There was a distinct feel of ominous tension approaching them when the two boys reached the bottom of the stairs. Ahead of them, was this seemingly deserted-looking corridor that had several doors aligned sideways and one bigger door which had several humanoid statues with similar heads to those black warriors that Nico had fended off earlier when Castiel was disarming the Bounded Fields.

"Is it just me, or does anyone else not like the looks of this?" Nico questioned, his lone uncovered eye narrowing into a deadly gaze as he scanned the corridor, looking for any signs of traps. He checked his Holomap and Motion Tracker, only to get nothing which only heightened his suspicions. Corridors like this were usually filled with traps that would spring the moment they began walking, so he didn't want to take any chances. The last time they saw a corridor like this was also just as deserted... as well as just as deceptive, too.

"Its not just you, dude." Castiel replied as he sat down and summoned some more bugs with the powers of evil. The Heir had the same suspicions with this Corridor, for the same reasons as his companion too. He had them scour the entire corridor to see if they could find anything suspicious, and after 7 minutes, they each returned, and then vanished but not before telling the Heir what he needed to know. Opening his eyes, he stood back up and looked to his companion. "You were right, I can sense several bounded fields, set to trigger some form of summoning from what I can tell. I guess that they are meant to summon some enemies for us the moment we step foot in that corridor."

Was that all? That was what Nico wondered, his lips pursed within his Mask. There had to be more to it than that, simple summonings wouldn't be enough to hinder them... unless these enemies were extremely powerful, or a large number were ready to be summoned. Either way, it didn't seem like they could progress if these Bounded Fields were active. and according to his Bracer's newly gained data, this was the only way to reach the Tomb of the final boss. He knew that last bit because it got labelled as such when they had gotten halfway down the stairs. "Then it seems a repeat of earlier is in order. I'll hold off any troublesome foes while you disarm?"

"Sure. I should be able to have an easier time, there aren't as many Bounded Fields this time, nor are they as complex."


Moments later, he was done as Castiel opened his eyes once he had disarmed the rest of the traps in front of them. "Whew, that was a light workout.." the Heir mused, before looking to his companion who had that Axe of his on his shoulder like a delinquent, all the while he stared at the corridor ahead of them. Following his gaze, Castiel saw a whole load of spikes, Tendrils and various other things made from this strange, gooey substance. A substance he didn't like the look of the moment he saw it. "Guess we had a welcoming committee?"

"Not the most welcoming, but yeah." he replied swiftly, re-tethering Absolution to his back. "There weren't as many as i had thought, and it was the same as last time, too. I was able to deal with them regardless, however." he explained, his eye narrowing at his Bracelet. "Though I am starting to get concerns for this Bracelet. There's something about it that is bugging me."

"What is it?"

Looking back to his companion, the Spec Ops Agent began to explain while lifting his arm so he could see the Bracelet. "Every time I take down an enemy, this little thing seems to be absorbing something from it, it did the same with those animals in the desert too, so the state of the body upon death isn't something it is concerned with. I've tried numerous times to scan it to see what was going on, but I did not gain any additional data about this thing." Nico could tell that Castiel could understand the meaning behind his words, this guy wasn't one of the ignorant masses after all. He had that air of well-trained warrior/scholar/leader mix to him, similar to the original Nobility that filled Leanbox after its founding. He wouldn't dismiss something like this as a trivial matter.

Castiel frowned at that. That DID seem a little suspicious, and more than enough reason to be concerned. From what he could tell with this guy, wile he may do hings that seem arrogant and foolish, that didn't mean he was stupid. No, the guy was far from stupid, he learned that especially when they fought and how, after one collision, deciphered Hrutings' abilities and even found a weakness to it. If something was concerning to him, then it was important to take note of it. "Yeah, i'd say that does sound off. We'll keep an eye on it, if it starts acting up, lemme know so I can destroy it. I know it seems rather helpful, but if it proves to be a hindrance we should dispose of it as soon as possible, so it doesn't cause us to fail the mission and possibly die."

Nico nodded at that, and just when they were about to move, Nico's Bracer began beeping, drawing his attention. "Hm?" He wondered, bringing the Bracer up ad manipulating it. Soon, he had he Holomap active, and his eye narrowed at the display. "That's odd... it appears that these rooms are giving off some unusual energy readings, abnormal ones even."

"They are probably treasuries." Castiel stated, his eyes shining in contemplation while he pondered this information. Unusual energy readings were a double edged sword. On one hand it could mean that they would find something of value within those rooms, something that could help them fight the final boss in this world and beyond, but on the other hand there could be dangerous things ion there. Things that could be hazardous to the both of them, and he wasn't planning on visiting Hades of the underworld anytime soon. "Those readings mean that there may be things in those rooms that could be of value to us. We should go inside and see what they are, but lets be cautious too. No telling what we may find in there."

"Agreed."

As the two started walking down the corridor they sensed many strong energy from each of the doors. The two didn't know what they were looking at, but after approaching the first door a notification appeared in front of them.

"Congratulations for getting up until this point. As a gift you both can choose one door each, the item inside is yours. The item may be something useful for the boss fight on the next floor or completely useless for it, so choose with care.

PS: After the fight there will be an option of keeping the item you just got or whatever you may have obtained from the boss, it will be your choice.

Sign: the most amazing magician of the multiverse, AKA myself ;-)"

Both Nico and Castiel did not know how to react to that last comment, but the info from the start of the message was what they saw as the most important thing in there.

"Okay, of this is how it is we probably are lucky. Knowing uncle Zelretch he is not lying about it and we can choose one of these doors each to obtain whatever is inside. There probably isn't any danger here, but we must know that we WILL be facing something bad the moment we pass through here." Castiel said, already looking around and trying to identify which door he should choose.

Nico agreed and also started walking around the corridor. The two knew this was an extremely rare chance and they would take as much advantage of this as possible.

Castiel was the first one to choose a door. It was a weird one with a weird energy inside, but he choose it due to the wonderful and invigorating floral smell inside. Just a tiny breath was enough for him to feel his entire body full of energy, almost like he has just drank 2 litters of energetic drinks.

As he opened the door what he saw was an eight petal orchid. The petals tremble minutely, entirely lustrous snow white, giving people a noble and virtuous feeling while the smell was so deep and wonderful that it engraved itself in one's heart while making Castiel's mind clearer just by smelling it for a bit.

"Fuck, I can't believe it is a Eight Petal Immortal Orchid! This is just too perfect for me right now! Yes, yes yes yes YES! This is totally worth all that I did here and more. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Castiel shouted in extreme glee.

This made Nico turn around from his investigation and ask him the obvious question. "What is it that is so great about this plant that you have to make all this racket?"

Castiel however, was just so happy that he could not atop smiling as he answered without any hostile elements to his voice. "It is because this is worth it! You may never have heard of it but I did. This is a special Herb that is called mystical and a immortal treasure, how could it not be amazing?! This Herb here is capable of reinforcing the body's foundations, make someone's soul, mind and body reach a whole new level of potential while also cleansing the body of it's impurities, which allows for the smoother use of one's powers and making the body stronger. It is even said that once someone with no talent whatsoever took one of these and within a few decades he reached a point where he was comparable to deities. Now you answer me if this is amazing or not!" Castiel said, the smile on his face was so big that it would not be out of place on a certain maniacal clown.

"That... does indeed sound useful..." Nico remarked, thoughtfully, an index finger on the right side of his jaw while his eye rolled upwards. Though his experience with magical items told him that there had to be some form of trial or test to get past first before they could reap the benefits of said item. That was what had happened when he found his first few Devil Arms, after all.

After that Castiel walked into the room, he almost danced in joy from this sudden windfall with every step of the way. When he reached the herb he carefully, almost as if he was afraid of breaking it somehow, took the Herb on his hand. He then turned to Nico who was standing on the outside of the door and said.

"Don't get me wrong, but I will NOT wait to consume this treasure here. After I start I will enter a meditative state for some time so you will have to wait while I am absorbing this little one. And before you say anything against it, remember that this will raise my powers quite a bit and considering how the Gaoh almost kicked our butts back there any chance of growing stronger should be taken first and foremost." After that serious talk Castiel went right back to smiling in absolute happiness.

He then sat down on the floor and started consuming the Herb. He opened his mouth wide and put the entire thing inside, following that he swallowed it as it was after giving it a single chew, the taste more heavenly that it could even be described. Following it he started training, leading the medicinal potency and the energy from the Herb to circle all around his body, raising its potency by many times over.

While Castiel did his own thing, Nico looked to the door he had chosen, raising a hand and grasping onto the shirt there. He clutched his shirt where the Symbol for one of his Satanic Treasures, the Red Ring of Rage, which lay within there. The Red Ring had been quiet throughout this entire ordeal, only recently becoming active slightly when he had been arguing with Castiel, then a bit more when he had that business deal with the haul he'd gotten. Nico and Castiel may have sparred, but neither of them showed their entire hand. He himself had various things that he hadn't used yet. but he got the feeling Castiel did the same.

'You think you have anything, Biko...?'

'Unfortunately, I do not. All I can decipher has already been delivered to us through Emiya. Nonetheless, I bet that the items here will definitely be useful to us in the future...'

A short conversation took place between the main and demonic aspect, before Nico cut the link and went inside. When he did, Nico noticed that he was inside what looked to be some form of treasury, as various golden items piled up around the back and sides. He could see noting but gold wherever he looked, and it started to feel like he was looking t the sun with how bright they were shining.

Holding a hand up to his chin, Nico furrowed his brows as he eyed everything. All of this stuff looked pretty nice, but none of it looked like it would be of any use to him later non when they faced the final boss. Those words the notification gave them rung through his mind constantly, but he still didn't see anything that would be considered useful to him...

That is... until he looked to the center of the room.

His eye quickly landed upon the form of what looked to be a Scepter, a scepter covered in this dark orb-like miasma. He could only see its form briefly through the miasma, but Nico managed to identify that the Scepter was a golden one with detailed carvings into it. There was also this golden star-like top it had, but that was only seen in the briefest moments.

'What the... What is...?' Nico began to think, slowly approaching the miasma-bound Scepter. He stopped when he was right before it, when he was only a step away from touching the Miasma cloaking it from view. 'I don't know what this is, but my senses tell me that this thing is indeed quite powerful. It feels oddly like one of my Devil Arms, but without the same level of sentience. Judging by what ii'm sensing, this Scepter has a lot of built-up power within it that is just waiting o to be unleashed.'

Then male's thoughts then got interrupted, by what you may ask? Well, the fact tat an eerier black glow began enveloping the Bracelet on his Arm of course. Nico looked down at it, his eye slightly widening in shock when he saw it reacting this way. 'H-Hold up here what the hell?! This reaction,..!' he exclaimed in his mind, seeing the Bracelet's glow.

'It seems to be resonating with the Scepter. I believe this might be to do with what we have been seeing from the Bracelet recently.'

Biko's words seemed to ring with more truth than usual, and why? Well, because Nico's arm, as if it had a mind of its own, lifted itself up towards the Miasma covering the Scepter. The arm that held the Bracelet that is, and the glow only began to get more and more intense. Nico quickly covered his sole uncovered eye with his other hand when the brightness became too much for him, a slight hiss escaping his lips all the while. If there were windows in this treasury, then they would definitely be illuminated by this intense light.

Moments later, the glow died down, allowing Nico to uncover and open his eye once more. This allowed him to gaze upon the sight of the Scepter itself... without the Miasma covering it. This allowed Nico to witness the Scepter's full shine, to let him witness it inits full appearance. The Scepter looked quite small, like it could be held in one hand like a club of some sort. It just floated there, bobbing up and down in a slow, gradual manner yet also in a way that seemed eerily similar to a succubus trying to tempt her prey into getting close so she could go in for the kill.

That was only for a few LONG seconds though, before it slowly floated over to him and landed inside his hand, the hand of the arm that held the Bracelet. The moment it did, Nico gasped as he felt something 'click' within the Bracelet itself, like a new piece to the puzzle had been put with the first piece. Both the Bracelet and the Scepter seemed to resonate with each other if the way they constantly glowed and pulsated was any indication. It was like seeing two lost friends finally reuniting after years of conflict.

'Nico, I don't know what is going on, but I can hazard a Guess as to what might be happening. Your analogy about them being pieces to a puzzle may not be too far off, for I can sense that... whatever this is, is almost complete. We need only one more thing to complete this power, and odds are we will find it before the first mission is complete. Keep the Scepter at your side for now, my guess is what it iis meant for will be revealed intime.'

'Alright, then. I'll do that.'

After that... moment of randomness that he didn't know how to describe, Nico exited the room and sat down behind the door he had went into, to wait until Castiel woke up from his training/meditation. It was quite boring to him but for Castiel it was most certainly not so.

While he waited, Nico hummed as he closed his eyes and focused on his Demonic Senses, trying to feel out any sources of bloodlust or other negative emotions. The teenage made sure to ignore the ones coming from Castiel like a whirlpool of darkness, as if he stayed too close to that, it felt like they would suck the life out of him.

'I... cannot sense anything above us, there's no sources of bloodlust in the Pyramid sections above us, while below I can sense that there is a large buildup of it. Not as large as Emiya's, but still large.'

'Odds are, we will have to engage that being, if what we have done so far. Also, I can sense that whatever we need to complete this new power is down there as well. Even if we do not need to get there, I do believe we should spend time exploring down there.'

Nico mentally nodded in agreement with his Demon Persona. He frowned while opening his eyes and looking to the walls while breaking the connection. On one of the walls, there lay a mural, a mural that Nico recognized, at least part of it. The Mural was located opposite the door that Nico had chosen, so the two of them wouldn't have been able to notice it before.

Thus Mural... it didn't seem whole, instead it looked quite cracked. Still, though, Nico could see that there was some form of man in cloth-wear looking like he was petting a canine... or rather, he was petting the same Goah.

'What... the hell?'

For a moment, Nico remained there, confused as all hell. But then, he decided to sit back down by the door he had chosen (having stood to walk to the Mural) to wait for Castiel.

For the next two hours Castiel continued in his training.

After that period of time something started to change in Castiel's body, he started secreting a dark ooze from his entire body. The smell was terrible to say the absolute least as the weird ooze continued to be released for the next ten minutes, it was to such a point that Nico wondered if he would fully liquefy if this continued.

Yet, after that period of time the ooze stopped and Castiel stood up. His calmness despite the ooze covering him was surprising for Nico as he got the impression that Castiel was not the type to see himself like this and stay nonchalant about it.

What Nico did not know was that this ooze was exactly what Castiel expected. That ooze was the impurities that the body accunulates naturally, especially when you are training since the magic energy that enters the body during training usually is full of little particles that can't be properly processed. It is like the air on a metropolitan area, it may seem clean at first glance but ot is full of dust, gas, viruses and many other things that with time may cause problems for the one living there. Yet, now that Castiel had undergone this cleansing of the impurities hia body was in much greater condition, his magic circuits, while still quite weak, now worked much more efficiently, and his body now was also much stronger and more flexible than before.

It was to such a point that he was now at least 25% stronger than before.

Castiel accessed all this and showed a smile, this was probably the most comfortable he has been in, in years now.

Turning to Nico, he started walking over to his direction. That was when he noticed that Nico was staring pretty hard at something, and when he followed the direction his gaze was facing, he too noticed the mural. "Huh... well, this is something." he remarked, thoughtfully, announcing his presence to the redhead.

Nico glanced at him, noticing that he looked much better than he did before. The male figured that the herb he had taken worked, though he soon focused on the Mural itself. "Looks like our old friend Gaoh must have been related to... whoever this guy is. Though the picture's too damaged to properly confirm this."

"Yeah..."

Noticing Nico's look, the Heir furrowed his brows. It looked like Nico had been thinking hard about this information and what it could mean, if the intense look of concentration was any indication. Castiel made to say something before he noticed the golden room he was close to. While it is true that the gold there did not interest him, there something else there that did.

It was a pool of water that was reflecting different scenes depending on the angle looked. Castiel looked at this and could only think that uncle Zelretch really was stupidly rich, but considering how the pool was put it would be impossible to take it away.

'I guess even he doesn't want to give this one, huh. Well, I will not take it away but that doesn't mean I can't use it now.' Castiel thought as he approached the pool and was just about to enter before he turned to Nico and with a VERY pained face he spoke. "You should enter it too. This is chaos water, the energy of this water is useful in reinforcing the body and make it more durable."

"But the message said that we can only take one item from here." Nico responded, furrowing his eyebrows.

Castiel rolled his eyes and countered. "And we will not 'take' this pool, we will USE it. Understanding how to work others words to your advantage is diplomacy 102, right after learning how to lie." the Heir explained, making the Spec Ops Agent unable to figure out how exactly to react.

'So, manipulating words... sounds like something a politician would do...' Nico thought to himself. None of that gave him a particularly good feeling, as it reminded him of the Nobles that populated Leanbox. Although things were beginning to change thanks to Vert, he didn't like the thought of being associated with them. Still, if this would make them stronger so that they could eventually get a rematch with the Gaoh, then he'd be all for it.


In the end the two entered the pool. It was like dipping in highly condensed magma that could turn into colder than out space the next instant, before it feeling like it was trying to rip them apart to then pressure them to reach a point that they felt they would turn into a single particle. And all of this happened in a matter of 0.3 seconds.

The two managed to resist this pool for only about 3 minutes before they had to leave. Castiel managed to last 30 extra seconds due to the effect of the immortal herb, but even then it was as far as they could possibly go.

And yet, the effects were obvious for the both of them. Their bodies now felt much more resilient, to the point that Nico doubted that most Kagune save for only the strongest ones could even pierce him and Castiel believed that he would at least received only second or light third degree burns from that attack from Kokabiel that originally almost killed him.

"Well, I guess this is it. We should get going now." Castiel said as he knew that more exposure to the chaos water now would be useless. Their current bodies were already on the limit to what they could go for now. They could only advance further if they used some immortal herb or if their spirit could advance further.

Nico, while not as knowledgeable as his partner about all this occult matters, understood that he would not be able to use this pool for now anymore.

With that the two started walking away from the treasury and in direction of the boss'room. A boss that was patiently waiting for a chance to kill the mongrels that dared to invade his home.

A crime worth of death.


Finally, the two reached it, the boss room. Well, more like the entrance but hey. The entrance definitely fit the bill of an ancient pharaoh's tomb in Castiel's eyes, with all the gold carvings and statues on either side looking like those warriors they fought before. There were these large pyres as well that were lit with flames, illuminating the entrance and giving it a rather sinister, evil and ominous atmosphere.

Just before they could head down to the tomb where the final boss lay, Nico had a thought. He knew about Castiel's curse abilities, though he suspected that there was more to it. He figured that since Castiel had experience in politics that he would try to keep aspects of his powers under wraps, something he could understand himself due to being secretive over his own powers too.

However, there was this uncomfortable sensation in his gut, a sensation that he soon isolated the source from: knowledge. Knowledge about each other. Nico knew some of Castiel's powers, but he hardly knew much about Nico's own. Now normally, Nico wouldn't mind something like this, as the less people knew about his abilities, the better. However, this world was not connected to his own by any means, and so far while irritable, Castiel had proven to be a fairly open-minded individual. Therefore, wouldn't it be alright for him to know? He knows about Nico's DPU form after all.

Not to mention, the fact that they weren't on an even playing field when it came to knowledge, and that revelation bothered Nico more than he had expected it would.

Therefore, just before they could head into the final Boss area, the Tomb, Nico decided to speak up.

"Hey, Emiya."

"Hm?"

"Since I asked you a question about your powers earlier, would you like to ask me anything about mine? It seems only fair, and perhaps the knowledge might help us in some way during this final boss fight." Nico questioned.

"Hmm, I think my only doubt right now is if your stronger attacks take too long to charge, if they have some form of cool down time and what is the limit of your defenses, both physical and soul related. I would like to know that to better strategize the next fight and to know what you and I should look out for now and in the next missions." Castiel explained. He already understood that Nico was the excessively secretive type so he didn't want to force him to reveal a lot since the chance of lying or half truths would be far too high and he'd rather not have the information than incorrect one when planning a fight.

It is better not to pressure the other too much, and this degree of information isn't that much and is completely acceptable to share as it can be seen as essential for planning.

"Why do you need info about my soul defenses" Nico asked, wariness in his lone uncovered eye as he doesn't have any good memory about soul related attacks. Te last time he had one was when he first fought the DPU of Death after all, an if he hadn't dodged it in time then that attack would have killed him. Just a graze and it nearly extinguished him, something that he did NOT like.

"Because more than half of the traps I disarmed were soul related. Most of the illusion or charming types so we can expect the boss here to either have a soul related ability or to be some form of trap or effect inside this room related to soul skills. I am good about it since it is almost impossible to use these on me but I must know about your side as well." Castiel explained. Thanks to his skull spirit bone he was mostly invulnerable to this sort of thing, unless someone many levels stronger used them on him but this sort of being could just kill him with one move so why bother to use a soul related attack.

'Great, looks like I found myself one of my biggest weaknesses...' Nico thought to himself with well-hidden agitation. It always pissed him off knowing that there was something he was absolutely weak to, especially something so uncommon in his world. Nico mentally searched for ways to convey this, before he finally went and reluctantly told Castiel that he had little to no defense against such attacks, explaining the attack that had almost killed him the best he could.

Didn't make Castiel any happier, though. "So you are useless to soul attacks. Sigh, to think just a single burst of soul attack almost killed you before, you really are useless against them."

"Hey, that attack was incredibly strong." Nico retorted angrily.

However, Castiel just looked at him as if he was dumb. "Yeah, but that is LITERALLY the weakest and most basic form of attack against the soul. It can be easily guarded against as it has limited capacity. The truly powerful soul attacks usually involve illusions or charming others for a while to make them lose themselves long enough to allow for an attack on the soul or the body. Heck, there are a few that can fuse soul attacks with illusions and physical attacks too, and if what you said about the edicts is any true than that attack he used on you IS the weakest possible. So how can I call you anything but useless on soul related attacks?" Castiel said.

"Okay, I'll admit that my main weakness is soul-related matters, but to be fair back in my world my first experiences with Soul Attacks are only recent." Nico countered, evenly.

That information caught the Heir's attention, his eyes switching from exasperated to understanding. "Ahhh, that explains it. Your world is focused only on the faster to learn physical attacks, I get that now. But, you should REALLY look for ways to overcome this weakness as fast as possible, we don't know what we will face on the next missions and training how to defend your soul isn't a instantaneous thing either. Maybe you should look into getting a soul defense item, I already have one but you should look for one as fast as possible too." Castiel explained.

"On that, I'll have to agree... if that guy uses the Edict of Death on me again, I'll need something to help me protect against that." Nico eventually nodded in response, though it wasn't easy. Hey, admitting ones own weakness was never an easy thing to do.

Castiel's look showed that he understood this just as well as anyone. "Well, at least this gives me an idea of how to plan our next strategy. Lets go, odds are we'll get swarmed the moment we enter this Tomb." the Heir commented as the two entered the Tomb.

The moment they entered, the two boys drew their weapons, Hruting for Castiel and Rebellion for Nico. They each got into their battle stances just in case they were to get their own asses swarmed by any number of enemies... only for nothing to come to them. For a moment, they just waited to see if anything would come, but nothing did.

"Well, that's a letdown..." Castiel remarked with disappointment, lowering Hruting. Though he still hoped something would prove him wrong. Still, this gave him a chance to look about the room, and he got the impression that this was not a normal Tomb. For one, right across the middle was a long, large crack, beneath being countless screaming humanoid torsos with arms. All of them hissed and shrieked when they sensed the presences of the two males, like they were going to be getting some new playmates soon. Judging from the heat he was getting, there was likely a river of lava down at the bottom. The Heir spies dozens of pyres scattered throughout the area, along with statues holding an assortment of different weapons.

But the most important thing he, along with Nico, noticed was that there was this large door at the opposite side of the room, a door that had a golden gong next to it. The gong had the same emblem that they had been seeing throughout the entire Pyramid, making each of them wary. Whatever this place was, with all the heat around it gave off a feeling of approaching the entrance to the underworld itself. There were some statues that looked like scorpions in various poses as well, drawing Nico's attention for a bit before he refocused on the task at hand.

"It looks to me that we will have to do something about that gong." He stated, pointing to the Gong. "Its positioning next to that door leads me to suspect it is used to wake up the final boss, like a final key to resurrecting a dead god."

Castiel hummed in thought when he said that, cupping his chin in is free hand as his mind went into tactician mode. "Lets shoot the damn thing from over here. That way, if there are any traps they won't be triggered, by us anyways."

Nico wondered what he meant by that, before he quickly figured it out and complied. Both of them switched weapons, Nico switching to Ebony and Ivory, while Castiel switched to Gandiva. The two then unleashed a single set of shots each, the three projectiles flying parallel to each other until they met the gong with enough impact force for it to let out a loud sound.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Almost immediately after the Gong resonated, a loud masculine roar ripped through the Tomb, making it treble just from the roar alone. Shock-waves ripped through the place, causing cracks to appear all over the ground while the boys used their swords (the same ones from before) to keep their balance. The many humanoids beneath the main crack all began squealing wildly and excitedly, flailing their arms about to make sea of limbs like fans at a stadium supporting their team. Total chaos dominated the room, and to one of its occupants chaos was NOT a good thing.

"W-Whoa! shit!"

"You're telling me!"

By the time that the shaking stopped, the two boys heard creaking sounds that came from the door itself. The sounds of stone scraping across the ground filled the air as the door opened ever so slowly, all the while Nico and Castiel separated, each adopting their own stances while eyeing the opening door warily. Whatever power lay within, the moment that door began to open they began to sense it. That power, both boys had felt something similar to it in their own worlds, a feeling of death and despair that no mortal could ever hope to match. This power surpassed that of the Devils in Castiel's world by leaps and bounds, while also rivaling the Demon Princes of Nico's world.

From within the darkness, a shadowy figure opened its eyes, lifting its head to notice the doors to its slumber had opened, revealing two prey for him to slay. A low, dark and twisted snarl escaped its lips as many legs brought themselves to bear, gripping the walls to help it climb down while it dragged claws along the stone. This made scraping sounds much more audible to the boys compared to the scraping the opening door made before.

Soon, the being stepped out of the darkness, thwacking the doors opening to expose its form to them both in all its splendor. Nico and Castiel gazed upon the sight of what looked like a mix between man... and scorpion, there was a human torso, shoulders and head, with black mid back-length hair. matching eyes too. However, that was where the human ended and the scorpion took over, for his arms down to where the elbows should be became chitinous flesh, ending in scorpion pincers the length of a human forearm. The stomach and a portion of the torso was similar as it connected to the front of a scorpion body, many legs on either side as sharp as blades themselves. Two longer arms protruded from the side of the connection point, ending in deadly crab claws. At the back of the body, was a long tail, tipped with a classic scorpion stinger.

Not only that, there was a special aura about him that Castiel recognized. A familiarity that he couldn't place. For a moment he didn't know what the heck it was, but when he tried to feel out the energy within this guy/scorpion thing (even though he wondered how it was capable of HAVING energy since he could sense insanity and madness roaring within it) he could sense something, something powerful within this being. Something that far surpassed this being in every way possible. Yet, it was not doing anything, not one bit.

It quickly reminded him of that power he had sensed sleeping within Nico before they fought. A power that did not deem them worthy of its time, rather it found sleeping to be more worthwhile. Even now, he could feel Clarent's power starting to boil inside of him, outraged at being taken lightly by this being. This would not stand, not in its eyes. It was a weapon worthy of kings, how dare it try to demean its might so easily.

Nico himself felt something similar. It felt like Soul Edge wanted to rip itself out of him and tear this thing apart. Though not because it was taking its and its wielder lightly, no it was not so fickle that way. No, it wanted to fight, it wanted to do so much worse: it wanted to rip, tear and shred this enemy staring them down. To tear apart everything this opponent believed in from the foundation, to take everything it had away from it. Those were the feelings he was getting from the Devil Arm of his soul right now... thing is, the OTHER Devil Arms he possessed felt the same. This was one of the few times, the first being that time near the end of everything that happened at Leanbox, that these competitive weapons all unanimously agreed on one thing.

Throughout the room, various Magic Circles, bounded fields and runes formed from nothingness, almost illuminating the room with their power. More importantly though... "I may not be an expert, but I get the feeling these things are meant to keep both us, and this motherfucker, trapped in here." Nico commented as he readied Rebellion. The Devil Arm in his hands shook with intense glee, excited for the prospect of fighting once more. Nico narrowed his lone eye at them, his instincts telling him that they were NOT to be messed with by inexperienced hands.

This made him note to himself to ask MAGES. for help in identifying their functions next time he saw her...

"Yeah, not only that but these all seem to enhance this guy in some way. There's too many for me to tell what though, these are far more complex than the ones I'm used to. This definitely feels like a final boss to me." Castiel responded, nodding in agreement. He got the same feelings as Nico just from reading some of these highly complex arrays, though he wished he could read more, Castiel would rather have done so when there wasn't a Scorpion/human hybrid monster getting in the way. Said being was slowly stepping towards them like a lion baring his pincers while snipping them threateningly, glancing between the two of them. While it did so, both boys had one thought cross their minds.

This would be a tough battle.

Still though, upon looking him over, Castiel had another epiphany, and afterwards he couldn't help but growl in annoyance while shaking his fist in the air. "Goddamnit Uncle, where the hell did you find this 'the rock' wannabe?" he shouted to the skies.

As if to respond, there was some sad saxophone music that played 'mew-mew-mweeeee' electing an "oh fuck you too!"

"You can fuck your Uncle later, we got trouble incoming!"

Castiel, upon hearing Nico's shout (though he did give him the stink eye for that fucking his uncle comment), noticed that the The Rick wannabe had already made its move, lunging towards them at speeds that left him a blur. His instincts saved him as he raised Hruting to block several legs from spearing him, deflecting several more strikes from them before rolling underneath it and attempting to slice open its bottom. Unfortunately for him, the moment that Hruting's blade met the creatures flesh, it felt like he had hit a magically reinforced wall as his blade easily bounced off the creature's being.

Before he could react by like rolling out from under it, the creature made to slam itself on top of the Heir, crushing him under its weight if not for a set of nigh invisible Tentacles to slam into the creature's side, doing no damage to it either but sending it sliding away from Castiel, who got grabbed by one of Nico's Bikaku Tails by wrapping around his waist, lifting him into the air and then lowering him to Nico's side. Nico himself had his Kakugan out, having just pocketed something while grasping Rebellion and infusing it with Hellfire.

Raising it to the air, Nico brought Rebellion down and unleashed a mighty Hellfire wave from his blade, a wave that trailed across the ground towards its opponent. However, the Scorpion Man turned to look at it, releasing a dismissive snort (much to Nico#s irritation) as a magic circle appeared in front of it, catching the blast before it could even touch the creature. The user's irritation soon changed to surprise when he saw how the flames got absorbed into the Magic Circle, then unleashed back at him with the intensity of its true form.

This time, Castiel became the one to save Nico, repaying the debt by forming multiple Barriers in time to catch the Hellfire before it could hit them, though the teen had to grit his teeth when he felt the force of the flames pushing against his defenses, causing his feet t dig into the ground beneath them. 'S-Shit!' he cursed in his mind.

'Tch, looks like this creature can repel our attacks back at us with twice the damage output...' Nico thought to himself during this. He would have tried to cancel the blast out with his own Hellfire, but he didn't want to cause an explosion that would definitely damage him and Castiel severely. He didn't want to test the limits of his companion's healing, and while he had the capacity to regenerate, he would rather not potentially overtax it. 'Biko, can you think of anything?'

'Grasp onto Castiel's shoulder and activate a Warp. It'll take him along with you since he is connected to you through physical contact.'

'Got it.'

With that conversation over, Nico quickly grabbed onto Castiel's shoulder, electing a surprised glance from the Heir before Nico activated his Warping ability. Both vanished in a crimson red spark, avoiding the Hellfire blast which surged uselessly across the room.

Reappearing beside the trail of destruction, Nico and Castiel looked to the said destruction, whistling before looking to each other. "Okay, that was a canny ability, but what now? Looks like our attacks don't faze it." the Heir questioned, frowning in thought. "It has to be to do with those Bounded Fields, they must be supplying it with strength and abilities, ones we haven't seen yet from the short conflict we already had."

"Agreed..." Nico responded, tethering Rebellion to his back before summoning Harvester and using SHADOW PACK, summoning those wolf/scorpion Hybrid along with a SHADOW SERPENT to keep their opponent busy. Biko had told him how risky using the power of a Devil Arm undergoing the same process Alastor did was, but right now they needed to keep it occupied while they formed a strategy. Each of the darkness constructs began to attack the Scorpion Man with reckless savagery, with the SHADOW SERPENT leading the charge. All the while, the Scorpion Man let out a gluttonous roar as it charged back, slamming into the horde and whipping about. "It appears that one of us will have to distract him while the other finds a way to weaken his abilities. I'll play the decoy for now, you focus on the Bounded Fields, since you're the better experienced one out of us two in that field."

Castiel nodded, just what he had been thinking. "I'll make sure to be as quick as I can, don't want my companion for this shit to bite the dust too early, now do we?" he remarked, smirking at his companion.

Said companion made an eye roll, his expression hidden behind his Mask. Though judging by the glint in his eye, the young Heir felt like he had the same sentiments as him. "Right back at you. Soul Edge would rather not lose a potential rival without the chance for a rematch."

"Same here."

'Wow, talk about complex. I don't have a single fucking clue about how to go at disarming this ones... wait a sec, why should I disarm them? I heard since long ago that it is much easier to simply destroy a bounded field. I just never did destroy the ones before because I feared that their destruction could cause some problems down the road but now there shouldn't be any traps or other stuff to worry about. Destruction it is!'.

And thus Castiel started to focus in identifying the location of the centre of the bounded fields.


It was not being that easy of a job as he had to pass through many smaller bounded fields that were focused on defending the main ones, Castiel did not care even as multiple rocks hitted his body over and over, he simply trusted his body's natural defense to mitigate any impact.

Thus he continued his personal fight against the clock.

While his companion began dealing with the Bounded Fields, Nico jumped about the room, making sure to constantly remain on the move. He had planned for a constant harass strategy using his two Devil Arms Harvester and Absolution, the former to keep the Scorpion Man focused on the darkness constructs, while the latter would harass it with DC spike attacks. Since these weapons were made to be two hands, it would have been difficult to use both of hem at the same time, but luckily for him Nico had experience in dual wielding.

Things went well for the redhead teen, until the Scorpion Man gave a larger roar out of nowhere, rattling the entire room. From there, dozens of black masses came out from the ground, peeling through it and rising upwards, until Nico had about half a room's worth of those jackal-humanoids surrounding him and his forces.

'Oh goddamnit...'

They all roared, charging at Nico and his forces for their master. This made the male quickly resort to literally ABUSING his Devil Arms' powers by overloading them with his power, Harvester more than Absolution as he conjured up more and more Darkness Constructs with SHADOW PACK and SHADOW SERPENT by the dozens to keep up with the assault coming down on him like rainfall.

Now, not only did he have to keep his forces occupying the Scorpion Man (who kept tearing through them with its Claws, Pincers, Legs and Tail) but now he needed help to get these jackal humanoids off his back.

Good thing then that was something Absolution could help with, as he had the Devil Arm engage its DC AVATAR Form. The Weapon quickly unleashed is ooze, ooze which covered him in its embrace as the transformation quickly applied to him. In seconds, the DC Avatar form of Nico completed itself, and with a furious roar Nico charged at his opponents, swinging his two weapons left and right with the fury and bloodlust not unlike those of the Khornate worshipers back in his home dimension.

One of their blades managed to scratch his DC Avatar form through the constant combat, deep enough to barely touch his form within. The moment it did though, Nico nearly screamed out as a huge surge of pain coursed through him, a pain that his eye within the DC AVATAR Form bulged in recognition. He recognized this pain as his current Form regenerated the damage and allowed him to slice through that warrior by cutting off its head. 'Shit... these blades! Biko, these are...!'

'Indeed, this is most alarming. These weapons, they have been enchanted likely by the Bounded Fields. Unlike before, they now have the power to inflict damage to our Soul directly. It is like what Emiya said, these Soul Attacks are our greatest weakness so far. However, the damage this time was nothing compared to the Edict of Death that we got hit by back then. In comparison, its like an ant to a Serpent. In addition, it appears that the damage was limited due to the DC AVATAR Form concealing your true body.'

'My thoughts exactly, Biko.'

With that in mind, Nico quickly tethered Harvester to his back with Rebellion, for his next idea he had to have both hands on Absolution to work. He then swung vertically in a 36 degree angle, sending a similar DC WAVE towards his enemies whom couldn't react in time. They all got covered in the ooze, which sunk into their flesh and onto their bones to slow them down considerably. A chorus of furious roars showed that his tactic worked, making Nico chuckle darkly when he saw how his collection of Darkness Constructs tore his enemies apart now that they couldn't react as quickly.

By the time 5 minutes had passed, all of the warriors had been slaughtered, none of them remaining whilst the Bracelet, even under the DC AVATAR, absorbed something from each of them. Though, Nico made no indication that he noticed at this point as he charged against the Scorpion Man, whom just finished killing the last of his Darkness Constructs.

The two collided once more, entering the next stage of their battle.

'Emiya, you better be doing good otherwise I may take this guy out myself...'


'Shit, I must hurry up. Nico doesn't seem to realize that everything he is doing is meaningless right now. He should have just focus on delaying his opponent, so why does he keeps trying to face him head on while wasting his energy?' Castiel thought as he saw the two fighting, he too was on a sticky situation since he has fallen into a small trap that forced his body to face a higher gravity the closer he walked to the focal point of the bounded fields.

Right now the gravity was 30 times Earth's gravity, and every step raised it one more time. But the young heir was displaying a small smile as he felt this.

his existing ones, increasing the destructive power of his Arsenal. Despite his... disposition towards overall destructive capability, power was still needed, so he needed to up the ante here.

'Well, at least this gravity will help me in training my body to better distribute the new energy I just absorbed.' Castiel knew that this sort of explosive gains in any area could easily lead to problems down the road if there wasn't a stable base, and this gravity was a great way to make this new found physical capacity a resilient and strong foundation for future development.


Nico quickly learned how every strike he launched against the Scorpion Man amounted to being completely useless, for no matter what level of power he put into his swings, they never even pierced its skin. He couldn't even put a dent into it, not even when he resorted to his Rinkaku one moment before re-assuming his DC AVATAR Form. It seemed to him that those Bounded Fields provided it strong immunity to physical attacks, hell even his Skill Attacks didn't do as much as a graze to it. Still, during their bout the Scorpion Man would summon small groups of his jackal-headed warriors to attack him, of which he would have to focus on tearing them apart with both Absolution and Harvester.

Whilst he did all of that, Nico had his Demon Persona try to analyze the dark power slumbering within their enemy, to try and see what it is and why the Scorpion Man wasn't using it. One thing that they did uncover was apparently that this creature had suffered from a severe case of madness, for its insanity levels had been through the roof. Nico had almost lost control over himself when he sensed how much there was roiling within it, and aside from that there was little else that indicated this thing had intelligence.

'Biko, do you think we can get anywhere with these Bounded Fields?' The teen questioned his Demon Persona.

'Unfortunately, but it does not seem to be the case. I can sense how these Bounded Fields are amplifying its powers, as well as granting these boons to its body like THOSE. I doubt Soul Edge would be able to do much either, unless it was in its True Form when its power is at its greatest. Though, I do not believe it wise to transform within here, we do not know the limits this place will enforce upon the DPU Form. Our only chance is to keep this guy occupied while Emiya disables the Bounded Fields...'

This made Nico curse under his breath, quickly sidestepping a stab from one of the Scorpion man's claws. He swung in a reverse upward swing, knocking the arm upwards butt not damaging it in the least. With that, he twisted into a reverse back kick, knocking the enemy backwards. A glutteral chuckle escaped its lips as it dug its many legs into the ground, slowing its motion to a halt.

Deciding that Absolution wouldn't do much, Nico decided to dismiss the DC AVATAR Form, switching completely to Harvester as the weapon rattled within his grasp. The teen quickly used a TELEPORT SLASH to appear behind it and knock its legs out from beneath it. He then jumped backwards to avoid it's Tail which had tried too stab him from overhead.

Being smaller would mean that he wouldn't have as great an attack power, however right now thanks to everything that he had learned about this enemy, it would be better to be small and nimble so its attacks would be harder to hit. Not only that, but Nico had evaluated its fighting patterns, apparently it liked to make charges into wide curving stabs that would come from different angles. The type of angle depended on which Pincer was used, and if that attack missed, the Scorpion Man would have used the Claw beneath that Pincer for a follow up.

Case in point, when the creature got up and rushed him, Nico sidestepped its right pincer first, then side flipped the opposite direction over a wider sweeping motion from its right Crab Claw. He then ducked under a swing from the other claw, raising Harvester to block the following strike of its Pincer. The teen gritted his teeth as he found himself sliding backwards, quickly unleashing a Rinkaku Tentacle to whack it in the face with enough force that it would be sent sliding backwards. One good thing though, was that even with its protection Nico found that it couldn't see his vibrating Rinkaku Kagune, and since it didn't have the same abilities as Hruting, Nico didn't have to worry about rapidly dwindling RC Cell reserves.

Raising Harvester to the air, Nico brought it down while activating HARVEST, the Scorpion Man jumping to the side to block it. Harvester thrummed with power, dangerous and volatile power but power nonetheless, as Nico held it in a ready stance. He could feel the Red Rage Ring inside of him pulsating, the male mentally activating it for the rage inside. The result: an explosion of pure anger and malice ripping through his body like a gushing geyser, one that he focused into his Demonic Power reserves. This made them swell in intensity, size and potency, before he pumped it into Harvester to make 6 SHADOW SERPENTS. He then, through Harvester, ordered them to restrain the Scorpion Man while he had noticed a familiar purple symbol on its abdomen area.

While the SHADOW SERPENTs quickly did their jobs, slithering over the creature and pinning it to the ground by its 4 arms and tying its legs together, a Magic Circle appeared beneath it and allowed many Plasma Chains to burst out, further restraining it. The Scorpion Man yelled out in shock, surprise and outrage at this development, pulling at his restraints like a furious bloodhound on a sugar rush, only to not get anywhere. Normally it wouldn't have much difficult breaking out, its physical ability had been determined by the male to be no joke whatsoever. But, that was before Nico had activated the Red Rage Ring, which amplified his own powers enough to have them become much more effective than normal.

Now, all he had to do was keep it there while Castiel did his thing.


Meanwhile, Castiel was facing a challenge of his own. The gravity was now around 100 times Earth's normal level. It felt like a mountain was sitting in another Mountain that was laying down on his back. Not only that but he also was feeling waves of heat and cold continually. He was certain that if it was before the use of that Herb he would have already reached his limit long ago.

Now he was just facing serious problems moving forward, but a smile appeared on his face as he got a look at what was in the center of the boumded field supplying the energy.

'Fucl yeah, it is a pure solar crystal and a midnight gem. These just might be what the Cosmoems needs to finish its evolution!'

As he saw the crystal a maniacal smile surged on his face. He activated his goulden foundation armor while also releasing his wings as he used the power of his name to withstand the pressure and with one move he rushed forward to snatch those two treasures.

'Well, some of their energy has already been sucked away but these still might help.' He thought as he ignored Nico trying to act cool as he used his Ring's power to increase his skills, but was swatted away with a move from the monster's tail when he got too close. There wasn't much damage on Nico, but the fact remained that the scorpion king still hasn't suffered a single actual injury.

'Sigh, couldn't he focus more on simply delaying the enemy? Is he that used to head on confrontations? He should change that already, or this might get him killed one day. I think I will tell him that later... oh who am I kidding? He wouldn't listen to a single word of advice from me anyway, he is too prideful on his skills while only being just close to low super-class.' Castiel thought in resignation and a bit of disdain. He might not know about how dangerous Nico's world is, but Castiel's world is packed full of beings that could destroy entire countries in a matter of instants. On his perspective, victory isn't always a straight forward thing. He also noticed how Nico seemed to show a bit of disdain for anything he considered morally wrong, and that was ridiculous in Castiel's eyes. Learning and actually adapting for the situation is what he learned since young, and seeing those little tells from Nico annoyed him to no end.

Castiel then took out Clarent and with the power amplifier ability it had Castiel took a deep breath and jumped at the monster with a mighty slash he managed to cut down one of it's legs.

"It can be damaged now! Attack!" Castiel shouted at Nico.


The moment that Castiel had yelled that out, Nico quickly registered it alongside his companion's recent action. Seeing it for himself convinced him that the heir wasn't lying, not to mention his senses had told him something similar just before the Heir had attacked. 'Alright, now that this fucker's on the defensive now...' The male thought when he noticed the abrupt change in posture their opponent had. The moment that the Scorpion Man felt the Bounded Fields protecting it vanish out of existence, it had let out a startled yelp whilst stepping backwards away from them... not like Nico would be letting that happen. His mind quickly formed a plan to end this battle now, cause he just wanted this thing to be dead already.

First, the legs. Nico started off by dismissing Harvester (his creations had been knocked aside and killed already, the Scorpion Man having just broken free before his companion did the slashing thing), and releasing his Rinkaku. The 6 invisible Tentacles quickly lunged forth, their immense speed and power fuelled by the redhead's own killing intent as they tore through the creature's legs in one go... all 8 of the scorpion legs being severed at the same time. As a result of this, the main Scorpion body and the humanoid upper half fell to the ground, the creature shrieking in pain all the while as it snipped the air around it wildly with the Pincers.

Second, get in close. True Nico could have just torn into it with his Kagune at that moment, but he wanted that fucker's heart in his hands as he crushed it for all the trouble it had caused. That, and he didn't want to risk that dark power suddenly striking at his Kagune and infesting it (much like what happened with his Koukaku against Mundus back at Halo Mountain). Thus, Nico chose to, when he saw it about to use some sort of Skill just then, seal it within his right leg Spirit Bone whilst he charged towards it with Harvester vanishing into his Void Storage and Rebellion replacing it. All the while, the redhead noticed Castiel doing the same thing, charging in from the right flank with Clarent radiating pure power.

Both of them had a single thought together as they reared their blades back for the finishing blow...

'This is the end!'

But just before they could land that blow...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!