Holy shit, this chapter took so freaking long! The reason is, I'll admit, me being way too distracted during my summer vacation and the fact that I suddenly had all four seasons of Game of Thrones on DVD… I'm a sucker for dragons, I'll confess to that. But, I also wanted this chapter to be special in some kind of way because… well, honestly I never thought that the story would become as detailed and liked as it is, but believe it or not, we've only scratched the surface of what I have been pondering over. Hell, I have over 30 pages of scenes about future events in 'Heart of Stone'!

Anyways, this lovely long chapter is dedicated to my Guest-reviewer 'FreedomFighter' for one of the most awesome reviews ever regarding the story! If I had the chance to do so, I would hug you forever and ever, friend! :D

Enjoy~!

"This is insane," Leo groaned, "the Inquisition are going to skin our hides for letting their Hero of all people out of our sights," he continued before he buried his face in his hands, earning long-suffering looks from his companions as they all tried to navigate through the thick fog that permeated the entire area.

"Quit your whining, Leo, and walk it off," Ross growled as he rubbed the stiff back of his neck, straining his tired eyes to see past longer than the ears of his steed—both tasks ending in vain, of course.

Lady Emilia had run off with her horse into the midst, looking like she had been chasing down Satan himself, and since then the group had searched for their missing leader—some of them more compliant than the rest.

The captain and his men had stayed behind when the explosion had sent the Hero scampering off into the thick fog without waiting for her companions to follow, all of them knowing that whatever it was that had caused that noise it was not friendly.

He called it a gut feeling.

Ross rubbed the neck of his horse soothingly when the stallion began shaking its heads violently from side to side, tripping slightly back of forth instead of continuing forward.

Looking around, the Captain saw that the horses his men were sitting on top of were also beginning to become more nervous than comfortable, the steeds tripping backwards and shaking their heads just as wild as his own horse did.

"Get off your horses and tie them to the same tree!" Ross called out as he slid out of his saddle, "We make our way to Lady Emilia on foot."

"You sure that's a good idea, Sir?" Leo asked hesitantly, biting his lower lip as he slowly swung his leg over the saddle and slid down from his horse, "I mean what if she comes back here and finds the horses all alone? Shouldn't someone stand guard over them?"

"Oh, and that would be you, huh?" one of the others joked as they slid off their horses and bound them to the nearest tree, causing Leo to redden around the tips of his ears.

Ross snorted, "If you're not over here in half a minute, Leo, sans horse, I will gut you where you stand and leave your body for the demons to feast on. Get to it!"

"R-right!" Leo yelped before he quickly slid down from his horse and hurried over to the tree his captain had pointed out to all of them.

The two remaining soldiers did as asked without any questions, shooting sly glances at Leo every once in a while, before they went back to Ross with Leo not far behind.

"Alright men, we continue along the path," Ross explained as he held out a map and pointed at the path they were currently on, "If we follow the path west, it should lead us to the beaches and the nearby caves. With any sort of luck in this accursed place that's where we'll find the Hero and whatever damn thing that made those explosions."

"W-what if they're demons?" Leo asked and looked at Ross with worried eyes, "What then, captain?"

"If they're demons we fight until our last breath, soldier," Ross snapped before he folded the map down and began marching along the path without another word.

As the group continued on along the forest path they began to smell the slightly salty taste that the wind now carried. The ground beneath their greaves grew more loose, sandy, and it started to become slightly more bothersome to move in their former, faster, tempo.

"Sir, maybe we should take a break," Carl called from the back of the row they had been walking in, and Ross turned around to look his men over.

They were all sweating heavily, both Leo and Douglas cursing silently about the sand finding ways in through their armor, and he nodded once.

"Right, find somewhere we can rest, Carl, and get back to us as fast as you can. I don't want you straying too far from the paths here; who knows what could be hiding in here," Ross growled and looked on as the soldier disappeared into the fog after saluting his superior.

"What should we do then?" Douglas asked cautiously as his eyes darted from one foggy place to the next one, biting his lower lip as if he expected the three of them to be attacked any moment.

"We wait," Ross said and sat down on a fallen tree trunk with his two remaining soldiers, all of them sighing softly when their feet were relieved of carrying their body any further, just as a loud yell pierced the group's foggy surroundings.

"CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN ROSS, COME QUICK!"

Ross, Leo and Douglas immediately shot up from the fallen trunk, grabbing their weapons and speeding off in the direction of Carl's rather panicked voice.

The three soldiers crashed through shrubs, low vegetation and dry bushes in their frantic search for their teammate, leaving an obvious trail to follow, but at the moment discretion was the farthest thing on their minds.

Leo and Douglas jumped over a mossy tree trunk and through a thick set of bushes before they stumbled into a large clearing, a cave rising on the opposite side of where they stood. Outside of the cave they could see Carl stand, pale as snow and standing with his sword drawn.

"Carl! Boy, what in God's name has you looking like that?" Ross barked the second he came into the clearing himself and got a close look at his subordinate, mentally feeling a sense of dread and cautiousness fall over him as he took in the quiet and eerie surroundings.

"I… I-I…" Carl stuttered, shifting between letting his eyes dart from his fellow soldiers and the cave behind him.

"Carl, you look like you've seen a ghost!" Douglas exclaimed, his cheeks flushed from the mixture of excitement and concern, before wiping a gloved hand across his forehead.

"I… I f-found…"

"You found what?" Ross growled as he drew his sword from its sheath, casting suspicious glares around the entire clearing.

"I-in there…" Carl stuttered and then motioned towards the cave, grasping the handle of his sword even tighter than before as he slowly moved into the veil of darkness. Ross stared at his soldier for a few moments before he muttered a few choice words and motioned for the rest of them to follow Carl and him into the darkness.

A positive bloodbath met the cautious group of soldiers inside of the cave. In front of them lay the slightly glowing remains of a simple campfire, but what could be seen beyond the gloomy campfire had more than one of the soldiers gagging in their mouths.

Blood and even pieces of flesh in varying sizes lay scattered beyond the campfire, even a small knife lay covered in blood and gore beside a few half-way charred sticks and broken logs.

"What in the Seven Hells is this place…?" Ross whispered as he picked up a still-burning piece of wood, letting a small and flickering, golden light illuminate part of the cavern. He stepped further into the cave, narrowing his eyes when they spotted a large bundle of ragged clothes that lay even farther into the rocky enclosure.

"I-I just found her like this," Carl said as he stared at the bundle of clothes and then reached down to pull the cloth away, revealing a pale, sleeping, woman.

Bruises and grime covered her face and neck, her hair hung limp and knotted down her back in a dark, tangled halo around her head, but the worst about the sight that met them was the blood that caked around her bandaged left shoulder.

"God Almighty…" Douglas breathed beside him as the two of them went closer to Carl and the woman, "It's the witch… it's that girl, Noah!"

Swallowing heavily, Ross reached out towards the young woman and clasped a hand around her uninjured shoulder without a word, trying to turn her around on her right side instead of lying on her back.

Immediately Noah's eyes snapped open before a wild shriek escaped her throat when she saw the four soldiers kneel beside her, all of them ripping their swords out of their sheaths and pointing them at her.

"Be quiet, woman!" Ross snapped and reached out towards her, getting a firm grasp at Noah's right shoulder before she could squirm too far away from him.

"Y-you have to leave!" Noah rasped out the very second Ross' hand made contact with her shoulder and desperately tried to press herself back against the cave-wall, "H-he'll kill you when he returns! P-please just leave this place!"

"If you're referring to the demon known as Satan he's likely already engaged in battle with Hero Emilia!" Leo boasted at the shivering woman, "That bastard's probably already dead!"

"Hero… Emilia…?" Noah whispered, blinking owlishly up at the four soldiers, "is… fighting… Satan?"

…

…

Chapter 25: The Fourteenth Day, Gone – Part II

…

…

'This has to be Satan, there's no doubt about that feeling of Demonic Energy!' Emilia thought as she dashed through the thick fog on top of her heaving steed, not for a single second slowing the ridiculously fast pace down to something more manageable for the horse.

Her hair stood out against the fog as a long flame of fuchsia that whipping around in the air behind her, her eyes even more ferocious than usual as they gleamed with unspoken fury.

This was her chance, her second chance, on trying to take Satan's life—and this time there wouldn't be any distractions! This time she would shove her sword through his chest, rip his horns from his skull and separate his head from his neck.

This time she would not fail.

For a second her fast-paced horse stumbled, causing Emilia to look down at the ground long enough for her to see that the downtrodden path she had been riding along before now had turned into sandy dunes. Mere moments after that realization, a wave of Magic Energy—Satan's Demonic Energy, her mind screamed at her—rolled over the landscape, the entire thing reeking of demons.

"Satan's nearby," she muttered as she urged her horse to stop, slipping out of the saddle seconds after, and landed with a soft thump on the sand beneath her. Not long after, she pulled at the Holy Energy inside of her own being, urging it to take physical form in her hand and shaping itself into her precious sword, Better Half.

The familiar currents of Holy Energy washed over her soul, coursing through her being, and soon after manifested into the familiar weapon she had held since the start of this horrible conflict.

Better Half gleamed despite the fog obscuring Emilia's vision and the huge, purple jewel imbedded in the sword's handle seemed to almost shine so much brighter as Emilia's rage grew tenfold.

His soldiers had burned down her village, his soldiers had ruined her childhood, his soldiers had destroyed her family.

Satan would burn when she was done with him and Emilia would relish in the moment that it happened.

And into the fog Emilia strode with gleaming sword in hand, her mind set in steel, and a murderous expression on her face.

oOo

Satan looked at his two Generals with a wide smirk upon his lips, stretching himself to his full height despite the constant stings of pain that flared from his abdomen.

"My Lord," Alciel breathed as he landed on the sandy dunes in front of his Liege, "I am so glad to see that you are well! We have been searching everywhere for you!"

Satan scoffed, "Our enemies were swarming the entire Isle, Alciel. If I had been easy to find that damn Church would have already been here."

"Of course, my Lord," Alciel nodded as he bowed, only to widen his eyes when he finally took in the state of Satan's appearance.

"My Lord Satan! What happened to you?"

Satan's eyes glowed in the fog for a few moments after Alciel's expected question, lighting up the fog that swirled around his head, "The humans seems to have dug up old relics, relics that haven't seen the light of day since the Calamity once walked the earth of Ente Isla."

Alciel's eyes widened slightly at Satan's words while a soft laughter reached the two demons ears from above.

"You're telling me that the filthy humans managed to take you by surprise, Satan?"

Satan's crimson eyes slid up to stare at Lucifer, his mouth turning from smirk to scowl at the young demon's carefree appearance.

"Lucifer, I cannot say that I have missed my aerial commander as much," Satan drawled, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he kept them locked into Lucifer's purple ones.

"Oh?" Lucifer grinned, "Your harsh words wounds me so, Overlord, pray tell how that has come to be."

"The Tracker."

Lucifer's face fell immediately, instead being replaced by an absolutely livid grimace.

"You!" he snarled, yanking his dark wings towards his body and hauling through the air until he hit the sand with a loud thump.

Satan growled in warning when Lucifer stalked towards him, both of them heedless about Alciel's attempts at reigning back Lucifer from antagonizing their Liege.

"Lucif—!"

"YOU!" Lucifer roared this time as his Demonic Magic made the air around him bristle and crack, "You were the one to destroy it? To destroy my pet like that?!"

"I was," came Satan's call reply, ruby eyes glowing in warning—a warning that Lucifer all but threw out the window.

"WHY?!"

"It came too close," Satan growled, "It came too close to the reason I still breathe, anvel jyup!" [1]

"Why the Hell does that even matter?!" Lucifer snarled, "If it weren't for the fact that we've searched the village you were last seen hovering above, slaughtering the humans who might as well have killed you, we could have already moved along to the conquering of the other Isles!"

"You were never tasked with coming here, Lucifer," Satan said, his voice deadly calm as he glared down at the now shivering demon, "The Eastern Isle was never your responsibility, it was Alciel's task with defeating the vermin here. You, however, trailed along which therefore makes you responsible for your actions. Actions which has thrown plans I have made months back because you could not refrain from slaughtering one measly village!"

Lucifer stared up at Satan in a mixture of horror and confusion, "Y-you don't mean to tell me that we should have spared them, do you? Why in all Seven Hell's would you do that?! The humans are scum on earth, not even worth sparing a single glance, and yet here you are saying that we should have let them be! Have you gone mad, you fool?!"

"Lucifer!" Alciel barked, "Your words are out of hand!" he continued but it was too late for the smaller demon to take back what he had said as Satan's eyes descended onto him with the ferocity of a thousand Hells.

Satan's glare turned positively murderous at Lucifer's words, and before the Aerial Commander could speak another word, a large hand wrapped around his windpipe, cutting off his air supply.

"Listen here, you little rodent!" Satan snarled, squeezing tighter around his Aerial Commander's throat despite Lucifer's desperate pleas, "Your bloodlust has set back plans that I planned while being cured from having a Holy Spear shoved through my abdomen, plans that took me far too long to form due to an incompetent, filthy hum—!"

"SATAN!" a voice cut him off just as a blast of Holy Energy flew past his left cheek, no more than a hair's width away from touching his skin, and the Demon Overlord stepped to the side just in time to avoid having a sword penetrate his torso. His surprise also had him dropping Lucifer to the ground, leaving the former Archangel heaving for breath.

Past him soared a golden-armored woman with Holy Sword in hand, fuchsia hair waving behind her and yellow green eyes nearly boiling with fury, twisting around in midair before she began staring at Satan with such hate-filled eyes.

"My Liege!" Alciel cried out as he immediately drew Demonic Energy from his mental reserves and forced it into two glowing orbs that hovered an inch above his palms, "Are you unhurt?"

"I am quite fine," Satan replied curtly before focusing all of his attention on the heavily breathing woman ten feet away from him, "But it seems that our newcomer here is a little out of breath after her pathetic attempt on assaulting us. Please, let her catch her breath before we continue our conversation, my General."

"YOU BASTARD!" Emilia screamed as she gripped Better Half tighter and charged at the three demons, slashing out towards Satan once more and this time nipping at the edge of his tattered cape, small bits of dried blood flaking off the clothes and staining the tip of Better Half.

"I do not have time to play around with you, little girl," Satan growled as he once more stretched up to his full height, immediately ducking to the side when Emilia's sword lashed out towards him yet again.

"You don't have a choice, demon spawn!" Emilia screeched as she raised her sword and dashed through the air, her weapon aimed directly for his heart, "I am going to put an end to you once and for all, bring that stupid woman to justice and see to it that your evil reign will fall!"

"Woman…?" Alciel muttered as he shifted between glancing at the Hero of the Church and his King, hands slowly turning into clenched fists as he watched Satan react, inwardly, to the Hero's words. Whoever this woman that the Hero spoke of was it mattered little to the Golden General of Satan's Armies, what mattered was figuring out a way to make a hasty escape with his Liege and Lucifer without destroying the thrill of battle that Satan had coursing through his body.

The air around the Demon Sovereign crackled and sizzled with pure Energy as, for only a moment, Satan's emotions ran wild.

Circles of intricate colors designs appeared around him—so very similar, so very different—very much alike the one he had formed when Emilia had stumbled across him in Noah's old hut so many days ago, only this time it wasn't a simple shield he created.

This time it was a full-blown frontal attack against the Hero of the Church.

Emilia stiffened involuntarily at the sight of the powerful circles behind her nemesis and soon after locked herself in a brace against the attack, mentally willing her Holy Energy to run all over her body to create an impromptu shield against the demon.

When Satan released the attack Emilia was pushed backwards several meters as the skin on her cheeks and forehead burned from the intense power that slammed against her.

"Hnngh!" Emilia groaned as she bravely tried her best to remain on her own two legs planted firmly in the sand below her, her hair whipped out of her face, and her eyes narrowed together tightly enough for her vision to become one big blurry experience.

Then, out of nowhere, a chipped hoof slammed into her stomach, making the young woman gasp in a mixture of surprise and pain as she fell on her hands and knees in the sand, clutching the aching and tender area of her body with one hand, while drawing support from the ground with her other one. Better Half lay in the sand beneath her supporting hand, grasped only lightly instead of the usually tight grip that Emilia had on her precious weapon, as its owner heaved for breath.

"Like I said, Hero," Satan spat down at her as he prepared to turn around, to leave her in the sands like a beaten cur, "I sadly do not have the time required to skin you alive and send the remains back to your precious, little Church. My time and attention is required several other places."

"C-coward!" Emilia wheezed from the ground, crying out in pain when she was kicked in the stomach by Satan's hoof once more.

"Be silent, filth!"

"You defeated me," Emilia snarled as she struggled to get the oxygen into her lungs, her voice slightly wheezy, "Just finish the job you've started, and then be done with it, already!"

Satan grinned, the smirk being one of the most wicked and disgusting things that Emilia had ever laid eyes upon, before his crimson eyes met Emilia's yellow green ones.

"No, filth," he practically purred, "I will fight you when you are at your full strength, when your potential have finally reached its limit, and when that time comes I will not hold back in a fight. Therefore, until then, filth, be a good little girl and do as those greedy bastards desire. Your head will be mine soon enough, there's no need to hurry getting it on a spike for all to see."

Emilia stared after the Demon Lord as he strode back to the two demons, Lucifer had finally gotten up during Satan's and her own skirmish, mouth wide open in disbelief and confusion.

He had spared her life… why?

You're not strong enough, even though he is almost at his weakest you still couldn't beat him…

Emilia grit her teeth together only to freeze up completely when she heard Satan speak once more.

"Lucifer, my patience with you is running thin at the moment," he began, "However, you are far too valuable to throw away like a piece of spoiled meat. I want you to go to the Western Isle… show our little Hero over there what it means when she steps on subjects best left alone."

'What does he mean going to the Western Isle…?' Emilia thought as treacherous images of fire and smoke and the memories of screams from both old and young resurfaced, 'Surely he cannot mean that Lucifer has to…'

Realization struck her then like a bolt of lightning, and a wild scream tore itself from her throat.

"NO!" Emilia cried out, reaching her clenched hand out towards the three demons, "Do-don't you dare! Don't you fucking dare!" she screeched, the profanity slipping in unnoticed as she dragged herself towards her enemies.

Satan's eyes burned as they met with hers one last time, they burned with malice, with promises of pain, with fury.

"You reap what you have sowed, Hero," he grinned, "Know that had you not sought us out those Westerners would still be alive."

And into the fog the three demons disappeared, leaving behind a screaming Knight.

oOo

When they found her lying on the beach, battered and bloodied after getting kicked directly by Satan, she refused to say anything. Not a single word escaped Emilia's lips as she was helped onto her horse by Captain Ross, not even when she was met by the dull, dead eyes of Noah who stood between Leo, Douglas and Carl, not even when the proclaimed witch was placed behind her.

"It's your fault," she hissed at the dirty woman sitting behind her the entire way back to the refugee camp.

Your fault

Your fault

Your fault

oOo

Dull eyes, eyes in every shade of green, stared blankly at the bars in front of her. Small rocks, sticks and even spoiled bits of food rained down around her, some of it hitting her face, some of it hitting her body, some of it hitting the wood beneath her.

She didn't listen to the words that the men and women—even children—screamed at her.

She didn't listen to the cries of outrage, didn't listen to the spiteful words, didn't listen to the lewd and horrible comments coming from the crowds around her.

She didn't even bother listening to the prayers that Father Andrews spoke to her as he sat beside her little cage with the Holy Book of God in hand and a small, wooden cup of Holy Water resting beside him.

Why should she?

He splashed her every now and then with the Holy Water as if the liquid would drench her soul and wash away all the sins she had committed—serving Satan, fraternizing with demons, responsible—in the eyes of the villagers—for countless deaths.

She didn't listen at all, instead preferring to just cut off the world around her, letting everything pass through her as nothing more than a daze.

He had left her.

He had left her at the hands of a group just itching to burn her on the stake, desperate to get their revenge on the demon she for so long had thought to be nothing less than purely evil and destructive.

He had left her at the hands of a group of homicidal maniacs.

He had left her at the hands of her village—her bloodthirsty, furious, screeching village.

They were alright, they were not dead, not Samuel, not Father Andrews, not Lamia, not Jhosea, not Hylla, none of those she had interacted with back in the village were dead, they were all alright.

But they were vengeful, furious, livid, and were taking all of their misery out on her now—Noah, the Devil's Whore.

The corners of her lips twitched for a few moments, betraying her before so motionless body, but it all went unnoticed by the crowds—by everyone.

The carriage came to an abrupt halt, jolting Noah out of her inner musings long enough for her to recognize the mayor who stood in front of her.

"Noah, it seems that we have been very wrong about you."

She didn't answer him from inside her tiny cage, eyes in every shade of dull green staring at the village's leader without any emotion whatsoever as she slowly processed his words into meaning.

"Apparently so, sir," she uttered, her voice scratchy from not being used and receiving little to no water, "Apparently so…"

"Have her chained up down by the temporary soldiers' barracks," the Mayor said, "Lady Bell will be the one to determine what will happen to the girl later on."

Father Andrews nodded solemnly, his aged face wrinkling up even more as his brows met in a bushy frown, before snapping his fingers and pointing towards Noah.

Three soldiers came forward, the ones who had found her—she recognized their faces—in the cave, the one she had shared with Satan, and opened the cage she had been placed in. Noah then climbed out as carefully as she could in order to avoid aggravating her injured ankle, still ignoring the wild screams around her as the soldiers shackled her wrists together and led her through the crowd of furious villagers in a steady tempo.

A small hand suddenly wrapped around Noah's thin lower arm, causing the young woman to slowly turn her head and immediately freeze when she saw whom the hand belonged to.

A pair of confused, hurt, brown eyes stared up at her own green ones, and below them quivered a pair of chapped lips.

"Why…?" their owner whispered as he kept a hold around Noah's lower arm despite the soldiers yanking at her to make her continue walking.

"Why did you do it, Miss Noah?" Samuel whispered with such hurt and betrayal in his voice that it made her heart ache, pouring every single bit of guilt into every corner of it.

"Why…?"

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY

So, Noah was captured, Samuel has made another, quite short, appearance, Emilia's preparing to chase after Lucifer on a crazy road-trip towards the Western Isle and Satan's back in his demon business!

Please leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter :)

[1]: Anvel jyup = Angel scum