Note: I apologize for the short chapter, I'll make the next one longer, and be sure to read the A.N. at the bottom when you're done reading the chapter, it's fairly important!

chapter 8

"I...I'm cold..." Noelle shivered, she has been in cold weather, but she certainly has never, ever, been in such cold weather. Why was she cold? She was wearing only a sweater and shorts. Shorts. Yeah...great clothing for cold weather...not. Anyhow, she made her way toward the peak, only to notice something rather strange: this place was quiet, despite having heard rumors from Tilith and Minty that there would be monsters everywhere.

Stephan sighed as he shook his head, "Noelle, we're all cold..." After a few silent seconds, he spoke up again: "however a way that you could get rid of your chills is to just stay active, like run around or something." He smiled.

"You know what?" Sayomi chimed in. She had on a rather exasperated look on her face. She was also shivering due to the cold, and she was hugging herself.

Stephan raised a brow before replying, "yeah?" He was a quiet person. Noelle swore; that was probably...most likely the most times he'll speak is right here, right now (exaggeration). Stephan patiently waited for an answer. The rest of the bunch started staring at Sayomi and Stephan to see what their conversation was about. Even Spirits/Units: Zephyr, Selena, Mifune, Sefia, Elza, Alice and Orna were all staring in interest.

Sayomi smirked before saying: "you are way too optimistic, Stephan." She then continued to walk towards the peak of the mountains, ignoring the monsters that was lying dead on the ground.

Katrina silently nodded, however couldn't help but smile as they continued down the mountain.

? P.O.V.

"Although it's freezing cold, what I can admit is that this place is a lot more peaceful." I said. It had been such a long time since I have been here, the memory of going through these freezing cold mountains was starting to get blurry until I came here again myself just to relax for once, despite the weather conditions and abrupt temperature changes. Well, I guess I'm used to it.

Lunaris chuckled, "I know you well enough, you hate this." She looked forward to see a Merman charge toward her. She smirked before flipping twice in the air and slicing the Merman cleanly. Blood splattered on the white snowy ground. She smiled as she said, "I could easily K.O. all of them." She snickered before walking on.

I sighed. "I've still got to find those Gods, Disciples and the Army of the Gods, and then I've already got the Mock Units of Creator Maxwell and Cardes the Malevolent..." I stroked my chin before continuing: "also, Noel mentioned something about creating a Mock Unit about the third Fallen God, Zevalhua. So we got to get ready for her." I'm aware that I changed the subject. I just wanted to find an interesting thing to talk about.

Lunaris rolled her eyes, "are you that eager? Zevalhua could easily beat you to a pulp if you don't bring the right squad...after all, the betas already fought Zevalhua..." She shook her head, wearing a weird expression on her face that I couldn't comprehend.

"What's wrong?" I quietly asked Lunaris. Usually when I asked her such things like 'are you ok?' or 'what's wrong?' she would always reply the same way:

"I'm fine." She then looked toward me now and said: "she's extremely hard to beat...you should expect that, as she is a Fallen God." She replied. "People tested her, and realized you're going to need Magress, not in his six star, but in his seven star form, with his Ultimate Brave Burst unlocked." She sighed before saying, "first of all, why are we talking about Trials that haven't been released yet, and secondly, are we going to keep going or not?"

I realized that the whole entire time, we have been standing here for probably the past 5 minutes. I'm actually impressed with myself that I could make it 5 minutes into the cold. I guess talking helps. I quickly nodded at Lunaris as we kept trudging up the mountains. I sighed at the thought that the final 'boss' of this area was already resurrected, considering that I've not been her for quite some time.

Viktor sighed and looked back toward the mountains. He had finally made it...he had finally beaten...what was his name? Ze-something. Oh well, Viktor was not really interested in knowing that weird guy's name in the first place. He shrugged as Amy called his name, "Viktor!"

He turned toward Amy and raised a brow before replying back: "yeah?"

"Are you ready to go on?" She tilted her head to the side, barely. Viktor nodded, and followed Amy, however stopped again when he sensed something strange. It was weighing down on his shoulders, making him slightly uncomfortable. He turned around once again toward the mountains.

Amy rolled her eyes in exasperation, "now what's wrong?"

Viktor smiled cheerfully as he replied, "well, guess we're not alone."

That's when he felt a strange binding feeling on his arm.

Noelle walked upwards, and abruptly heard a scream, coming all the way to the peak. She narrowed her eyes as she stopped, causing Katrina, who was behind her, to accidentally bump into Noelle. She stayed silent once again, confirming on whether or not it was her imagination. Soon, after probably ten awkward silent seconds, Noelle spoke: "did you guys hear that scream?"

The nodded solemnly. Noelle nodded back and led the rest of the bunch. Katrina suddenly stopped as she said, "well, we're not alone, are we?" She turned around and conjured Priscilla. Katrina then ordered, "there's someone behind that tree over there," Katrina said (rather monotonously, must Noelle add), "and I want you to attack him, her or it."

Priscilla obeyed quickly and slashed horizontally across the tree, only to find a glaring chubby man, who was injured pretty badly on his legs and arms. Caressed in his hands was a sword with a slight bluish glow.

Stephan tilted his head as he asked, "who the heck is that chubby guy?" He pointed at the pirate-like man.

All of the bunch shrugged and almost immediately after their actions, a feminine voice spoke out to them:

"Verica."

A.N.: I am so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry for not updating! I just kinda had a lot of tests/exams, whatever you would like to call it. Anyways, you know when I said to excuse grammatical errors? Well I decided to edit chapters every 10 chapters, so 2 more chapters. Anyways, just to clarify things, the feminine voice at the end of this chapter was meant to be a cliffhanger, although she was mentioned often, so maybe you'd be able to figure it out.

Be sure to check my profile for updates, stuff like that...if you're really curious on this story, my upcoming stories, blah blah blah, then I suggest go checking daily, because I might have a new poll up, do an update, add another story to my stories-to-come list, etc.

As for the poll, apparently...the results, are not that surprising, to be dead honest with you. I didn't have it on as a blind poll just for the sake of satisfying your curiosity. As they say: curiosity kills the cat. So if you didn't check the results, then here's what I ended up with:

I've seen them, but I know no Japanese at all, so I don't know you'll be adding them until their released: 3 voters (33 percent)

Yeah! Add them!: 2 voters (22 percent)

Who the hell are those people?: 2 voters (22 percent)

Nope...they suck.: 1 voter (11 percent) I've no clue who did that, but that kinda surprised me, oh well.

Maybe, I never thought about it: 1 voter (11 percent)

I thought the most voters would land on the first one, and I guess I was right! Since I guess reviews are basically thanking True Dragon and stuff like that, then I guess I won't be replying for reviews for this chapter.

FrozenHydra: Thank you for the favorite and follow! I really appreciate it!

Lexida the Tactician: Thank you for the favorite and follow! I really appreciate it!

Just Another Indonesian Writer: Thank you for the follow! I appreciate it!

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