The five traversed the underground labyrinth, heading for the mercenaries. They could all smell them, and found the number rather unsettling. "Could you shed a little more information on this situation for me? Knowing what you are, who would be stupid enough to send humans after you?" Cetanu asked.

"It's kind of a fear thing, I guess. They're scared of what we can do, and between that and the fact that the Church seems rather unhappy with us being here, mercs jump at the chance to wipe us out." Balthus said, and Cetanu narrowed his eyes.

"Have you ever encountered a group of mercenaries under the command of a man named Jeralt? They'd wear this insignia." he said, gesturing to the elaborate, white knotwork on the back of his mantle. They glanced to it, and it almost seemed like they recognized it. "A couple of times, yeah. First time we barely managed to escape with our lives, but the second time..." Hapi trailed, sounding rather upset about something. Yuri nodded, sharing the sentiment.

"We had a fifth Demon, but he was struck down by some green eyed Archer who used his Crest like some kind of blinding magick." he said, and Cetanu hesitated. He looked ahead, seeing the first signs that in this current room, a large thing with an open metal gate, there were the first signs of men filing into the room. He wanted to know more, because this story was incredibly interesting to him.

"The archer you speak of is my brother in arms, Abaddon Al Aubin, the Angel of the Abyss." he said, and Constance frowned. "He dares to use that name to spite us!? I shall have his head!" she shouted, and Cetanu glanced to her briefly as the first men filed into the large room. He wasn't a big fan of the haughty former noble.

"Should we be worried about the Professor?" Dimitri asked, and Claude shook his head, the quintet walking through the small domestic area within Abyss. They saw various people from all walks of life, and the one thing they all had in common was how downtrodden they were. Poor, homeless, wanted by the law or by a noble House. It was a horrid aura, and the two future monarchs wondered how they'd be able to help.

"I think Teach will be alright. If he's stronger than Ashe, than we shouldn't have to worry about anyone." Claude noted, and they all found this rather sound logic. "The Church got some explaining to do when I get back up there. I'm ready to wring some necks." Victor said, finding the sight of even his fellow felines weak and without a guarantee of their next meal stomach turning. He hated it, and so did the rest of them.

"Well, when we go back to the surface, we could always make frequent trips down here to help out. I'm sure the Professor wouldn't mind getting the rest of our class on board." Ashe noted, and Dimitri nodded. "We can take all of the help we can get. I'd hate to see these good people suffer because of things out of their control." he noted, and even Claude couldn't disagree.

Cetanu looked to the room, the odd hundred or so men laying at their feet, all defeated without much difficulty. He picked up on the skills and fighting styles of the other four Blood Demons, and deduced multiple ways to defeat them in multiple combinations as it stood. His mind was honed for war, and even when fighting, he thought of the next battle.

He deduced that Constance was the weak link. Despite the fact that he saw her Crest, which was oddly enough the Crest of Noa, much like Lillith, he could tell that her physical ability was almost non-existent. The same went for Hapi, who had the Crest of Timotheos, much like a few of the Blood Demons Abaddon claimed to have vanquished.

Her magickal skill was far more impressive, but it was the fact that when she sighed, yawned, or made any noise similar to that, a monster would appear that interested him. He could only imagine how annoying that would be to suffer through. And yet, he wanted to learn more.

The best fighter was by far Balthus, who wore a pair of odd, fleshlike gauntlets called 'Vajra Mushti', an apparent Hero's Relic of House Albrecht, something compatible with his Crest of Chevalier, which was somehow the same as Samyaza's Crest. He wondered exactly how this worked, as the Crests his brothers bore were also on these underground Blood Demons.

"Now see, that wasn't so hard. I think we make a good team." he said, and they all looked to him, rather surprised at the fact that he wasn't even breathing hard despite fighting the mercenaries bare handed. Yuri especially didn't take kindly to this, and Cetanu could tell.

"What exactly is your goal now? You met us and learned enough about us." he said, and Cetanu shook his head. "I haven't learned enough. For example, I want to know why it is that my brother in arms, The Demon Lord of Sloth Samyaza Crowley, who is descended from a Wyvern Lord named Valter the Moonstone, has the same Crest as Balthus." he said, and the grappler blinked at that.

"Well… my dad did say something about having a wyvern rider or two in the family somewhere. And it think it is kind of weird that my gauntlets look like a dragon or something." he mused, looking rather amusing with his confused face and the large, three clawed gauntlets over his fists.

"So it might be a split branch. Now how do you explain that my sister in arms, Lillith Eden Ophanima, The Demon Lord of Gluttony, has the same Crest as Constance?" he asked, and they looked to the haughty girl, who seemed at a complete loss.

"If she is with the same band of Mercenaries as that Archer, than I refuse to believe you. There is no way such a vile creature can share the same blood as I." she said, and Cetanu nodded. "There must be an explanation, and I intend to find out. However, there is one thing I find rather interesting." he said, his eyes shifting to Yuri, who seemed a little surprised at this.

"Do you remember that Archer that Constance spoke of? The green eyed one that I claimed to know?" he asked, and Yuri nodded, almost cautiously. "His name was as I said, Abaddon Al Aubin, The Angel of the Abyss. But remember that his last name is Al Aubin, meaning that he bears the Crest of Aubin. The same Crest that you have." he said, and Yuri could feel his eyes widen at that statement.

"There's no way that's possible!" he shouted, and Cetanu narrowed his eyes. This wasn't like Yuri, who he noticed fought with a very snake like style, striking and pulling back and using various magicks to strike from a distance or maintain his own distance. It was a rather tricky style, and the hardest for Cetanu to strategize against.

He could tell that he was pushing the young man's buttons, and almost triggering his inner Beast, something that Cetanu truly wanted to see from each of the other demons. "I have no reason to lie. Us of Jeralt's elite, his hand picked half dozen monsters, all bear a Crest of some form. It just so happens that three of the four you all possess are shared by my brothers in arms." he said.

"What about you? Which Crest do you have?" Balthus asked, and Cetanu held his hand up, the familiar red light appearing as his original Crest took shape, and the Crests he'd obtained orbiting it.

The four Blood Demons looked at it in awe, and Cetanu couldn't help but stare for a moment, thinking ever so briefly that he needed the Crest of Cethleann to complete his little hitlist. "Why are there four of them!? What have you done to your own body?" Constance asked, rather afraid.

"My Crest is the same as the Goddess herself, the Crest of Flames. However, me and my progeny, the freckled boy with the gray hair, have noticed that we obtain at the least a fraction of a Crest from those we feed from. If you think this is surprising, you should look at Ashe." he said.

"So, what's the big idea? You gonna go collecting Crests and become some unstoppable monster?" Yuri asked, and Cetanu shook his head. "You see, for most of my life, I had an aspect of Fleshcrafting magick subconsciously put on my mind. The trauma of my birth, which nearly took my life, and did take my mother's life, caused my power to lose control, and I split myself in two essentially." he explained.

"There was Cetanu Eisner, a warrior and mercenary that had no emotions or expressions, a killing machine. And then there was… The Fiend, Cetanu. My emotions and inhuman powers locked away and split up, possibly by an outside source at birth. Now that the two halves are whole again, I only have one goal." he said.

"It is to my students, and my brothers in arms, and to myself. That goal is Metamorphosis. I desire to see everyone I care about transformed into the best warrior, monarch, noble, father, husband or so on they can be. My goal is peaceful evolution, which is why I stood with you tonight." he explained.

"You aren't making any sense, Chatterbox. If you care so much about your little students above ground, why come down here?" Hapi asked, and Cetanu shrugged. "Knowledge is part of 'Metamorphosis.'. If I don't know about other Blood Demons, how am I supposed to get people to understand that there's nothing wrong with us? We are people too, just stronger, faster, closer to the divinity that we worship." he said.

"You have such a high opinion of yourself, Monster! How can you speak so casually about peace when you're the farthest from human out of any of us!" Constance shouted, and Cetanu blinked. That was truly, and honestly, a rather good question. He was the farthest from human, almost defiantly so.

While Ashe and these four managed to maintain their humanity, their morals and ethics and boundaries, Cetanu hadn't. And it wasn't simply because Cetanu hadn't stood by his ideals and views. It was simply that they never truly existed. He was always a detached monster, the kind of rabid beast that you let off the leash to hunt and nothing else.

This made Cetanu feel a pang of sadness, understanding that even though he held such a good hearted goal, it was born from his inhuman urges and desires. Wasn't it? Or was he truly a good man, and he merely doubted himself because he was a monster that scared away one of his precious students? He inhaled realizing that Constance continued to annoy him on many levels.

"I will not claim to be a good man. I was emotionless, a machine bred for killing, borne from the mating of the first Blood Demon and one of the greatest human warriors to ever walk the earth. I am not human, nor have I ever been. However, that doesn't change what I said." he explained.

"I desire a peaceful world where all of us can intermingle, humans, Blood Demons and whatever else exists. A world where one's Crest doesn't dictate the course of your life, and where being a Blood Demon is merely just a random fact, like one's race, faith, sexuality or so on. True, it may be impossible, but..." he began to trail, inhaling.

"I am fully willing to spend the entirety of my life striving for that goal. I lost one of my students, a girl who fled from my Pride and into a Flock led by a bunch of fools that desire war and death for their own ideals. I am striving to build my ideal world, one where fledglings like my progeny aren't brought to tears when they feed. One where people do not flee at the realization we are among them." he declared, and Balthus whistled.

"You really do got your eyes on some big prize there Buddy. I like it. I might not be able to speak for the rest of us, but I'm willing to help however I can. After all, what better help could you get than the Undisputed King of Grappling!?" he quipped, and Cetanu felt himself chuckle and smile at the slightly older man, his eyes passing over the other three.

"If you want to somehow get all of us out of here, and make so I don't have to drink blood from a damn stiff or some ugly assassin, than I guess I can help you out here and there." Yuri said with a smirk, something that Cetanu found rather pleasing.

"Well, I can't say I'd be of any use, but I can at least make sure you never talk anyone's head off like that again, Chatterbox." Hapi said, and Cetanu chuckled. He wasn't normally one for monologuing, but he needed to get his point across, and he guess that based on the small smile on the girl's pretty face, that it worked.

"I… I will offer my aid as well. So long as in the end House Nuvelle rises again." Constance said, and Cetanu bowed to her slightly, his eyes glancing to the ground where he realized that there was no sincerity in her words. He offered her a smile, but he heard a laugh in his head.

"She's not gonna work out..." it trailed, and Cetanu inhaled as the five of them headed back to the main residential area, where the rest of Cetanu's group was. "I am aware of that. For now, let me work. I'm still trying to learn about them. She still has her uses." Cetanu said mentally, the tear stained cheeks of his Inner Fiend curling up in another cheshire grin.

"You really are the kind of monster they said you are, huh? Walking back with them happily like a little demon family while conspiring on how to kill one of them? That's not nice." it said, and Cetanu inhaled.

"I told them that I was a war machine that desired peace. They never asked me to elaborate any further than I did. I am a creature that humans call a Fiend. A Demon. They should've asked me if my ideal world included them."