After their planning was completed both young men walked towards the pyramid. The blood filled path that lay before him, caused by both of their efforts, didn't even make them flinch since this was completely normal to the two. Though the many body parts proved annoying when they stepped over them. Part of them wondered if they should burn the corpses and the blood so they didn't have to deal with them, but in the end both boys decided against it.

Moments later, the Pyramid entrance finally came back into view, the structure's massive form looming overhead like a giant. As the two approached the pyramid, Nico shifted his gaze to his companion, a question that he could not help think about escaping his lips. "Say, Emiya?"

"Hm?"

"Hey, how those curses you use work? They seemed much stronger now than before when you used them against me."

Castiel smirked when he heard this. Explaining how his powers worked was not something he normally would do, if anything he would not do it at all if at all possible, but this was a place where there wouldn't be any consequences even if he explained and maybe if he did that he could help the other party to get less wary of him. Plus, it wasn't like he wasn't the only one who explained something about themselves, this guy did so earlier. One could say that this was him getting even.

"My curses are more of a soul and mental attack. They seek to influence others condition and mentality of my opponents with varying effects depending on the Curse, for instance if I were to use the curse hunger on you, you would suffer from a feeling of hunger that would never be satiated. But right now my curses are still too weak and only work for short periods of time, however the period do increase with how mentally weak someone is." Castiel explained. "You shouldn't be that worried, since your mental strength is high so the curses would have a limited effect on you."

Nico nodded, taking in this information as his mind began weaving ideas, plans and examinations about this power. The thing that he did for a lot of weapons, just like his sword. From what he learned, it seemed these curses were like debuffs, and if they were debuffs then the times when he healed himself must be from some form of buffing ability. Its like two sides of a coin, or yin and yang. One half is more on the offensive side and the other is more on the defensive side.

Still, questioning his comrade would confirm more things for him, so he did so.

"But if that is so, how could you influence that many targets at once?" Nico asked while thinking about all the creatures that were influenced at once earlier. He also noticed how Castiel used multiple different curses up until now and how most of them were different. From what he could guess the words he muttered under his breath were part of it, but he had to be sure. "And how many of those curses you can use?"

"Oh, these questions are simple. First they were beasts, they had barely any will beyond their instinct and that made those creatures weak to this form of attack. And about how many I can use, well I suppose it would be all possible evil thoughts or acts a human being can suffer or do." Castiel explained, smirking even more while he put his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out, feeling a bit proud of himself. Talking about his powers helped him to see how he wasn't hopeless and how much he accomplish even with the interference of Gabriel.

At this confirmation, Nico felt a shiver on his back as he heard those words. Looked like he was right, it was for the best that Castiel wasn't in his dimension otherwise this ability alone could cause untold disaster. Just thinking about how chaotic any battlefield would be if Castiel could use this ability liberally was more than the agent wanted to imagine.

'With our Demonic Powers, we are safe from those Curses. Our problems would start with those healing abilities, but we can get around that if we ever spar again,'

'Yes, indeed...'

It was at that time that the two appeared in front of the pyramid, but this time instead of the barrier stopping their progress, it simply deactivated when the two got close enough to it. Looked like it was some form of sensory mechanism, Nico noted. If they went down to the tomb through those corridors, then they would probably face the beings that lurk within.

Castiel saw this take place, and could not help but give a playful smile as he gave a polite bow to Nico, all the while indicating for go ahead as he spoke with a classy accent.

"Ladies first."

TWTCH

Nico's eyebrows twitched as he heard those words. The way that this guy just said that while bowing, like he was a butler, it just grinded away at his nerves like a blade on a whetstone.

'What... did he just...?'

Gripping his fists, Nico slowly spoke while trying to hide his irritation.

"And how exactly am I a lady?"

"Well it is not me who is wearing a golden bracelet, and I was raised to be educated to girls, especially those who like to keep their hair so well treated and long." Castiel said with an honest and serious face, but he was doing his best not to laugh at Nico's face as he said those words.

'AHAHAHAHAAHA, SUCK IT, KING! YOU JUST GOT OWNED!'

'Shut up, you!'

Castiel would pay, oh yeah he would pay DEARLY. He just didn't realize what he had started. There was a reason why the Party he was in back in his dimension knew not to tick him off.

Though, as the saying went, revenge was a dish best served cold.


Entering the pyramid, Nico and Castiel walked through the corridor in silence. Well, save for the young Heir's slight chuckling as he gave an amused smirk in Nico's direction, and because he was walking in front of him the redhead didn't see it.

Though, a certain pair of aspects sensed the looks he gave.

The Corridor they walked along was illuminated by torchlight, which came from the various torches aligned high up on both walls. They each illuminated the corridor in a brilliant orangish light, some of the walls having animal carvings in them. It gave off this mysterious, ominous and almost scholarly impression to he two boys. The Spec Ops Agent consulted his Holomap the entire time, his senses kept on high alert for any signs of enemies.

"You sense anything up ahead?" Nico asked his companion, who shook his head while ceasing his laughter. It was time to be serious, and serious was something he could do.

"Nope, I got nothing. Something tells me that this place has more than a few surprises up its sleeve though, so lets be on guard." Castiel said. "Just wait a second, I will try something different for scouting."

As Castiel said that he started to release a few bugs made of evil energy, a variation of his normal cursed dragon tooth warriors that was usable for scouting and for small things. It wasn't that strong but it was another interesting thing he developed during his days/months in coma. He had this idea when he remembered Shino Aburame from Naruto and how those insects of his could be dangerous.

After he released those imsects Castiel sat down and waited as multiple magic and mechanical traps were activated one after the other. Castiel's eyes and senses were completely focused on them, trying to discover how they worked and to see if disarming them was possible.

Nico hummed in thought as he watched this play out, slightly more impressed. From the times he saw magic users on his world they were usually quite weak physically and they had the habit of preferring to explode things, diversity was not something many looked into among most magicians in Gamindustri. MAGES. was an unusual mage that actually had more than one or two tricks up her sleeve, but even she obviously paled in comparison to Emiya. The boy seemed to have a wide variety of Spells under his cloak and knew how to use them well, all the while while not neglecting the physical side at all.

'But I am stronger.' Was what Nico thought, which was also reflected in Castiel's way of thinking.

The two were simply full of pride on their respective hard earned powers.

After a while Castiel turned to Nico to tell his verdict.

"From what I see there are about 27 bounded fields in here and expecting easy passage is but a pipe dream. There are also around 14 mechanical traps that could probably kill or incapacitate either of us." Castiel explained, getting a nod of understanding from his companion. "The best option I can think is for the two of us to take different roles right now. I will start disarming the traps as I learned long ago how to do this, but it will take a while that must not be disturbed or I may cause an accident so I will need you to guard me while I am working. Knowing uncle Zelretch the moment I start dissembling the traps something is bound to happen and it will be up to you to stop it."

This made him furrow his brows, both in annoyance and in resignation. He would have asked if there were another way, like the possibility of the Bracelet being able to disarm the Traps. However, Biko had stopped him, informing him that the Bracelet served as a different piece to the puzzle. Not only that, but the Scans from earlier stated that the Bracelet wouldn't stop those traps anyways. "Alright then, i'll form some defenses to guard you. I don't like it, I can see several problems with this plan but seems like this is our only option if we don't want to get sliced to ribbons. While I can heal myself just fine, you seem to require those buffing abilities for yours."

"Well then, lets get started, shall we?"


The moment that Castiel sat in a meditating position, put his hands together on his lap and closed his eyes to begin the trap disarmament, Nico sprung into action by summoning Harvester and quickly forming a SHADOW SERPENT, which quickly wrapped its body in a protective circle around the young Heir and keeping him protected from approaching attackers.

Attackers that came the second Castiel touched the traps.

From ahead of them, as well as the entrance they had come from, many patches of pure black ooze spilled out onto the floor from within the cracks, expanding across the ground before something began to rise out of each of them. It almost looked like those Demons summoned by those Cultists Nico had fought in the Hellverse Dungeon, only there were way more watery and crackling sounds accompanying these creatures.

In the end, from those patches came what looked like 80 or so humanoid creatures with canine heads, each wearing few bits of cloth-like clothing while carrying an variety of different weapons. 40 were ahead of the m and the remaining 40 populated the entrance the two boys came in from. All of them aimed ravenous glares in Nico's direction, killing intent and bloodlust overflowing from them when they began to charge.

Neither his main or demonic aspect liked the look of those creatures, nor did they like the feelings those two gave off. It was like these creatures wore the aspect of death over them like a cloak or a badge of pride, and considering they had a... not so nice dance with the DPU of death not too long ago,. his distaste for them showed itself to be anything but peachy.

Nevertheless, this was combat, so he quickly assumed the mentality for such an event.

Nico quickly shifted into gear, putting aside whatever questions formed in his mind as he summoned a SHADOW PACK to deal with the ones approaching them from the entrance, while the other side got his personal attention. Nico quickly channeled Harvester's power and used TELEPORT SLASH, appearing in front of them before activating another technique called HARVEST: basically where Harvester's blade turns into a larger, purple astral version of itself as he slashed horizontally, cutting the whole of the pack in half.

The sounds of flesh being torn resonated behind him, and one quick glance revealed that while his SHADOW PACK was inferior in number, the enclosed corridor space allowed them o use the walls and ceilings to their advantage. Quickly, Nico shifted his attention back to his enemies when he heard sounds of movement, only to see how they were still moving using their limbs as support. Needless to say, Nico wasn't too happy about that.

'Tch, tenacious bastards, aren't you?'

'Lets try and play some zombie logic and take off their heads. Beheading usually works for most enemies, and I don't sense any regeneration at work with these beings.'

'Got it.'

With that short conversation, Nico quickly formed a ball of Hellfire, then threw it at the crawling warriors to burn them to a crisp. This attempt succeeded, as nothing, not even scorch marks, were left when the flames were done.

However, before Nico could think that his problems with them were over, the teen noticed twice as many patches forming in the distance, quickly releasing more warriors into the mix. There was about a total of 80 there, which wasn't exactly something the teen wanted for his birthday but hey, what can you do?

'Tch, looks like there's going to be a lot of them...' the redhead Spec Ops Agent thought as he quickly summoned more SHADOW PACK monsters, sending them to reinforce their brethren. Now that he thought about it, the bloodlust in the atmosphere helped him sense how there were more and more warriors like these converging on their position, almost like an unending flood. The sounds of Castiel's actions ringing throughout must have been the trigger, just like he had guessed. He probably couldn't do much else outside the disarming like call on his Familiar, either. After all, he had all his focus on his work right now and to take a break from that wouldn't be wise.

Summoning more Hellfire, Nico threw a dozen or so blasts of it at his enemies, burning them to ashes with nothing left remaining of them. All the while he kept summoning more and more SHADOW PACK Monsters. making sure to keep their numbers up so he only had one side to deal with. Not only that, but he could feel... something, beginning to change within this Devil arm the more he poured his power into it so it had power for its abilities. Just like what happened to Alastor, now that he thought about it, but he couldn't focus on that right now.

More and more enemies kept coming at him in large waves, forcing Nico to expel more and more power from Harvester to deal with them all. He would take out large packs with HARVEST, summon SHADOW PACK Monsters and send excess energy into his SHADOW SERPENT. Nico also had his Harvester use SHADOW ANIMATION to turn his shadow into an Armoured version of himself (his old Armour not his new desecrated version) to help him fight while spamming both his DEATH GRIP and TELEPORT SLASH. It was like literally stemming a never-ending tide of darkness, an evil flood that intended to wash him away without remorse. Well, not if Nico could help it. that was for certain, and right now Harvester was getting more and more of a workout as Nico pumped large amounts of power into it, forcing it to suck up all that delicious power to help fuel and enhance its abilities. If it does start undergoing THAT then all the better.

2 of them closed in on him despite Nico throwing Hellfire at their brethren, forcing the redhead teen to stop his assault temporarily to jab the rear end of his Devil Arm into one's stomach while kicking the other into the ground. He twisted into a beheading slice, taking off its head while using the momentum to make an overhead stab into the other creature's head. Not stopping there, Nico lifted the creature by its impaled head, then had HARVEST activate, blowing the rest of it apart. This allowed him to notice something, something... that he didn't n notice before but now that he noticed now, he realized applied to EVERY creature killed by either his shadow monsters, or Harvester itself.

Each time one or a group of these fell, the Bracelet seemed to... suck up something, something that was to do with those creatures. Whatever that was, Nico didn't know, but even if his Hellfire scorched them without anything remaining this effect still seemed to work.

'Biko, you know anything about what that Bracelet is doing? Scans didn't say anything about this.'

'Unfortunately, I do not. This Bracelet is an object that is beyond me at the moment.'

'I see... oh well, just hope that this doesn't end up biting me in the ass later.'

After about 2 hours worth of fighting (Nico could DEFINITELY feel changes happening inside Harvester at this point, it was clear as crystal), these creatures ceased attacking them... for now. It was like they were restrained by some force and only allowed to attack once the traps were in danger of being disarmed.

Something told the DPU that Zelretch played a lot of video games.


"FINALLY! God damnit this traps were a bitch to deal with. Why did uncle Zelretch had to make triple fake keys in all those traps anyway? It just complicated my work further! God damnit this traps sucks." Castiel started complaining as soon as his work was done, much to the annoyance of Nico. Said teen just had enough of this guy's whining, it was what he did quite often and it grinded against his nerves.

"Won't you shut up about it? You complain too much."

Castiel turned to him and responded equally heatedly.

"I sure complain a lot, but why should I keep quiet about things that annoy me? I already have to deal with more pressure and expectations that you can imagine on a daily basis so when I get the chance to complain and say whatever comes to mind I will do it." the teen sneered, panting slightly. He then finished with a few more choice words. "Besides, you probably don't know how hard it it to dismantle this traps, they were on a state that the moment I started I could not stop or they would blow up in my face and even one mistake could kill you up so I could not relax for even an instant and had to work my mind to the absolute limit for the last two hours, so if I want to complain about it you can be sure I WILL."

'Whoa!' the teen thought, hiding his surprise deep within himself and making sure to remain neutral faced. Though, with his Hood and Mask most of his face was hidden anyways. 'Geez, the negative emotions just spiked right now. Like when spikes suddenly shoot out the ground to impale you.' he thought, hiding away the brush of rage ignite like a fiery inferno (trust him, he knew what those felt like thanks to his Hellfire powers) inside of him. But the teen quickly pulled those senses back, cause for some reason going too deep into that pool felt like his own life was being sucked out of him. While he was indeed immortal, he didn't want to waste his energy thank you very much.

Right now, that outburst triggered Nico immensely, and part of him wanted to unleash his Rinkaku and tear the asshole to pieces. to hear him scream in agony as his organs were ripped out of him by force before he could defend himself. He wanted to see blood, hell his vision was already starting to get a bit red as the stirring of his Ghoul side became apparent within his gut. Oh, how great and satisfying that would be. However, he refused to listen to that part of him, as well as forced his Ghoul side back into slumber, as one: the Negative emotions there were a key, and two: It wasn't like the guy was wrong either.

He wasn't wrong, but not right at the same time.

Then, the teen blinked when he realized something. Something the heir said that confused him. "Wait a sec, why do you say that I would die even though you are closer to the traps? My regeneration is better than yours so shouldn't you be the first one to die?" Nico asked.

"Naah~~, my defense is much better than yours. If I am to be honest here I doubt your full out attack from before could have actually hurt me if I were to have focused on defense earlier. You could say my strongest point is that." Castiel said before opening his wings and removing a single feather from one of his white wings. his sudden and quick drop on energy was clear for Nico to feel, but as it was just one feather Castiel quickly recovered. "Here," Castiel said while giving Nico one of his feathers. "If you see one attack you can't deal with coming your way put some energy on it and throw it in front of yourself, this will generate a barrier surrounding you in all directions. Also," Castiel then pulled out a vial of Phoenix Tears "Use this if you need to heal fast. I don't know how well your healing work but I doubt that it is that free of 'charge' so you should give preference to use items to replace your natural healing as much as possible. If you have the energy you should focus it on using it to eliminate your enemies first and foremost."

Castiel did not like Nico's earlier decision of not getting any healing items, he had met many people that had powerful and fast recovery abilities so he understood that there was no way that what Nico had was that excellent and unlimited of a healing ability. If it was Nico wouldn't fight trying to avoid attacks but go right through them without batting an eye. If he thought of accumulating points or was just that self confident Castiel would have to call him a fool, looking down on a unknown enemy and challenge was simply unacceptable on the heir's mind.

Maybe of he saw the effects of the Phoenix Tears on person he would see their utility and get some for the next mission.

As he accepted the two items, depositing them inside his Void Storage, Nico thought about revealing what his Void Storage really was, but decided against it. After that incident with Mundus, the redhead had the bright idea to spend a small fortune of his rather large amount of Credits on supplies, health Items, SP items, etc. That battle was the closest that Nico had ever come to dying at the hands of an enemy, and he NEVER wanted to feel that way again. It was also the first time that he had kept thinking 'I don't want to die' over and over, something he had never done before. Now, thanks to his new Void Module that he got in Skies End, he had access to them with a single thought.

Then there was how he had two sources for his regeneration, one of them being bigger than the other. His RC Cells helped regenerate even the most fatal of injuries (one Ghoul even had the power to regenerate her entire head, another regrowing after being sliced in half), while his Demonic Power reserves were even stronger. Plus they were larger in reserves , even if he was supposedly destroyed, his soul would be guaranteed to survive thanks to the DPU's powerful. immortality. Even if he 'died' it is only his body that was killed. His powerful soul would remain and float about until his energies can be recovered enough to reform his body. Essentially, him and the other DPUs were immortal across multiple planes of existence, making truly killing them a near-impossible task. That is why the older DPUs are terrifically feared and respected, for they have had the experience and combat prowess needed to survive for as long as they have in a dimension where only the strong survive.

After that little talk the mood between the two males was very awkward, neither talking and the two were irritated with each other.

However, this was not something that could last for that long since they finally got on the room with the stairs for the next floor.

"We should advance with caution, my puppets could not identify anything before I lost all contact with them, my guess is that this is a separate space and is probably the equivalent to a semi-boss room so we should be careful and advance with caution." Castiel said while equipping himself with Hrutting, the feeling the blade transmitted to him was just like the perfect mix of a obedient guard dog and a mad beast looking for its next victim. The bloodlust emanating from the blade was stronger now as the curse on the blade seemed to have changed a bit as instead of going back to being completely black it still carried a red hue to it. Maybe it was as he heard beforehand and when the blade fully accepted him and he could sustain it well enough the curse on it would not be fully dissipated every time he unequipped the blade.

Castiel wondered of when he fixed his evil 'core' he would be fully accepted? This was a cursed blade after all so it would not be that much of a stretch to think like that.

On Nico's end, the teen decided to change his weaponry, it would likely take a while until Harvester would complete itself and by then hopefully something good will happen. Last time this happened was with Alastor, though Biko had suppressed the negative repercussions on his mind with his powers, confining that Devil Arm to an enclosed space within his soul until the process completed itself. Biko would do the same with Harvester soon, of that he had no doubts.

In the meantime, Nico decided to go with Ebony and Ivory (still strapped to his waist beneath his Trench Coat) Rebellion for its sword techniques especially, and the Devil Arm he hadn't used for a while since the Hellverse Dungeon: Absolution, which sat diagonally opposite on his back with Rebellion, making an X shape on his back. He also told Biko to keep an eye on the Bracelet, s there was something about it that concerned him.


After the two were ready they stepped foot into the room and it instantly changed. Gone were the plain walls because now they were looking at a space many times larger than the original room. It was somewhat similar to the previous desert, but the shine on the sand was different and there even was a unique and special smell over the whole place.

A sweet smell.

Nico felt like vomiting the moment he felt this smell,but for Castiel the smell was wonderful. It was like he was in a land made entirely from pudding for him, which out a big smile onto his face. Nico though, he barely resisted the urge to gag at the FOUL smell that filled his nostrils. To him, it smelled like car fuel combined with oil then intensified with various perfumes.

Not a nice smell.

"Now THIS is a paradise...!" Castiel remarked, stretching his arms upwards. This place already got into his good books with the smell, unlike that last desert. However, this didn't last long as Castiel's eyes narrowed when he began to wonder. 'But just HOW did this happen? I sensed a Bounded Field being activated, but shouldn't my bugs have picked up on it? I must not be as experienced as I thought with this ability in the real world, yet. That's the only thing I can come up with to explain why I didn't get this. Also, if this is the case, odds are I likely missed other Bounded Fields throughout the Pyramid. Caution is advised at this point.'

Nico had made to say something about this being an illusion, when he saw the shifting of expressions on the young Heir's face, which stopped him. Though he did question on why he even bothered, it wasn't like they were comrades. To him, it felt more like they were single people instead of two warriors with a common goal on the battlefield.

As he looked around, Nico pushed the smell out with his mind so he could take in the surroundings. He had to admit that this desert had a much more serene look to it than the last one, which felt absolutely wild and dangerous. Though just by thinking that put him on high alert. Nico's eye sharpened to a blade-like glare as he examined his surroundings again with a lot more scrutiny than before. Something was wrong here, something was seriously wrong. His danger senses were tingling, his instincts screamed that he should be on alert as well as the warrior within.

This reminded him an awful lot of certain Abnormals he had fought in the past, now that Nico thought about it. There were some out there like the Teufel that was responsible for King Leoric's downfall that could influence those that get near it into doing its will, until they were ripe for feasting upon. This was one of the few times Nico thanked his Ghoul side for his sense of smell.

Just then, his eye widened when he felt something shake in the ground beneath them, and judging by Castiel's face he felt it too. Both boys quickly jumped to opposite sides, avoiding what looked like a large purple tail that erupted from the ground where they once stood. The two landed away from it, before they each had to jump 3 more times to avoid more Tails that followed the first.

"Nico, lets get some distance!"

"On it!"

Castiel yelled that out which Nico promptly responded. The former got back by using his wings to extend his jump time since flight was a no-go, while the latter used his Hellfire powers as makeshift thrusters to propel him further away. When the two landed, sliding across the desert sands to a halt so that from a birds eye view they were in a V shape with the new attacker at the bottom, they looked up to see something surfacing through the sands.

By the time they could see it clearly (with some bits of sand trailing off it, both boys lost some of their facial color (though Nico's was more hidden thanks to his attire). "Oh. Shit." they both said in unison.

There, standing before them was one of the BIGGEST scorpions they had ever seen. It was a giant purple-shelled scorpion with a body length of about 15 meters and weight of approximately 12 tons. It had gleaming red eyes that glared down at them, a gray lower jaw, two large pincers and a spiked growth growing from its head. Its most notable feature however, was its eight large tails which whipped about behind it, and its grotesque stingers that looked like they packed a deadly surprise.

'Uh oh, this isn't good...!' Nico thought as he sniffed the air. 'There's something coming from this thing... great, those stingers have poison in them, and judging from what I can smell each one likely has a different poison. Its like fighting an elder dragon Abnormal with more than one element under its belt. Last one I fought like that was the Alatreon.' Nico thought with a shudder. 'Bet it has other surprises, too.'

While Nico was thinking this Castiel was thinking something quite different. 'I could swear I saw this creature somewhere, but where was it?'. Castiel, as someone raised in the Tower and being the closest thing Zelretch has of actual family, has studied many creatures on his life. He studied over 9000 different creatures, their weaknesses, habitats, and utilities. It was to such point that he had difficulty on remembering everything fast, but in the end he did know about many things.

Instantly after the stare down the scorpion jumped at them at high speed with undeniable ferocity, itseight tails coming from all directions at the two boys.

'Oh, I remember it now.' Castiel thought as he recognized what this creature was, and he definitely knew what he should do next, stop Nico before he released that hell fire that he was preparing.

Meanwhile, Nico did not recognize this creature, but as far as he was concerned it should be like many other beasts he has faced up until now.

Burning it would probably work just fine. He had a ball of Hellfire about the size of its head ready to launch that would incinerate it before it could cause them any more trouble. But, before he could release the Hellfire Castiel interrupted him by saying

"Don't you dare ruin my dinner." And with that Castiel was already upon the beast, a smile on his face as he activated his field to detect and evade all those poisonous pincers that tried to wain down on him. He didn't even stop when the creature tried to use those clamps to cut him down, he simply skipped bellow them and when he was close enough to the monster he used Hruting to impale said scorpion and then proceed to remove the head.

But the tails did not stop, the vitality of this monster was such that as long as the heart or head was intact it would be alive for a while more. Castiel was surprised by this, he tried to evade them all but due to the proximity he was still pierced by 3 of the 8 tails,. but the smile did not leave his face as he quickly turned Hruting to the creatures direction and stabbed it on the chest, this time truly killing it.

Nico saw all this and was confused. He wondered why did Castiel said to not use the flames but killed it anyway, and more importantly.

'Does he seriously intend to eat this thing?' according to Nico's senses the creature had plenty of poison and the meat must be just as poisonous so how could he do so much for just some dinner?

Castiel turned to Nico and saw his dubious face and could not help but laugh in delight. This was a GREAT catch, and if this was as good as promised it was more than worth those small wounds.

"Why did you do that? I could have killrd it much faster and cleaner if you hadn't stopped me." Nico said, not understanding Castiel's smile.

"Oh, it is because this creature here is called Eight-Tailed Scorpion, and it is a wonderful dish when made right. I think we could use a small break and this thing here will work well as our next meal." Castiel explained, much to the displeasure of Nico. Not for the words or anything but because of what they entail. Nico and human food did NOT get along, his many times forcing himself to look normal when eating in front of others proved this. But, Nico wasn't willing to explain it to Castiel because he simply did not trust him, or most others for that matter, with the reasons as to why it was so.

And so Nico had no choice but to sit on the side as Castiel removed the outer shell piece by piece and threw it to the side, but getting the biggest piece to use as a frying pan for the slices of meat he removed from the beast.

He then proceeded to create a small heating and fire runes below the pan so as to heat it up to start the cooking process.

The smell quickly spread, but not before Castiel put some runes around the 'camp' as to make sure that there wouldn't be any interference from other creatures. It however had an adverse effect, the delicious smell was concentrated on a single location now, and Nico was there.

Nico was trying his darned best to hold together, but he felt sick just by being there. His nostrils were almost screaming in pain at the smell of the food being cooked, his body's natural gag reflex struggling with his will to escape into the atmosphere. He could only thank his foresight for equipping his hood and Mask, as otherwise his struggle would have been a lot harder... as well as a lot more noticeable.

Eventually, Castiel finished prepping the food (much to Nico's hidden relief, and at last he used some of the shells as plates to drop the slabs of meat onto it, passing one over to the other teen whole remaining unaware of the redhead's internal struggle. "Here, try some. Believe me, its good." he urged.

Nico slowly, but surely took the plate and set it on his lap. His eye gazed down upon it with heavy trepidation, all sorts of thoughts and emotions racing through his mind. This was one of the things he HATED about his Ghoul side, how he couldn't eat human food and everything apart from... a certain food tasted horrifically disgusting. It was almost like he was looking down at a pile of sand that he would have to shove every grain of into his mouth in order to keep the facade up, to keep the illusion of that side of him being kept secret.

The monster he kept trapped inside.

There was a reason why he felt that way, and it had a lot to do with his Ghoul side...

But enough of that for now, at this moment he had to focus on downing this human food. Food that, as he used a Rinkaku Kagune Tentacle that he willed to uncloak out of invisibility, he held no doubt would taste horrifically...

Horrifically GOOD!

'Wh-What the hell?! This tastes good! Great, even! Better than those times I went out hunting or the packs I get from the Guild!' Nico thought in shock, eye wider than a saucer when, instead of the urge to vomit, Nico felt nothing but pure glee when he had the Tentacle bring up a slab by morphing its tip into a clawed talon and pop a piece of a slice into his mouth (another Rinkaku Tentacle, cloaked, having pulled the zipper to the other side to open his Mask beforehand). Pure euphoria filled his being as he chewed and swallowed the meat piece, and the moment he gulped it down, Nico felt like he was on high. Still didn't take away from the shock, though. 'I-I thought that...!'

"Good huh?" Castiel remarked, getting the redhead's attention. Because he had seen his Kakugan eye (which was active right now) he had forgone its usual 'protection' and just let it out. Therefore the young Heir got greeted to his Kakugan eye only thanks to his Mask. While Nico began eating with repressed savage hunger, Castiel began to explain. "This little thing of beauty carries special cells called Gourmet Cells, and they taste excellent. Heck, I heard from my Uncle that this stuff goes great with alcohol." Castiel then sheepishly chuckled while rubbing the back of his head. "Though I'm kinda underage for that right now."

'HEH, I AGREE WITH THE BRAT, KING!'

Nico nearly jumped when he heard the madness of his Ghoul self raging through his mind. He sounded exactly as Nico felt, too, on high from an overdose of drugs. One couldn't even imagine how happy his Ghoul side, his inner beast, seemed to be in save for Nico himself, since he WAS connected to it. 'H-How is this possible, though? I thought that...'

'LEMME PUT THIS IN LAYMAN'S TERMS, KING! THIS LITTLE SUCKER APPARENTLY IS MADE UP FROM CELLS THAT ARE BASICALLY MASSIVE MASSES OF CONCENTRATED RC CELLS ON STEROIDS! YOUR GHOUL SIDE IS FUCKING REVELING IN THE POWER! THEY ALSO SEEM TO BE INCREASING YOUR GHOUL SIDE'S STRENGTH, AS WELL AS YOUR SOUL'S. SO, STOP YAMMERING ON AND DEVOUR THAT FUCKER!'

Well, Nico didn't need to be told twice as he began eating in earnest. He couldn't believe it though, even with what his Ghoul self had said. This was the first time in YEARS that he got to eat human food that tasted good. Something that not only tasted heavenly, but vitalized his Ghoul powers, too! Even now he could feel his RC Cell levels increasing with every bite. It was like one bite from this thing was similar to 10 Ghouls worth of RC Cells. This was freaking amazing! Nico sure felt glad as all hell that he had found something as tasty as this! 'Thanks, Emiya, for stopping me before I would have made possibly the worst mistake of my life thus far!' the teen thought, finishing his meal...

And there was much left to go, too.

In the end, Castiel and Nico both devoured the rest of the carcass, the latter detoxifying the Tails with one of his Spirit Bones (much to Nico's shock) to allow them to fully enjoy their meal.

"Hey, now that we have eaten our fill how about we take a small break? I for one am I mentally exhausted after disarming all those traps." Castiel said, before looking at the sand and, much to Nico's shock, took some of it on his mouth. After a few seconds that Nico expected to see Castiel spitting out the sand Castiel swallowed it and showed a knowing smile. "If memory serves me right this place is a replica of the desert gourmet minor realm that exists in my dimension. If what I said is the true, then all monsters here are absolute delicacies that we should try to take away as much as possible."

"I agree that we should hunt more of them" Nico responded with an agreeing nod, already calculating how many of these creatures he could store on his storage and liking the results of his calculations quite a bit. Also, if he gave these ingredients to Compa, perhaps she could whip something up that he could eat so he could at last taste her cooking for real once again. That thought sent waves of warmth through his body. "But I don't think we should stop for much longer. We don't know how long this mission will last so we should continue to move now." he explained, worried about the time they would spend of they continued here to rest as they had a limited time to complete the 5 missions.

The young Heir waved him off dismissively though, mildly irking the redhead male. "Well, if you want to go ahead please be my guest, but disarming those traps was too exhausting and I need to some more time to recharge. But if you want to do something meanwhile I have an idea, how about you go hunting for more of them? We can share the results with a 70-30 split."

Nico did not like what he heard. First he had to wait for Castiel and now he even wanted part of his spoils while he stayed in the camp resting? Nico did not like that at all.

His sole uncovered eye narrowed into a stern glare. "And WHY should I share my spoils with you?" Nico asked, not being able to mask the quite a bit of sarcasm in his voice as he asked that.

Castiel gave a slight smile as he replied coolly. "If you don't want to share it is fine with me, but I do wonder how you intend to hunt this beasts correctly?"

"Hunting is hunting, I will just avoid killing them while destroying them too much and it should be fine." Nico said. On his dimension there wasn't any beast that could be eaten and on his experience from there hunting was something quite direct.

Castiel released a sigh when he heard that, maybe he should have asked for a bigger cut if he would have to explain THAT much.

"You couldn't possibly be more wrong. This creatures here are different to whatever things you have in your dimension. Killing them may not be that different but there are a few key differences, first is that they have a very strong life force so killing them is not that easy, second is that eating their bodies are treasure troves. For instance this eight-tailed scorpion's shell is very resistant to blunt impacts and is great to enchant and creation of armor so it could be used by an experiment blacksmith to create great protective gear. The sacs of poison can be used for the creation of antidotes to dozens of different poisons, the meat we have just ate helps make the body stronger while also helping raise the body natural defense against poison. And this is just one of the species here, if memory serves me right there are about 33 different species that habits this lands, and each one has a specific capture method and if you don't follow it correctly it is likely for you to waste away the entire beast. I don't think asking for a 'small' cut to be that much in exchange for these information."

'I see... so, there's more to it than what I first thought...' Nico thought, the irritation rolling off him in waves as he realized that for now, Castiel was in the dominating position here. He knew that the guy knew more than Nico himself did about these creatures, proof being in their bellies right now. He was exploiting that right now, too, like a politician, much to his annoyance. Worse still, he couldn't do that much to change it, since he wasn't that knowledgeable about these creatures. Even if he wanted to keep the larger cut for himself, Castiel wouldn't agree to that and if he followed that path, he would lose his only chance of getting information on how to capture those creatures. As much as he hated to admit it, whatever he said goes, and Nico never went back on a deal no matter what kind it was. His decision also got solidified when he heard how his inner beast growled at the thought of hunting those animals down and feasting on their remains.

"... Very well, 70-30, you get the cut." the Spec Ops Agent stated reluctantly, before sighing in resignation as he offered a hand for a handshake, sealing the deal.

Castiel smiled slightly more, eyes shining victoriously as he took the hand and gave a firm shake. He half expected Nico to try and crush his hand, but to his hidden surprise he didn't. "Deal. Now, to begin there's the Sand Flower Fish..."


With the deal struck, Nico went off with the information he needed to hunt down the animals throughout the desert while Castiel began to take a nap to recover his energy. If he were honest though, the food and benefits were only secondary to him. Nico felt like he wanted to establish his dominance as the apex predator in this environment, to show the animals here that he was top dog. It was an instinctual reaction that was triggered by his Ghoul side, the animal that he kept caged within. Also, as much as he would hate to admit it, Nico would honor their deal by gathering the spoils, store them inside his Void Storage and when he returned he would give Castiel 70% of the spoils. He was a man of his word, and even if this guy irritated the hell out of him, Nico refused to let that get in the way of his code of macho honor.

The teen spent what felt like 3 hours hunting and gained quite the substantial haul. If one wanted to have a picture of how big his haul was, think a single story building before he decided enough was enough and he returned to the Camp. By the time that he arrived, Nico noticed that his companion was still deep in slumber, lying on his back on the sand snoring away like there was nothing wrong with the world. The sight of this brought back the redhead's irritation as he deposited his haul next to the now extinguished fire runes...

When suddenly an idea entered his mind and a devious grin formed on his lips under his Mask. This idea might end up limiting his catch even more if Castiel was that childish, but right now the opportunity was just too good to get his revenge. Revenge for that ladies comment by the way, not the whole political deal that he recently did.

Sitting at a far enough distance that he wouldn't be suspected, Nico sat in the Japanese sitting position and prepped himself to be working on his right Bracer while his Rinkaku Kagune emerged. Since this was a desert, his Kagune's high vibration would allow it to pass through the sand easily. His Rinkaku did do that, entering the desert sands as it soon emerged from all around Castiel. There was no killing intent radiating from the Tentacles since this wasn't an assassination attempt, nor bloodlust. Plus thanks to their vibration there was no shadow to put any shade on the target.

Thus, each Tentacle got into position over his four limbs, 1 over his face...

Before they swiftly pinned him down and the single Tentacle began slapping his face like a bitch with a newly formed feminine hand just for adding salt to the wound.

SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP!

The tentacle that was exacting sweet revenge moved with the speed that his Rinkaku was known for, not wasting any second between slaps. The ones gripping his arms and legs stopped the slight jerking motions his limbs did from the force of the slapping. The teenage redhead remained impassive, looking up his Void Storage and checking some of his healing items over. All the while, Nico used the remaining 3 Tentacles to lay one of the fishes he had caught near his side, just close enough to the Heir for his cover.

Sometimes, his Kagune and detaching skills came in SUCH good handiness for pranks.


By the time that it was over, Castiel looked like he had been bitch slapped by a thousand angry women at once, stars circling over his head while his Kagune used its speed to retract into its wielder before he could recover. It was all Nico could do not to burst into laughter as the Heir managed to finally snap out of it.

"Wha-wha-wha-the fuck?! the hell?!" he exclaimed, putting his hands on his burning cheeks that had two hand marks on them. A string of curses escaped his lips when this happened as he bent over after sitting up. "Fucking shit, fuck!"

"Huh, looks like you're awake." Nico remarked flatly looking up from his Bracer. "You were sleeping soundly so I decided not to wake you and placed my haul over there." he said, gesturing to the haul he got. "Though judging from what you're doing right now, I'd say that a fish wasn't as caught as I thought since it fell off the pile and onto you." he explained while Castiel put some blessings on to numb the pain.

The pain stung so much that Castiel didn't even question it, quickly obliterating the fish with a magic attack and more than a few curses. He also set about taking his share of Nico's spoils, muttering and mumbling all the while.

All Nico did was look back down to his Bracer while doing his best to contain his laughter.

His Kagune bitch slapped him. A lot. Now his Kagune was tired.

He DID say that the guy would pay, and pay he did.

Castiel took a deep breath and calmed down, after this more than unwelcome awakening he had, at the very least, realized that his mind was back on it's normal state. While giving the stinky eye to Nico he said. "Was this the 30% of your hunt?"

Arching a brow at this, Nico felt confusion foil his being. His lone eye showed this as he gave the answer floating about in his mind and nagging away at him like a naggy grandmother. "No, this is the 70% that you said was your share."

The moment those words left his lips, Castiel facepalmed when he heard this. "And since WHEN did I said that the 70 part was for me? That info was only for 30% and nothing more, I am not that much of a bastard to get this much for so little." Castiel said, much for the embarrassment of Nico who had thought the worst of his 'partner'.

To break out of this embarrassing situation Castiel simply said. "Keep it all with you for now, after this whole mission finishes I will see if I can get a space artifact to help ma carry my part."

After that the two started walking together on a single direction, simply hoping that they would find the exit soon enough, and surprisingly enough it wasn't that hard to find.

The problem, however, was the beast guarding the stares.

As the two observed from the distance Castiel recognized the beast, and he knew how troublesome this beast was. It had the appearance of a African lion but with sabertooth-like teeth, scars all over the body as proof of it's fighting experience, every fiber of it's body being a killing machine and full of energy. But, the most striking characteristics was the blood red fur that gave the illusion of being covered on enemies blood, the aura of a predator and the size. It was over 6 meters tall and from head to tailor it had over 50 meters.

Castiel looked at it for one more second before turning to Nico, hie eyes shining with seriousness that made Nico glance over to him. "I don't know if you have ever seen this creature, but considering how you have never seen a beast with gourmet cells I will suppose you haven't and will explain it anyway. This beast is a Gaoh, a type of mammal beast that is known for it's absurdly high appetite and how it usually hunts down an area until extinction, it's main capacity is in it's explosive power burst and how every attack of it carry enough weight and speed to crush a mountain. To be fair, considering how much strength i saw from you before, our best bet would be to go all out or we could be killed just like that. Also, the fur and muscles of it are known for it's hardness comparable to metal while being as flexible as a snake. Again, do NOT hold back. Our best shot is if we can kill it on the first move or at least hurt him on a leg so as to show it down. Also, it's senses are absurdly developed so your invisibility trick or traps would be useless. The only way is for fighting head-on."

Nico frowned at this information. If what Castiel was sating was true, then they will have to give this all they have got from the get-go, and this meant that he had to throw aside his usual reluctance to transform into his DPU self, Crimson Soul, and unleash Soul Edge's full, unrestrained power. He hadn't full control over the blade yet, but he was indeed close. He could control up to 90% of its power, any more and he would have ran the risk of destroying everything around him. Believe him, he once tested the blade's full strength inside his Inner World which, in hindsight, may not have been the best idea as his Inner World barely contained the eruption of power that followed. Biko had scolded him for it, telling him that if the Inner World were to vanish, then he would die as well. Even if he was immortal, that type of damage would make reforming take MUCH too long for their liking, as in centuries worth.

"Alright then, I'll go in first with my full power, i'll give you an opening so you can use your strongest attack. As of right now, I doubt that we can kill it if its really that strong, but if we injure it enough, we could force it to retreat to lick its wounds." Nico suggested, slowly getting up wile being careful not to make any noise. He didn't want the beast to hear him, and if what Castiel said was true even the slightest noise would catch its attention. When he took several steps back, Nico closed his eyes and begun the transformation. Although, this time he made sure to keep the flames and Demonic Power as downgraded as possible.

Once the transformation completed, Crimson Soul looked over to Castiel, his eyes shining as he gave a confirming nod. Castiel nodded back as he summoned Clarent. The sword wouldn't be too picky about fighting a beast like a Gaoh, considering the amount of power it possessed. He also began applying EVERY Blessing he could on himself for this situation, as to boost his chances of injuring the beast.

With that done, Crimson Soul summoned the true form of Soul Edge and began channeling all 100% of its power, forming a blackish red aura around the blade that looked more like a chaotic storm/foggy mix. It oozed power and bloodlust, power that the DPU would use on his opponent right the hell now. Flaring his wings, he pumped them with additional energy and shot forwards like a blur, releasing a shockwave that blew everything behind him off into the distance.

Instantly, the Gaoh turned to his direction when its instincts told it danger was coming and the creature roared, releasing a shockwave that blew everything away from it while advancing towards the DPU.

'So, its screams create environment-affecting shockwaves... I sense that it indeed does have great physical power and senses. Hopefully this next move works!'

Said DPU simply Warped out the away though, appearing at its side with Soul Edge poised for a reverse swing. However, that wasn't the only thing different about him, as his body had erupted in power, forging an aura made from his Demonic Power that caused his energy output to skyrocket. He had his buffing Skill DEMON OVERDRIVE to thank for that, a Skill he had neglected to use on Castiel during their fight. If he had, his attack would have done considerably more damage, due to how it enhanced his body and forced it to achieve higher power levels by pushing the body out of its limits. He'd already gotten used to skill through his long history of combat.

Not only that, but Soul Edge had been engulfed completely in Hellfire while SP was pumped through his body alongside his Demonic Power. Using both energy sources in tandem like this wasn't something Crimson Soul had done before, so he wasn't sure of the limits he could go. Hell, in his past battles he had only relied on them separately, and if he counted his RC Cells then he had 3 sources of power that he only used individually. Using them together like this hadn;t been something he ever thought of before. However, this place was a perfect opportunity to test this theory out. Crimson Soul's eyes shone with a rectangular crimson light from the amount of power he was releasing

He would hold nothing back, everything would be put into this one swing. He'd obliterate this thing out of existence if he had to!

"Take this!" Crimson Soul bellowed, swinging his blade upwards. The moment that the blade met the Gaoh's skin, a sky high pillar of energy and Hellfire roared into existence, burning everything around it even the air itself. It practically concealed both the DPU and the Gaoh from view, filling a large majority off the desert with it reach. The full power of Soul Edge did massive damage to its surroundings, making a huge smokescreen which shielded the result of his attack from sight.

Warping a reasonably safe distance away, Crimson Soul reverted back to his human form, falling on one knee as Soul Edge vanished in a flicker of flames while he used Rebellion as a makeshift crutch. The redhead Spec Ops looked like a knight with his sword on the ground, quickly summoning a (Portable SP) Charger 2, one of a few new items that he had bought in bulk after the Mundus Incident to restore his SP and Demonic Power reserves. His RC Cells weren't replenished however, due to not taking a Nep Bull or a Blood pill, so he took one of those as well. He had to do that fast otherwise he wouldn't have enough energy to feed his Devil Arms. Using his full power always ran that risk, but it also served as a way to increase his reserves. A method occurring throughout his life since they latched onto him.

Mentally checking his reserves, Nico heaved a sigh of relief when he felt his return to a level that was satisfactory... for now. His instincts told him the enemy wasn't finished yet, and he had used up a lot of power in that one slash, Soul Edge having pumped in a lot of power as well. Hopefully he had done something right there, at least scratched it or this would feel utterly pointless.

'Nico, quick Warp!'

Eyes shot wide open as Nico quickly followed Biko's advice at the last second, Warping put the way of a large Paw coming down him him from above. When he reappeared, Nico thought he would have been able to look upon his attacker... but the shockwave that came from that one strike alone broke those thoughts to pieces as it sent him flying further backwards. Shock and disbelief coursed through him, but Nico quickly composed himself so he could use the momentum to flip about in the air, landing on the ground and sliding to a halt.

'Holy-I didn't even sense it moving!'

'Neither did me or your Ghoul side until it was almost too late. Looks like Emiya was not kidding about this beast's power.'

Looking upwards, the teen saw the Gaoh, the one responsible for that sneak attack, glowering at him with its beady red eyes, its white mane swaying from the winds that came from its attack. When he looked to the place Nico had slashed earlier... to his dismay he only managed to make a gash that didn't even reached the bones, and the worst part is that it was regenerating from the damage at a visible speed. 'Oh you have GOT to be kidding me! Emiya was right, this thing's tough, like a final boss in an action game!'

The Gaoh released a small smile at the dismay it could smell from Nico, it loved to play with it's pray and for it Nico was no better than that.

At that moment Castiel advanced, Gaoh too focused on Nico to react in time as the energy accumulated on Clarent exploded in a red thunder that reached the beast, paralyzing it temporarily. This time was enough though, and Nico quickly got back of his feet and advanced. With that exchange, the teen now knew that extreme attacks like before would could not possibly be the key for winning this fight, continuous attacks at it to deplete its strength was the best and only real way to go.

Using the time bought by Castiel Nico hacked the beast as much as possible. There wasn't even one wound deeper than a finger thanks to him not having the strength to go all out again, but he compensated by using his fast Rinkaku and Bikaku Kagune respectively, slicing through the creature's fur like a hot knife through butter. The fact that he wasn't damaging it as much as he would like was irrelevant, instead the fact that he was damaging it faster than it could recuperate was the main thing.

Unfortunately, the paralysis lost effect after around 2 minutes, Castiel had to stop or risk damaging his already weak magic circuits, leaving Nico to try and run after the beast, even while it did short work of him by smacking him flying with just one pawn swipe.

'It seems that this battle may be out of our current league...' Nico remarked to his Demon Persona when he saw how the cuts he had done almost fully healing back in just this few seconds he stopped.

'It will be hard. Probably only in Berserker mode you would possibly win this one." Biko answered, but even he knew that it wasn't a good option since this wasn't their final enemy and they had other challenges in the near future.

Nico knew this too, but this was getting into an uphill battle since he could now damage this creature in any significant way.

However, this hesitation costed Nico dearly when Gaoh ran in such a speed that it was akin to teleportation, it was to such point that Nico, out of reflex and instinct instead of logic, raised Rebellion in front of himself to defend his vitals. But, Gaoh was not aiming for a quick victory anyway. It had suffered many wounds due to these two and it wanted to make them suffer for it.

SLASH

Gaoh went right through Nico, its pawn now covered in blood as Nico's arm fell to the ground.

'Guh...!' the teen thought, barely managing to keep his form level from the jerking motions that followed his arm's severing. Fortunately he had managed to limit it to his non-weapon arm at the last moment, but still the fact that he lost an arm just now caused shock to run through his system. He didn't really feel PAIN from the wound, he had felt way worse pains than this to the point where he was mostly numb to it, as in only the most intense of pains could have an effect on him like the pain he was in when he created Urthemiel accidentally. Physical pain, anyways. Mental and emotional pain however? His numbness didn't extend to them sadly. Even now, he could feel his regeneration kicking in, the stump that was once his arm beginning to bubble.

However, it was slower than normal, which was something his opponent made to utilize. Gaoh pounced at the two again, but this time he was met with an arrow from Gandiva right on the center of it's right eye.

The beast growled in pain, stumbling a bit as Castiel readied another arrow, he knew that it would probably miss but he had to try and make more damage. Maybe if he could blind the beast and damage it's nose they could slip away from the beast.

It was at that moment that something unexpected happened, the beast started digging on the ground and even when Castiel shoot another arrow at it's back and burned a large section of it, but beast ignored it and continued digging to get away.

In the end, the beast succeeded and the two young man could do nothing but watch this beast that almost made dinner out of them to get away.

"Tch." was what Castiel said. He knew that it was now too late to run after it as by now it could be miles away. A Gaoh can be a real fast digger when it wanted to be. Releasing a sigh Castiel approached Nico, who held his arm while trying to regenerate his wound. It was working, as half an arm had already been regenerated at this point, and his severed arm was nowhere to be seen. It would soon be complete, but that wasn't enough for the young Heir. "Here, let me."

Nico wondered what he intended to do, but considering everything he could give Castiel the benefit of the doubt. Also, he was still wondering how to fix the damage bit if his partner had an idea he might as well listen.

Castiel took out a vial of Phoenix Tears, he dropped a few drops on the regenerating arm and when it released a slight light Castiel nodded before putting the item away. It was like he received a surge of RC Cells from his Kakuhou, as his arm fully regenerated from the damage done before. Nico widened his eyes when he saw this. Don't get him wrong, there were plenty of wonderful medicines on his dimension, but speeding up regeneration like this wasn't something normally possible. He was fortunately lucky enough to have regeneration abilities, but if a normal person lost their arm reattaching it would have taken lots of money and intense surgeries.

Now satisfied that his regeneration had healed the limb, Castiel looked back to the limbs owner and began to speak. "This is why I said to go all out at all times there and that you should have gotten a phoenix tear, this is thing here can heal almost any wound while also not leaving scars. It is also very fast and effective to any early wound you might get. I Know you probably have your own healing items, but you shouldn't look down on other items or EVER think you have enough of them."

Nico furrowed his brows, his lone eye shining in contemplation as he looked down at the limb. He held his hand up t his chest level, palm facing him as he clenched and unclenched it. Something about that Gaoh had slowed down his regeneration, no, that wasn't right it was more like his regeneration was trying to heal a Kagune-based wound. That was what slowed it down, and because of his limited energy reserves he couldn't have used DEMON OVERDRIVE to speed it up. In that situation, he wouldn't have been able to use Items either given how fast that creature was. Maybe if he managed to think up a strategy things could have been different, the versatility of his Skill set allowed for various possibilities, but his lack of knowledge about that creature limited him somewhat.

Now that he had experience in fighting it, though, he had ideas on how to kill it.

He had made mistakes there, mistakes he won't be making twice.

The potential for Phoenix Tears was now a possibility for his home dimension, too. there were many healing Items in his home dimension, but they were quite expensive and thus were hard to access for normal citizens. If these Phoenix Tears were easy to make, he could hand them to his superiors and they could mass produce it. It would make dealing with their enemies a whole lot easier, and after everything that happened in Leanbox, this would definitely be a godsend.

Offhandedly, the to boys noted that the Desert had shimmered out of existence, replaced by the plain walls of the interior of the Pyramid. "Looks like what we went though was inside a Bounded Field..." Castiel remarked thoughtfully, furrowing his brows.

"You sure? Wait, the Bounded Fields you said you disarmed before were traps, so this one must not have counted as one."

"That, and I haven't as much experience with these bugs that helped me detect them as I would have liked. Anyways, lets go."

With these thoughts in mind, Nico nodded and followed his companion as they descended down the steps to the Bottom floor, the last floor before they visit the Tomb. Whatever lay within, thy would have to be wary. Neither of them intended to underestimate it after what they just went through.