With a small pack held tight and slung over his shoulder, Kuro entered the bustling crowds of the town at the forefront of what might as well have been Viridi's palace. Even from a distance, he could see the vines snaking up the sides of her home and the thick wall between her and the rest of the town. It was obvious she didn't like visitors, and he was sure he'd be one of the least welcome of all. Several of her flying forces flitted to and fro around the castle's towers, but they made no move toward the crowds below. He sighed and tucked in his wings as best he could, doing his best to blend in with the people around him. Angels were rare in these parts, and even more so ones that looked like him. He kept his eyes trained forward, and no one seemed to pay any attention to him.

Until, however, he passed a gruff, dark-haired swordsman. As soon as their gazes met, they each swept their eyes over the other and the man smiled.

"Huh. I've heard stories, but I don't think I've ever seen someone like you," he noticed, and Kuro stared at him. "What brings you here?"

"What's it to you?" the angel replied, and the man laughed.

"Hey, hey. I'm just curious. You look like a man with a mission- or rather, a boy. Wondering what you're so intent about."

"I'm going up to see Viridi," Kuro said shortly and continued walking, but the man apparently wasn't done with the conversation. He jogged to catch up and keep pace at his side.

"Is that so? I'm actually waiting for a friend of mine who's up there now. What's your business?"

"None of yours," Kuro rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I told you. I'm just curious. I'm Magnus." He held his hand out, and Kuro stared at it for a moment before shaking it.

"Kuro," he replied. "What about you? What does your friend need from Viridi?"

"Information," Magnus shrugged. "You heard of the whole situation with the goddess of darkness?" Kuro stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Magnus completely.

"What about her?" Magnus crossed his arms and smirked in amusement.

"You've got something to do with her too, don't you?" Kuro nodded slowly. "Thought so. That look in your eye says it all. Why do you hate her so much?"

"What part of 'none of your business' don't you understand?" Kuro inquired, and Magnus only laughed.

"Well, whatever. You see," he lowered his voice. "I'm going to assume you know about this whole servant cycle." Kuro clenched his jaw and nodded again. "My buddy and I are trying to find a way to end this. It's sick, what with everything I've heard they go through. Not to mention none of them seems to last more than twelve years or so."

"Don't remind me," Kuro grumbled, and Magnus's eyebrows rose.

"Don't remind you of what?" he wondered, but Kuro didn't answer. "Well, whatever. Anyway, my buddy and I are trying to find a way to stop it, like I said. WITHOUT destroying the world in the process."

"Well, good for you," Kuro waved and started on his way again, but Magnus continued to follow. "Look, time isn't exactly on my side, okay? So unless there's something you want, leave me alone." Magnus didn't immediately reply.

"Maybe we'll run into each other again," he called as Kuro walked away from him. "Whatever it is you're after, I bet we'll be meeting the same goal sooner or later." Kuro rolled his eyes again and sighed, making no acknowledgement of the man's words, and returned his attention to Viridi's abode ahead of him as he began to formulate how he would be getting inside. He had a feeling the goddess of nature wouldn't be too keen on seeing him, let alone telling him anything about Medusa. He sighed, wondering how much "persuasion" it would take to get her to talk.

Viridi, indeed, was not one that appreciated unwanted visitors, and she snorted with her arms crossed as a duo of her soldiers tackled an intruder and pinned her against the ground.

"And just what do you think you're doing here, human?" she inquired curtly. "Where'd you come from?" The human, a young woman with wavy blond hair and defiant, driven eyes, looked up at her as best she could when Viridi's soldiers were holding her head against the ground. "What's your name?"

"Gaol," the human replied quickly. "Are you gonna let me up or just keep me here?"

"That'll depend on your other answers," Viridi smiled. "So? Why are you sneaking around here?"

"I want answers," Gaol said through grit teeth. "So tell me: Where do I find the goddess of darkness?!"

"Why does it matter to you?" Viridi inquired, leaning over to face Gaol at a closer range. "Oh, please don't tell me you're one of the idiots that think you can stop her! You're just a human!"

"I don't care!" Gaol argued, struggling against her captors. "This cycle of torture and sacrifice has to stop! It's not right to keep sending someone to die after a short life of suffering."

"And how, pray tell, do you know about that?" Viridi went on, and Gaol stared at her.

"Don't play dumb with me," the human scoffed. "Almost everyone on this earth knows about it. They just pretend it's not true. They're cowards! You all are! If you're so worried about the goddess of darkness, why don't you do something about it?"

"This IS what we're doing about it," Viridi sighed heavily, not in the mood to deal with Gaol's inquiries. "What's one person if the rest of the world is safe?"

"But it's NOT just one person!" Gaol insisted. "How many have died because of this? Because of your cowardice?"

"I am not a coward!" Viridi growled. "You're a fool. A handful of lives or the entire planet? This is for the good of the world." They stared at each other for several moments.

"No, you're just saving your own skin," Gaol accused. "It doesn't affect you directly, so you don't care what happens as long as you're safe." Viridi scowled at her.

"I've got to do what's best for my Children," the goddess replied. "I don't care about some stupid angel." She turned her attention to her soldiers. "Lock her up somewhere. I'll deal with her later." They complied and pulled Gaol to her feet, then pushed and dragged her away as she fought back against them to no avail. Viridi sighed heavily and shook her head with her eyes narrowed. "Moron. You'd really put the life of one pathetic angel over the rest of the world?"

"No," Kuro growled as he held up a blade near her throat, catching her off guard as she briefly squeaked in surprise. "I'd put the life of my brother over the rest of the world. Cowards like you deserve to die, not him!" Viridi held her hands up, but smiled cryptically.

"Guess I should have guessed you'd show up eventually," she muttered. "What is it again? Kuro?"

"Doesn't matter," he spat. "So, if you want to keep your head on your shoulders, then you'd better start telling me what I want to hear."

"Yeah, well…" Viridi shrugged, and before either of them could say anything else, a shot of lightning sped toward the dark angel and he rolled back just before it hit him. He grit his teeth as Viridi retreated and a female warrior took her place with a challenging glint in her purple eyes. Her blond hair was cut relatively short and the ends, more of an orange color, flipped up rather amusingly. She had an electric blue scarf over her shoulders and wore a white, sleeveless shirt and shorts with dark sleeves and stockings. She cracked her fingers and smiled at him.

"Can't believe you got in here without getting caught," she commended. "But you're not laying a hand on Mistress Viridi without me frying you!" Kuro drew his other blade from the scabbard on the back of his belt and held it in a reverse grip in his left hand.

"I'm not leaving without answers," he said in a low voice, then sprung off his back foot as he slashed at her. She dodged and shot another bolt of electricity at him that he barely managed to avoid.

"Then I guess you're not leaving at all," Viridi said sarcastically from her place on the sidelines. "Too bad you won't be able to find your brother! Not that you would have anyway." Kuro turned his fiery glare on her, but his momentary distraction was enough for his opponent to score a clean strike on him that knocked him to the ground in a daze. She held her hand out toward him as it crackled with electricity, but her previous smile had faded as she watched him.

"What about your brother?" she mumbled so only he could hear. "Wait. Is he… Medusa's servant?" Kuro's gaze must have told her everything, and her eyes lost focus as she grit her teeth. "I'm sorry."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Viridi demanded. "Char him! That's an order!" But she still hesitated.

"This has to stop…" Her gaze refocused with bright ferocity as she turned her aim on Viridi. "They're right. This whole cycle is stupid! It has to stop!" Kuro looked up and sprung back to his feet, knocking her to the side as a large, animated rock crashed down and swung a stone fist at him.

"Great timing, Cragalanche," Viridi smirked. Cragalanche did not speak, but turned toward Kuro and the lightning-wielding fighter.

"Come on," she grabbed his wrist and took off out of the room and down the nearest corridor, and he found himself struggling to keep up with his speed. "We're getting out of here!"

Meanwhile, Gaol curled herself into a ball with her knees drawn up against her chest as she sat in a holding room while Viridi's forces decided what to do with her. She sighed heavily and shut her eyes.

"This has to end," she mumbled, unable to bear thinking about what the latest servant was dealing with, whether it was actually still alive, and what would happen if this cycle continued. But could they truly stop the cycle without threatening the world itself? What if the goddess of darkness did unleash her wrath?

She jumped to her feet, shaken from her thoughts as the door suddenly opened to reveal Magnus grinning at her- as much as Magnus could grin, anyway. In one hand, he held a ring of keys, and in the other he held his giant sword with his arm wrapped around the throat of a guard.

"Captured again, eh?" he chuckled. "Come on. Time to go." She smiled and nodded as he tossed her short sword toward her, and she unsheathed it along with a knife hidden up the wrap around her wrist. He threw the guard into the room and locked the door before the duo hurried down the halls. While Magnus used his brute strength to clear the path, Gaol covered his back with quick, light, and deadly strikes.

"Hey!" Magnus called forth, and Gaol looked around him to see a dark angel and what at first appeared to be a teenage girl. "Kuro, right? Told you we'd meet again!" Kuro smirked and nodded.

"Yeah. Excuse me a moment, Magnus." He spun around and slashed one blade through his next assailant as his companion shocked another. "Okay. Less talk, more run. We're getting out of here."

"Follow me," the girl hissed. "You, swordsman! Help me keep the path clear, will you? You two cover us." Kuro was none too pleased to be ordered around, but he complied and fell into step with Gaol as they made their way through Viridi's troops and out of the castle. The remaining troops and their reinforcements began to follow, but Viridi stopped them.

"Enough!" she commanded, and they stopped. "Don't start an uproar in town. That's the last thing we need." She sighed heavily. "Even if they do find Medusa, they don't stand a chance. Fall back! We'll regroup and pursue them later, understood?"

The group of four didn't stop until they'd made it out of town, and as soon as they did, all four were panting heavily and checking themselves for injuries. Kuro pulled a roll of bandages from his pack and wrapped it around a rather nasty cut on his arm, but he was otherwise unharmed, and it seemed Magnus's combat skill had saved them from a worse fate.

"Well, that was fun," Gaol remarked as she looked over several bruises that were forming on her arms. "So, who the heck are you two?"

"Yeah," Kuro turned to the electric fighter. "What's your deal?" She stretched her arms up and rested them behind her head, locking her fingers together.

"Name's Phosphora," she introduced. "You may have heard of me as the Lightning Flash. Mistress Viridi likes to think I'm like some commander in her army, but I don't like being tied down."

"But you attacked me," he pointed out. "Why'd you suddenly turn on her?" The playful glint in her eyes faded.

"Because you're all idiots," she said flatly. "But you've got good intentions." She sighed. "Eleven or so years ago, I saw some soldiers taking Leale's- the last servant's- body somewhere. She looked terrible, beyond being dead. I didn't want to think about what she'd endured." Kuro winced. "I don't want that to happen to anyone else. But it's more or less true: Viridi is set on believing that sacrifices are okay as long as the world's protected. But I hate to think how this'll escalate as time goes on. You human skinbags may not live long enough to see it, but I'll be around a while. And so will you, right?" Kuro shrugged, but nodded.

"So you want to stop this cycle, is that it?" Gaol wondered, and Phosphora nodded as well. "That's what Magnus and I want. So, angel, what's your story? Why are you here?"

"Yeah," Magnus cleared his throat. "You left that part out earlier." Kuro sighed heavily and shut his eyes for a moment.

"I don't have any noble intentions like all of you," he told them. "But I'm not going to rest until Medusa is done for."

"Why is this so important to you?" Gaol wondered, and he opened his eyes.

"Right now, the servant's name is Pit. He's my brother." That piece of information earned him a grunt of surprise from the humans. "That's why it's important to me. I don't even know if he's still alive, but I won't stop until I know for sure one way or the other. If he's still holding on, then I'll save him."

"That's awful," Gaol dipped her head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he shrugged. "I just want to get him back. That's it." One by one, the other three nodded.

"Point is we all want to end this for one reason or another," Magnus pointed out. "We all want to stop Medusa, right?" The other three agreed. "Four is better than one or two. It's best if we just stick together." Kuro wasn't sure he liked the idea of being stuck with these three for however long it took for them to find Medusa, but even he had to admit their chances were infinitely greater if they combined their efforts. He couldn't deny Magnus's strength or Phosphora's power, and he could tell Gaol probably had some hidden talents as well.

"Alright," he breathed. "But just remember. I'm doing this for Pit, not for the earth. As soon as I can get him out, I'm leaving."

"Just like that?" Gaol wondered.

"Just like that." She sighed and shrugged.

"Well, you're probably not getting out of there without finishing Medusa off."

"I know," he agreed. "So you probably don't have to worry about me running off." For some reason, Magnus laughed at that remark and threw a punch at Kuro's shoulder.

"Whatever," he said as he regained what composure he had. "Let's find some shelter somewhere and call it a night. We can head out in the morning."

"This'll be fun," Phosphora smiled. "Good luck to all of us, then. Let's get going!"