinous, hard shelled 'Barrel' (think of the hands of the Mancubus from DOOM and you get what she's formed using her shapeshifting ability) Once this weapon was formed, she poured her energy into her blood, igniting it to result in her launching fireballs towards the Crystals that formed in front of them.

As a result, while the Crystals got destroyed by their combined efforts, this provided a decent distraction for the Greater Lost within. A distraction which it utilized by pulling the blade out of its hand and grabbing onto the second one, stabbing them both into the ground before reaching for the piece in its chest… and yanking that out too. This revealed itself to be a shaft of sorts, and when it stabbed downwards with it using two hands, the two blades 'connected' to it, forming a trident of sorts that it held at the ready. By this point, its hand injury had also regenerated, some shimmering mist vanishing away being the sign of this happening.

"Tch, now that's annoying…" Krul mumbled as she returned her arm to normal… and then slumped onto one knee whilst paling and sweating profusely. 'Grr…. and here I thought I had recovered most of my power. Guess such a rustic transformation's near the limit to what I can do with my current powers…' Krul thought in annoyance as she looked down at her arm, which she could hardly make even the simplest of movements with at this point. She had thought that at this point, she would have fully recovered her power since she had been getting steady dosages of blood from Vali and the like, not to mention the Blood Beads which proved to be… adequate substitutes, she guessed… but it looked like that wasn't as true as she had hoped.

"KRUL!"

The sharp sound of blades clashing rung through her ears as she looked up, seeing Louis appearing in front of her while blocking a thrust from the Greater Lost's trident with his Longsword. Unfortunately it wasn't a complete block, with one of its prongs digging into his shoulder, but aside from that the Revenant didn't look too injured.

"LOUIS!" Yakumo cried out as he leapt forwards into a double slash, one which the Greater Lost drew its Trident back to parry before launching a series of thrusts. Thrusts which Vali stopped by shooting down at it with a bunch of MB's before he dove down towards it with his MSs deployed, slashing at it until he managed to carve a few wounds on its arms much to the beast's dismay.

However, Vali ended this barrage by performing a double leg drop kick which he used to vault backwards to Krul's side. He landed beside her with his Helmet vanishing to reveal his ster, yet concerned face. "You alright? Can you continue?" he questioned, glancing over at Louis while looking at his wound. The wound seemed to be covered by a red mist before it repaired itself in seconds, giving Vali a bit more insight as to how Revenants healed themselves.

Looking at her arm for a second, Krul looked back up to Vali and shook her head. "Not with my arm like this. It's all I can do to make minute movements, without blood I'll be unable to recover properly." She told him, grimacing in annoyance at this oversight on her part. Like she'd said in her monologue before, Krul hadn't anticipated that she hadn't recovered enough for more drastic transformations. She guessed full-body ones would be off the table for a while longer yet then, considering this development.

"Alright, you take some of my blood, Louis you be careful and support Yakumo."

"Got it, be careful you two."

Vali and Krul nodded as Louis shook off his previous injury now that it had fully healed, before holding his Longsword at the ready and jumping over to assist Yakumo who had been locked in a two-handed weapon duel with the beast. Meanwhile, Krul leaned towards Vali's neck as he offered it to her, sinking her fangs into it in order to start draining the blood from his system.

'Ugh! This will never be something I'll get used to…'

'She's a Vampire, Vali, she cannot help her thirst.'

'I know, but still.'

A few seconds later, Krul felt like she had enough and detached her fangs from him, prompting Vali to check himself over. She hadn't taken much, so there weren't any effects on him, but the girl's form looked MUCH better with her arm seeming to be more responsive, proven by how she rolled it about in an experimental manner. "Better?" He asked her, reforming his helmet.

"Yup, now let's finish that fucker off."

"Gladly."

To that end, Vali once again deployed his MSs, having dismissed them upon approaching his female comrade, while Krul grabbed her Dragonslayer and held it in one hand. The two of them nodded their heads before they charged forth to where Louis and Yakumo were positioned, both of them barely blocking a reverse swing from the Trident which sent them sliding backwards… right past the two approaching warriors.

Speaking of warriors, Vali took the lead by flying further ahead of Krul, the former Vampire Queen letting him. Seeing this coming, the Greater Lost raised its Trident for an overhead slam, the weapon starting to become engulfed in red miasma as it got brought down. However, Vali quickly slid across the ground and raised his arms, crossing his MSs above him to catch the weapon by the base of its blades where they connected to the shaft. Not only that but he wrapped his Tail around the Shaft as well as his wings, keeping it locked in place. Plus, for good measure...

[DIVIDE!]

A second after the initial contact, Vali activated Divine Dividing, reducing the enemy;s strength and adding it to his own… which he then used to keep the Trident locked in place for Krul to advance. Something which she promptly did by leaping past him and swinging her Dragonslayer downwards, cutting off one of the Greater Lost's arms while sliding across the ground on her stilettos.

The former Vampire Queen did not seem too thrilled by this though as she let out a 'tch' sound after she had halted. "Damn, it avoided a fatal injury by sacrificing an arm…" she muttered under her breath, although she didn't let that deter her as she instead decided to play a similar trick to what the Greater Lost had done before. "How about THIS then?!" With great strength, she got into position and…

Threw the Dragonslayer at the enemy.

It sailed through the air like a wheel, quickly closing in on the creature and slicing off one of its legs at just below the kneecap, causing it to howk and fall onto a one-legged kneeling position whilst blood spewed out from the wound alongside the stump it now had for an arm. This also lead to it being too weak to hold onto its Trident properly, so Vali capitalized on that by quickly unwrapping his wings and using his Tail to yank on it, pulling it out of the beast's grasp. Yakumo and Louis also dealt some blows to it by slicing off its remaining limbs so it couldn't resist the following attack, and as it fell towards the ground Vali grinned behind his Scale Mail's helmet. "Time to die!"

With that yell, he dealt the finishing blow… by shoving the Trident straight into the Greater Lost's face, killing it instantly.

Now that the battle was over, Yakumoheaved a sigh as he sheathed his Greatsword onto his back. "(PANT)...damn… wish I had taken those blood beads." he mumbled, feeling still slightly drained.

"Here."

Soon noticing this, Vali recalled some of the Blood Beads he had and decided to toss one to him. The man caught one and glanced down at it, his eyes widening in realization. "Hmmm? Oh! Thanks man, but why do you keep the blood beads?" he then questioned.

This prompted Vali to answer while thinking back to the times when he had seen some of the Revenants back at Louis's base trying to avoid looking at his neck. "So that in case neither of you or Louis would be quenched with bloodlust." he replied.

His response caused Yakumo to nod knowingly, understanding the dangers of that on another level. Probably way more than Vali could ever hope to comprehend considering. "True….. Well bon appetit." with that, Yakumo opened his mouth as he drained the Blood Bead he was handed to.

While he watched this, Vali felt like he had to comment about something, especially when he saw the fangs protruding out from Yakumo's mouth. "You know, I never get used to it."

"To what Vali?" Once she regrouped with them and heard Vali's question, Krul queried into that vague statement her companion had made.

A query which he elaborated on rather promptly while glancing to look at her. "Seeing that they have fangs like a vampire but they are not vampires, it's just confusing you know Krul."

On that, she could understand, and she showed it with her facial expressions right now. "I can agree with that Vali, the sooner we find the source, then we will find all the answers there in Vein city."

Mentally noting the term she had used to describe this city, internally musing on how appropriate it sounded, Vali nodded his head in agreement. "Got it."

They went to the bloodspring as Krul did her magic as she restored it. Vali got two more Blood Beads, mostly because one could never know if they would suddenly need blood so badly and he is not giving his blood to the revenants. He already gave his blood to Krul in order to restore her power and he doesn't want to know what could happen if he gave his blood to the Revenants, they might get some of his power and he already had enough of giving power to other people.

Anyways, moving on from that, the group became curious about the barrier that was there, though it doesn't concern them because it wasn't any of their business.

However, something DID come up which concerned them, and that thing cropped up when Louis noticed the direction that the bloodvein led to: back to the city. "Strange…. The blood vein here leads straight to the old city ruins." he muttered in confusion.

Confusion which spread to the rest of them like wildfire. "Wait a minute. Shouldn't it lead from the old city ruins when it showed this path? Have we been walking in circles?" The silver haired hybrid questioned in confusion.

A question which the researcher couldn't answer since he had no clue himself, prompting him to shake his head. "I…. don't know Vali it's justingdo you hear that?" Before Louis could finish, something registered to his sense of hearing that caused his ears to twitch, as well as draw his attention.

Momentarily confused, Vali stared at Louis for that moment before he heard a sweet melody that everyone soon began to hear. "Is that… singing?" he questioned as they each began looking around for the source.

A source which soon one of their members spotted. "Guys look at that!" Yakumo yelled, pointing his finger towards the direction of the Barrier.

They did so, and this allowed the group to see the barrier dissipating rapidly like it were cracked glass, which obviously meant something was going on over there. That went along with the fact that the singing came from there, and if he were to describe it then he'd say that this tune seemed like the most beautiful thing Vali and everyone had ever heard. Heck, even ALBION had to admit that this tune could very well soothe an angry dragon should they listen to it, reasoning that Dragons have always calmed down when listening to melodies, ESPECIALLY if they were played by members of the opposite sex to them.

Now that their curiosity had been piqued, they entered the area which the barrier had once covered. They walked along, until they saw three people which was quite far for a human eye, but if one was a half-devil, vampire or Revenant then they would see what it seems to be a young man standing there. He looked to have white hair (not silver, like Vali's) that seemed to be gelled back, with a fringe covering the right side of his face, right eye included. The tips of his hair were a blond color, while a scar adorned the left side of his face, running through his light blue eye, and the skin enclosed by it is a light shade of grey as opposed to his rather fair complexion.

He wasn't alone either, nor was he the one singing with that honor belonging to a woman who had her hands in an interlocked position, reminiscent of a prayer. If she were standing upright, Vali guessed that she would be at a fairly tall height for a woman, maybe enough to rival Lady Green Heart who was already quite the tall woman. She had white hair adorned with a single yellow highlight and dark-violet colored eyes. Her outfit looked to be a red ripped bare-backless dress that looked to be torn around her abdomen and her chest revealing her large bust, which exposed a necklace hanging around her neck. Additionally, there seemed to be scars around most of her body, mainly her arms and across her nose. Lastly, she appeared to wear a dark maiden corset under her red dress accompanied with black short-heels for footwear.

Louis recognized the man, though. "Thats…." Louis couldn't finish as he pulled out something from the revenant which was a strange some kind of artifact which they can't recognize. "It's him."

Yakumo nodded his head in agreement, just as cautious as him. "Careful, it's the hunter."

Vali glanced at them in confusion since he was one of the two members not aware of the situation. "The hunter?" he questioned, and judging from their expressions that were seen from their Masks he guessed that this guy wasn't someone who should be underestimated…

Made him want to fight the guy and see how strong he really was.

Louis shook his head at him, unaware of Vali's internal battle maniac desire to fight. "Later, but for now is that woman his partner?" he questioned, glancing at the woman.

The hunter then looks at the artifact before he looks at it and the singing grows intense as they can hear the melody kinda like soothing them as if they were in a trance as the woman opens her eyes and it shows a purple color as he pointed the artifact at her when she puts her arm on her back as if accepting it before he shoved it in her as they got out of their trance as he struggles before he pulls out his item as the artifact was gone as the women went limb.

"I don't know what your story is, but let go of the women. Now."

The hunter looked at them as he put the woman away before he stood up and conjured a red mist as it covered them before showing that they were gone.

"Where'd they go?"

"What just happened?"

"That's what we want to know."

For a moment there was silence that dominated the area after Yakumo, Vali and Krul made these questions known. That is, until Louis decided to pull them back to the task at hand. "I know, it was concerning but we need to focus on our own business, we will cross the path when we see him again."

Valu shrugged his shoulders, internally disappointed at not being able to fight that hunter guy. Why was it that when he got what looked to be a decent challenge they just go up and vanish on him? Either that, or become mere cannon fodder for him shortly into the fight. "... hmm suit yourself."

"Let's go back to the base and rest up for a bit."

"Alright Louis."