Demios followed the sent of the demons. He tracked them down going towards Yamigedo. He wondered if the Great Fiend would devour her or not. The dragon was uncertain with his chance of saving her from the giant monster. He knew he almost had no chance. Still, he kept his track and stopped when he noticed it changed direction.

He flew higher and gazed at the direction of his scent. It was going towards a tall building, close to the Great Fiend. He noticed that Yamigedo seemed to act as if he never noticed the demon coming back of himself in the matter. Not only that, but when looking more closely, he had been inactive. He was just standing there, waiting for something. Probably.

The darkness dragon decided to resume his track and followed the scent to the building. He stopped when he was near and wondered how he should proceed inside. He sniffed the air and opted that it was best to stay outside. He spread his wings and flew towards the roof.

He slowly climbed down like a spider, his claws piercing the bricks like it was butter. When he was near a window, he checked inside and saw a skull monster, gazing purposelessly at the entrance. It was obvious that whatever it was, it was a demon and it was bored.


Episode 40: To See My Buddy Once More

The group that went to find the Omni Lord walked outside of the Skyscraper. The humans were exhausted after climbing all the way up and going down.

"Those damn stairs," Paruko complained.

"Why did our ancestor thought it was a great idea to make giant things like that?" the girl complained loudly.

The boy nodded in agreement, "I guess they were stupid or something."

Shido grumbled, "I told you. It's because there was something to avoid the stairs, but there is nothing for that now."

"It's not that hard," Variable Cord commented, receiving the glares of everyone. Except Jackknife who wasn't sure where to gave that venomous glare. He superbly ignored them as it was beneath him to get triggered by such glare.

"What would you even need to fix me in the mall?" Jackknife asked.

"As I said, we need something durable. You don't want to be fixed and then break down once again after a few minutes. We need something more permanent. I know there is something there and with my Omni Lord power, I can make it," he let out a small smile, "It will be a piece of cake as humans said."

"That's good. Just hold on a little longer Jack," Tasuku told his body.

"As long as you hold him, he will be fine," Gallows chuckled as he reminded them that the boy was holding the green Star Dragon like a plush.

Jackknife blushed and his head pointed down with a bit of shame. Still, he didn't mind it. He missed his buddy so much that just being with him, no matter how was a blessing.

"It shouldn't be long before we reach the mall. We will go underground and proceed to the east," Shido told them as he took the lead.

Variable Cord chuckled, "For someone who've lost an arm, I can feel you have a great spirit."

"I can't afford to lose hope when you've come right out of the past," he replied.

The group was quite impressed at how Shido became strong and brave during the hard times. Maybe because he couldn't be weak anymore.

Tasuku wondered what happened to that man's father. After everything, maybe he lost him. The blue-haired boy thought it was wiser to not ask such question. It was best not to bring up old scars from the man.

They walked in the darkness of the tunnels and followed Shido.

Gallows too his real form and transported the two kids on his shoulder, as they were tired of walking. The darkness dragon chuckled as he lightly flew left and right above them, seeing perfectly fine what was forward, "And once Sofia is safe, you better prevent this future, because we will know it."

"Of course," Tasuku replied, not certain how to accomplish that.

"That happened because Yamigedo hasn't been sealed. Sealing him also put everyone at great risk and if it fails, it might cost your life," Variable Cord answered as he lightly frowned.

"Takuchu!" Takosuke declared.

"Yeah, but what do we do instead?" Paruko asked the Omni Lord.

"That will have to wait. We focus on returning to our time first," he replied. He made sure no one gazed at him as a small smile appeared on his face.

It wasn't long before they reached the mall. They returned to the surface and stood in front of the remaining of a once living place. There was no one around anymore. The group began to wonder if it was only those three humans that remained in Tokyo.

"Do you know what happened to the rest of the world?" Tasuku asked.

Variable Cord raised his shoulders, "I'm not certain, but if the demons are still here and Yamigedo isn't moving, maybe elsewhere is okay, or there is nothing beyond this city. I don't want to risk being discovered to satisfy my curiosity."

That wasn't a satisfying answer and they entered in the remaining of the mall. The inside wasn't pretty at all. It was damaged and cracked. It was a miracle it didn't break down.

"What do we need now?" Tasuku asked.

"We need to find an electronic store or something like that. We need some wire to fix your buddy," Variable Cord replied. He stopped for a second and added, "And with his strength combined with mine, we will be able to return to our time."

"As long as we come back with Sofia. We will not let her behind," the boy declared.

"What if Yamigedo killed her already?" the Omni Lord asked.

Paruko frowned and replied, "What you say?"

Shido punched the face of the monster in human form and continued walking forward as if nothing happened.

Variable was on the ground and grunted at the insolence of the human. He said nothing as he stood up.

Gallows said, "Watch what you said Omni Lord. You aren't anything in our time. Just worthless failures. I respect only Drum Bunker Dragon and the others who fought until the end. We saw that battle while you were nowhere to be seen," his purple eyes shined at the Omni Lord.

He cleaned his face and let out a small smile, "Sure. I'll watch my words."

Jackknife asked, "What happened?"

"Shido punched Variable Cord face with his only arm," his buddy replied with satisfaction.

Gallows clapped with his hands, "He was so calling it for it," before chuckling loudly.

The Omni Lord sighed and declared, "We have to quickly find the electronic store. I don't see it from here."

"Most signs are gone or destroyed," the man declared as he thought back.

"It's somewhere on the ground floor. I know because we need a lot to keep our cameras in good condition," Paruko replied.

"Takochu!" her buddy replied.

"That narrow it down a lot," Tasuku said.

"Should we slit up?" Shido asked with uncertainty.

"I don't hear or smell any demon's stench. It's only us," the lightly chubby dragon said.

Tasuku thought about it and wondered what would be the best option. He knew it was dangerous to split up with the demons around, but they grew lazy and were weaker now. Also, his buddy told him that he detected nothing else than themselves, "We can split up, but no one goes far. We need to group up quickly if something is going on," he ordered as he looked at everyone.

"I'll take this side," Shido pointed at a corridor. It was the left side, "And you take the other side," he then pointed at the other side.

Tasuku nodded and they split up.

Tasuku, Paruko, their buddies and Variable Cord went to the first shop to checked what it once contained, while Shido, the two children and his buddy Gallows went to the other one.

The two groups searched around and it was inconclusive. They only found a few metal pieces or batteries in their first attempt. They continued on the next one and same result. They went on and on and after a few minutes, they had nothing.

"I didn't find anything that could come from an electronic shop. Only old batteries, but they had nothing to do with that," she commented.

"Me eighter. It was mostly clothes on this side, but they are all in ruins," Shido commented.

"Too dusty," the girl said.

The boy added, "And empty canes of food. We won't starve anyway."

"We got enough reserve. Anyway, we should go to the other alley," he pointed at the other one.

"Right. We better hurry up if we want to help Sofia," Paruko said as she took the lead.

The group went and continued their search the same way as before. They looked into each remaining's of the stores with little success. Everything was still calm and no demon gave signs of life in the mall. It was good news for them as they searched quicker than they first though.

Suddenly, they heard a loud noise as something felt on the ground. Paruko said just after, "I found the electronic store," she pointed at it.

Varaible Cord nodded and said, "I'll go inside and search for what I need, just make sure that the demon or demons doesn't find us," he went in the story and began his search.

The two young kids climbed off the darkness monster who waved at them to follow the Omni Lord in the store as they watched outside.

The group hid and listened carefully to the source of the sound. They heard the footsteps coming in. It was around two or three intruders.

Jackknife frowned as he heard it much better. He used his hearing sense to his best. He could count three intruders. A little more and he knew they were heavier than humans. They were either monsters or demons twice as tall as a normal human, "I guess three demons or monsters. Mostly demons," he whispered.

Gallows nodded and whispered what he heard to his buddy.

The two humans grabbed a spellcard, ready to do anything if they went too close to them. They needed to obtain the first strike and finished the demons really quickly. If they took too long, more might come. They needed to hit the demons with one hit.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer. No one dared to take a peek and checked what was approaching them.

Tasuku thought about it and it was suspicious too. He had a hint of a doubt too. No words were said. The demons were usually louder. Unless they wanted to ambush them. He hugged his buddy a little harder.

The green dragon heard them. He heard a bit of whispering.

"Where are they?" one voice said.

"I don't know… I hope those meany aren't here," another one gulped.

"Not a sound. They might want to finish us," the last one side.

The trio quietly whined.

Jackknife knew it was the demons and they weren't really searching for them. They might try to avoid them after getting their butts kicked a few times. It was a little funny that they were fearing them. It was only because they turned lazy and weak, "Let them pass. They want to avoid us."

The boy couldn't believe what he heard, Gallows and Shido too from their surprised face. The blue-haired boy believed it might just be because they were outnumbered.

After a few minutes, the footsteps passed them and slowly went away. The group waited for a few more minutes and nothing.

The group sighed and the young boy with Shido said, when he saw the man giving a sign, "They almost found us."

"They didn't want to find us. They tried to avoid us," he replied.

The girl by the side of her brother lightly chuckled. It felt good to be feared by the evil demons.

"Anyway, I hope they got what they needed," Tasuku brought back to why they came to the mall after all.


Demios searched for Sofia. It was only the bored skull demon who was now holding a cup with a red liquid in it. The darkness dragon didn't think it was blood, but something like wine. He used that time to think of a best course of action to save Sofia and quickly escaped away from this place. He was on his own and most demons were around there. He couldn't make a single mistake. His eyes scanned the room and got nothing. It took a while, but he noticed a door that leaded to the room, closed. The darkness dragon knew that if the girl might go to that demon, it would be by that door.

The door opened and they saw the demon bringing Sofia inside the room. The dragon wondered what would happen now. His muscles were inflating as tension increased. He was ready to intervene if anything would happen.


As Sofia was dragged to however the demon master was talking about, she chose to be obedient. The worse thing to do was to fight back or to resist when you couldn't. She gazed around her and thought if there was a way out. She needed a chance. None of the demons thought of checking if she could do anything. They were that lazy that they were making obvious mistake. The girl wondered if the master would do the same.

Her instinct told her that it won't be that easy to escape whoever controlled the demons. It wasn't Yamigedo, which was suspicious. Still, with what she went through with Shido, she had a suspicion who the demon might be.

The door opened and the demon ordered her, "Get inside. Our second in command will handle you," he chuckled.

Sofia frowned when she was pushed, but kept her balance. She stood on her feet and looked whoever was in command. The girl was almost completely sure who it was.

"Who do we have here? A human?" Gratos asked with a bored voice. He rested his head against his hand while the other still held his cup. His eyes observed her more carefully, "Do I know you?"

The girl realised that his voice was hollowed. Not like as an Undead, but as if there was nothing in the life of the demon. He barely seemed to care of her own existence. The only thing was that she looked a little familiar. She said nothing for a few seconds when the second in command of the Hundred Demon stood up.

He approached towards her and raised her head with his skeletal finger, "Your face is a little familiar. Of course, a demon like me would silence you," he commented, "You have a pretty face too."

Sofia hid her expression of disgust as he was genuine about it. She knew he tried to flirt with her, "Is he that bored that he is trying that?" she would wash herself when she returned to her time and home. Now, she was also wondering if that was going on in the mind of Gratos in her own time.

"Nice too. Maybe there is something finally interesting happening now," he returned to whatever he was sitting on. It looked like a throne with many skulls sculpted on it, maybe by the demon himself. He adjusted his crown and chuckled, "Not important now. Only one thing," he gazed at her eyes, "I have to know who you are. Maybe you are going to tell me one day. Still, there is no need to worry, none of my servants shall hurt you. Our master will make sure of it."

Sofia decided to believe that the monster was that bored. He looked like he was purposeless and that she was only a distraction to whatever was going on in his mind.

Outside of the building, Demios was wondering what the exchange was, but as a demon came and escorted the girl outside of the room. The darkness dragon could only guess that the worse had been avoided for now. Still, he had to be ready for anything. He climbed down the structure and tried to follow the human, wherever she was going. He also needed to know what the interior looked like if he wanted to save her eventually. He also needed to know where she would be detained.


Back in the mall, Variable Cord let out a satisfied smile as he showed them the things, he collected to fix Jackknife, "I got everything I need to fix some of his malfunctioning wires in his helmet."

Paruko and Takosuke nodded as they gave a thumbs up.

The Omni Lord nodded, "And they got some of them too."

"We are so lucky those are still around. I was afraid everything was gone and we would have to go back to our time to fix him," the pink-haired girl sighed.

"Takochu!" the pink alien octopus agreed.

The blue-haired boy sighed in relief, "Then can you make it quickly please. More demons might show up eventually and not those who are afraid to challenge us."

"Yes. I want to see my buddy with my own eyes soon," the green dragon asked with a little more politeness than the boy.

"It's best to begin now. Good thing I don't need to take my real form to fix everything," he quietly chuckled as he began to create the wires to fix the Star Dragon.

Gallows and Shido wondered what the Omni Lord might do with his power and carefully observed him.

The two children looked at each other's and wondered what the real form of the Omni Lord looked like, "What are you really?" they asked almost at the same time.

"I am a Star Dragon, even if I look like a human for now," he let out a small smile as he took out the inside part of the wore and held them in his hands. He put them of the ground and approached his hand from his chest. He took out a sphere with the symbol of the Omni Lord of Star Dragon World in the middle of it. He approached the wires and called upon his power to fix them, "It should take a minute and we are done. Not a word and let me focus. We cannot afford to make a single mistake," Variable Cord said with a serious tone in his voice. He looked at the wires and called upon his power to fix everything.

They waited for an entire minute for everything to be fixed. The group were a little nervous at the result. It could be a potential failure or a success. Tasuku knew it would work. They found his buddy back and it was all they needed to do before saving Sofia.

The light was gone and the Omni Lord cleaned his forehead, "And done. You can now open your eyes Jackknife."

The green dragon was a little hesitant at first. He wasn't certain if it really worked or not. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds as he sniffed the air. He turned his head towards the direction of his buddy sent. He slowly opened his eyes as he looked at a blurry figure. After a few seconds, he saw a message telling him that his sight adjustment would begin. After a few more seconds, in front of him, the blurry figure turned into the clear form of his buddy Tasuku. He gazed at his buddy. He stood up and approached him, "It's been a while since I saw you Tasuku. You didn't change."

The boy didn't wait for a second to hug the big dragon and sobbed, "You're okay," he lightly chuckled. He never felt that good in his life. He just didn't want to let go of his friend.

No one said anything as interrupting them would be a terrible idea.

"I'm glad the first I could see what you Tasuku. You are the one who matter to me the most," Jackknife said.

"I know Jack."

Variable Cord thought it was going to last forever and interrupted them, "I know this is a happy moment for the both of you, but we don't have an infinite amount of time now. We need to find this Sofia girl, right?"

The two know they had to wait until they were finally home to truly celebrate. They reluctantly stopped hugging each other's and they nodded.

"We need to know where they took her first," Shido commented as he looked at the kids. He knew it was going to get much more dangerous now, "You two really need to be careful now. The demons are going to roam wherever we are going."

"Yes," they nodded to each other's.

The young boy said, "Maybe we can get what they stole from us."

"Stole?" Paruko asked. It was the first time they heard of that.

"It's our parents' mementos," the girl explained as she put her hand on her chest, "And their friend one too."

"We will get it back for you. You helped us," Jackknife replied.

"Another thing to do here," the Omni Lord sighed.

"If you can't, it won't matter when you change the past," Gallows told them as he nodded to himself, "No point or putting your time at risk."

"You mean present," Paruko corrected him.

"It's the past for us," the darkness dragon countered.

"Takochu!" the octopus monster told his buddy.

"Yeah. It's getting pointlessly complicated," the girl sighed.

"Anyway, we should go now. The demons on patrol are probably far away and we need to find Demios too," the blue-haired boy declared.

The group nodded and they went outside of the mall to begin their track. The first thing they did was to return to the location where the demons attacked them.

Tasuku sat on the back of his buddy and hugged his buddy. The boy was happy to do it once again.

They reached their previous location and landed on the ground. Jackknife sniffed the air loudly for the scent of the darkness dragon. He remembered the scent pretty well. It was his best weapon when he was blind. He quickly found it and said, "I know where he is going. Follow me."

The group followed the green dragon as they went towards the Great Fiend. They made sure that they wouldn't be noticed by the monster and took their time. They approached a building and they saw Demios hanging on a window. It was best not to join him by his side.

The group quietly landed on the roof of the structure and they waited. Tasuku gave a sign and used his buddyskill to join the darkness dragon.

"Demios. What is going on?" the boy asked.

The darkness dragon turned towards him, "Not that much for now. There is a skull monster who talked with Sofia and she was brought up somewhere else. There is no window around. I'm just standing in front of the one where I can see if anyone enters or leave the room," he let some space and the boy discreetly checked inside. He could see a demon who stood to guard the door, arms crossed and bored. There was nothing else to see.

The boy nodded and stopped watching, "Do you know if anything happens inside?"

"No. I see nothing standing up. What she said with the demon is unknown to me. I just know that she didn't like what she heard, but the demon didn't show any aggressive demeanor. I guess it's because that demon said something she didn't like," the leader of the Purgatory Knight commented. He gazed at the side and focused on the boy afterward, "Did you succeed in helping Jackknife? I saw him flying in the air with ease."

"Yes. Variable Cord managed to fix the damage on his eyes. He can finally see again," he let out a relieved smile.

"Anyway, we should go away with the others. It's time to get her out of here," the darkness dragon declared.

The blue-haired boy nodded.

They returned to the roof.

"I still can't believe the roof is unguarded. They left themselves open like that," Jackknife commented.

"The demons are really getting lazy. It's getting easier to gather resource for a while," Shido admitted as he scratched the back of his head. He sighed and looked at them, "We should get Sofia out of here as quickly as possible."

Demios nodded at Jackknife, "Congratulation."

"Yeah."

"How do we get her out of here?" Paruko asked.

"Takuchu?" Takosuke nodded as he repeated her question.

The Omni Lord scratched his jaw, "I'm not sure of what strategy you have in mind. This is not my forte as an Omni Lord."

Demios heard that and frowned. He was suspicious about those words. He said nothing for now.

The green dragon sighed, "We better find something. We know the demons are getting lazy. It might be easy to break in, but once they all showed up, they will overpowered us in number."

"I think I might have an idea," Tasuku commented.

"What is it?" Jackknife asked.

The boy began to expose his plan of attack. He made sure that they were quick and swift about it. They plan was to reach Sofia quickly and quietly. The closer they were before the alert, the better it would be. The others nodded while Demios added a few information he had to help with the attack. Once the plan was remade to take into account the extra information and the group decided to act.


Sofia sat on the ground as she listened outside. All she heard was the demon complaining about how bored it was to keep a prisoner and that it was hungry. She did nothing. Even if the demons seemed weaker, her spells wouldn't be enough to escape the demons. They were too many.

The girl adjusted her silver hair. She was certain she had to get out of here before Gratos came back and tried to suggest anything. Once she was out, joined the others and get out of the broken future. She sighed and waited. There was nothing else to do.

"This isn't as easy as I thought it would be to help Tasuku," she commented. She pushed a little bit of hair on her face. She pushed it away and cleaned her face. She looked at the door and wondered how the future ended up that way. They knew the ending, but not the how. A dark thought came to her, "I hope you find him," as she was uncertain, she would return to her time.

Sofia wondered what would come next if Gratos came back. She didn't like what might happen if he remembered her or whatever was in his sick mind spiraled in the demon's mind. It made her stomach turned even now.

"What's going on here? He was supposed to get me out of my boredom," the demon grumbled in annoyance.

Her eyes shined as an opportunity stoke, "Someone is sleeping on the job?" Sofia asked.

"Shut up girl. I won't leave until he comes. You are thinking of getting out of here right?"

That demon was smart and she hated that, "Of course. He's a demon."

"Too bad for you. He is the voice of Yamigedo. I don't know what he likes in you, but I don't want to know what it is," it admitted.

The girl expected him to not like it either. It was a demon who had a free will and served Yamigedo on its own will. She couldn't play with it that easily since the demon was smart.

"I thought you wouldn't care. You are demons who would do anything you want," Sofia replied as she crossed her arms and rested against the door.

"…I killed the one I cared as a mind-controlled demon. She… she saw the good in me. She became a Cavalry Knight. I fought her and killed her. She is gone now. Because of me. I have nothing else anymore," the demon admitted. It hit the ground brutally. The sound echoed in the room, "You know what. Forget about it. Try and get out if you want. I'll go search for the demon who has to take my place. I… I have to clean my hands. You had to remind me of the blood on my claws."

She heard the demon leaving the room. She waited for a while to take her chance. She walked outside and carefully listened around. It was extremely quiet. She wondered if it was best to go up or down. Her instinct told her that it was riskier to go down, but she had no way to escape up. Right now, she couldn't cast a spell to teleport away. She tried earlier and nothing happened, "Either because I'm in some weird place, or it's because I'm in the future," no answer was clear as she lacked greatly knowledge when it came to spells. Baku was better in that than herself.

Sofia chose the safer path and climbed the stairs. Even if it failed, she had a chance to try going down next. Unless the demons began to search for her. Then she would return to her jail for the time being. The lady needs card could be use.

Once she approached the next floor, she stopped and listened outside. Two demons were conversing together about their next hunt. Nothing that really could hold her interest. She proceeded forward and climbed to the next floor. She made sure that no one was coming down, or it was over for her. She tip-toed to the next floor. She gazed up and she had only a few floors left before she was on the roof. She had other ways to escape too. She thought about a battlegear that might helped her climb down. There was one for that in her deckcase. She hoped she didn't have to use it to climb down.

Sofia gazed at the open space that lead to the room of that floor. She saw Gratos talking with another demon. Things unimportant to her. She saw that the other demon looked a little similar to Gratos, as he was a skull monster too. She ignored it and when she had her chance, she went to the next floor.

"And where do you think you're going human?" Gratos asked as he looked straight at her.

The human froze for a second and looked back at the two demons. They were obviously about to charge and to restrain her.

"I'm leaving of course. I have to be elsewhere," she calmly replied, hiding the fear behind her calm façade. She then quickly climbed to the top of the structure she was in.

The two demons went after her.

The girl knew they were quickly catching up to her. She was about to summon a spell when she bumped on something. She almost lost her balance when someone grabbed her wrist.

"Where here to save you Sofia," Tasuku said, holding her hand and helped her standing up.

"We are in trouble Tasuku!" Jackknife pointed at the demons just below.

"We have intruders in here! They are escaping with my prisoner!" Gratos furiously grunted as he took his weapon.

"Get me away from that creep," Sofia ordered.

Demios glared at the second in command of the Hundred Demons army and said, "A creep hum?" He drew his sword and approached them. He didn't fight them as he cut the walls and created an obstacle for the demons.

They could hear the place coming to full life as demons were roaming to get them.

The group was already climbed up the stairs with Demios a little behind. He slowed down the demons with his sword and pushed a few of them away. With one swing, he knocked a few of them down. Once he had the chance, he turned around and climbed the stairs.

The rest of the group reached the roof and prepared their escape. They were about to jump when suddenly, there was a field that surrounded them. It was the same field from their time when they had to fight a demon.

The leader of the Purgatory Knights joined them and grunted, "Dammit!"

Gratos climbed the stairs and joined them with a few other skeletal monsters, "You thought you could get away after attacking us? Master Yamigedo surely wants us to get rid of you. Except for you Sofia," he pointed at her with his skeletal hand.

The dragons get where this was going and were ready to fight, "Over our dead bodies!"

The Omni Lord decided to not call on his power unless he had no choice. He gazed at the side and frowned as the situation was turning bad. They couldn't escape the demons and they had no choice, but to fight them.

Tasuku called his sword as he prepared to fight against the group.

Shido, Sofia and Paruko took out a card and were ready to cast spells as the numbers of demons who came towards them increased more and more.

The blue-haired boy thought that he might had to use his Future Force if it would ready go wrong.

Jackknife walked by the side of his buddy and said, "We are all in this together. All of us Tasuku."

Demios went by his side and replied, "We won't have problem with the lazy demons, however, there is more to come," he pointed his sword forward, "But I am by your side too Tasuku."

The group waited for the demons to charge. With one signal from Gratos, the demons came towards the group.

The battle to escape and to return to the present began.


AC: This is the end of this episode. One more and this is done with the future mini arc.

Next Chapter: Fighting Our Way Out