Last Trial Begins

"Hmmmm…"

Biko hummed to himself, cupping his chin with his left hand's index finger and thumb whilst his right had been placed on his left elbow. The being floated before something he had been noticing recently, ever since Nico first encountered Castiel actually. It had only passed by until now due to him not thinking much of it at the time, but now though... something big was going to happen from what he could sense, and it had to do with Castiel. Or rather, the energy which he constantly radiated from his person, energy which Nico's own body, which was always quite sensitive to negative energy, sucked up like someone sucking up water.

Now that he had noticed this... he realized something else too. Nico's power was that of a multi-continent DPU, yet... he had remained largely the same. Perhaps that battle with Mundus had been the cause, but right now that final change seemed to have begun taking place. It would take time though, but it did seem to be on the final stretches of its process. He decided to wait on informing Nico about this though, since this seemed to be some sort of delicate stage.

By delicate, he meant how even his GHOUL SIDE had decided to stay clear of it upon noticing the change...

If it was something with that kind of effect, one must know how delicate it could be.


The moment that the two boys jumped through the portal...

"Whoa, holy shit!"

"Ugh, Uncle Zelretch, Why? Just why?"

The two had their own little reactions, surprise from Nico while Castiel Facepalmed. The reason? Oh nothing much, just that they had been tossed out t... lets say 600 feet from a desolate wasteland down below.

"I'll be blunt, Emiya: Your Uncle's a lunatic."

"I'll also be blunt Nico: you're completely right, and he'd probably take that as a compliment."

Immediately, gravity kicked in and the two began to fall down towards what would be certain doom to a normal person. However, thanks to their own circumstances, these two quickly responded to their new situation. On Nico's side, the redhead swiftly entered a Skydive as he summoned Soul Edge onto his back, allowing its Telekinesis to take over his body and slow his descent. All the while, Castiel simply deployed his Wings and glided down towards the ground without much care in the world.

Once they were near enough to the ground (which only took a few seconds), the former's Sword made a jerking motion in the upwards direction, shifting Nico into an upright position so he could land in a crouching position with one hand on the ground and the other thrown to the side. Beside him whilst he stood tall, Castiel landed softly and elegantly, like an angel descending down from the heavens... even though if one considered his previous actions his 'angelic' heritage could be questioned. The moment he landed however, Castiel made a light jog to break some leftover motion whilst regrouping with his companion, retracting his wings into him whilst summoning Hrunting.

"Whelp, that was certainly something..." The Heir couldn't help but comment, looking around at the desolate wasteland that they had fallen to. The male didn't like it, it reminded him heavily of what COULD happen if his evil side ever went out of control, memories of his 'tests' coming to mind. Sure he didn't mind doing it intentionally since he could limit the damage somewhat, but an out-of-control burst? Well, lets just say nobody would live to tell about it and lets leave it at that. Not only that, but something felt... very off about this place. There was like... no life, no liquid, nothing of the sort at all within hundreds of meters in any direction. No matter where he looked or how much he strained his senses, could he detect any lifeforms. That served to ring his alarm bells, so he turned to his companion to see if he could get anything. "You got something?"

Nico however, shook his head negatively, lowering his right Bracer which he had been using during the Heir's monologue. "Nothing on my end, motion tracker's not picking anything up so we won't be getting any surprise visitors, not to mention that this... place..." Nico paused, looking over the wasteland and grimacing. This honestly made him think that this could be what could happen to any of the Nations in Gamindustri if the Chaotic forces won the war. Part of him couldn't help but be thankful to Castiel for providing him with that book of his (he'd given it to him for Nico to store in his Void Storage before the trial had begun). "Scans show that there's no life within the immediate or the vast vicinity around us. Kind of reminds me of your sword, Hrunting, but only on a much larger scale."

Castiel nodded his head at that. "Fair point." he stated, before something caught his eye in the distance, it not being long before Nico did the same. 'What the...? What's that...?' he wondered, frowning as he squinted his eyes. There, about 600 meters away from them, there looked to be... something there, something spreading something else out and just hovering there doing nothing. He didn't know what that was, but the moment that he saw it, Castiel got a very bad feeling. "Hey, Nico, remember that time when you suggested something o be amiss with those creatures?" he questioned.

"Yeah."

"Well, we may be getting an answer to that theory soon, come on we should head on over to investigate. My hunch tells me Zelretch has really pulled out all the stops on this one."


After that, the two boys took off, Castiel with his wings and Nico with his Soul Edge strapped to his back by Demonic Energy, towards the shape they had both noticed. As they got closer and closer, the detected object got bigger and bigger, taller and taller till they realized that it had been MUCH larger than they had initially imagined. Enough to dwarf an entire city in size, almost like the creatures which they had fought throughout the trials. Not only that, but as they closed in, Nico's Bracers scanned it and identified that whatever that object was... it was indeed alive, since life signs had been detected within, making him inform Castiel that he believed this thing to be a living organism, likely trapped in some cocoon or based off plant-like origins.

"If what you said is true then we might be facing something quite troublesome. Plant monsters are amongst the most annoying to face since their regenerative abilities are top notch and they are capable of some annoying attacks, generally having some control or defensive abilities. If this monster is absorbing the life of other monsters it probably would be useless to try and attack right now." Castiel commented, rubbing his jawline all detective like as he scanned the creature before him. The more that he looked at it, the more unnerved that he got, since his instincts kept telling him to be extra wary... and even then, it may not have been enough.

Just went to prove just how intimidating this new being could possibly be.

The redhead beside him frowned at his words, finding little essence in them before he glanced over to the Heir. "Why is that? In personal experience it is usually better to kill the ones being absorbed before they become the bigger monster's energy." Nico countered, he had seen similar shit during his many missions, one instance he could think of being that time when he had first fought Maghda back when she had been trying to awaken that beast responsible for turning King Leoric into a madman. In his eyes, this smelled bad already. Hell, he could feel his various demonic weapons shuddering in agitation, their instincts screaming at him alongside his own to take that thing down as soon as possible.

However, the Heir already had a counter to it. "Because who knows what it might trigger. If we interfere we might cause it harm, true, but it also might mean that all the still living monsters will attack us together. I prefer dealing with only one enemy instead of a bunch at once. Also, it is likely that this forest has a lot of interesting herbs and fruits that can be used for many things." Castiel then took a breath, before continuing. "If we were to simply attack now we might lose out on many treasures that would otherwise be destroyed in battle, and I don't know you but I want to get as much things as I can to bring back home." Castiel explained, making Nico's eyes shine as he understood what his partner was talking about.

Considering that this was the last trial it was quite likely that this was were the most number of treasures could be obtained, Nico's world was almost being overwhelmed from all those enemies appearing everywhere, and with the demonic workshipers that idolized the Chaos God of disease running around, it would only end up growing worse. If these things here could help turn things around it was not only a good thing for him to take it but also something he should do no matter what as a person.

'Now I get it, this is pretty much like the calm before the storm, we have a small period of time to gather treasures in this forest that can help us and our worlds in the future... gotta remember that.'

Seeing Nico's eyes shining in desire Castiel gave a slight laugh before saying. "Remember to check up on the books I gave you the parts about botanic, especially identifying herbs and the correct way of taking them to not lose their efficiency." As he finished saying that Castiel did not hesitate in the slightest as he felt an interesting energy source coming from nearby, he doubted his own senses but if he were right it would be a windfall like none other.


Menawhile Nico took out the heavy books Castiel prepared and looked for where the part about botanic is. He read it quickly, absorbing the knowledge with facility since he had some experience with plants due to his life as a Spec Ops, it was not rare for him to be sent on missions to obtain especial and rare plants for the guild or some client, but the things in the book still made Nico sigh in awe.

'To think there was so much to know about something I thought was simple...' Was what was passing through his head as he immersed himself in the books, he used his demonic powers to try and copy them directly into his Inner World, and it worked quite easily. In his mind, the moment that they appeared in the Inner World's library, Biko took the books and started analyzing them just as well, he started indicating Nico on where to go and how to do it. It was an interesting thing indeed, to think that these simple weeds he could have ignored had so many fantastical properties.

The more he heard of it the more he thought that he had to take some of these plants with their roots as well to plant them back in his word. Luckily there was a section of the book about that too, with these things Nico could already imagine how many lives he would save, and it had been enough to put a small smile on his face.

After a time of reading, Nico stood up and deposited the books back into his Void Storage, before having Soul Edge carry him into the eastern section of the Forest. One of the two sections which had not been touched by the wasteland of which he and Castiel had landed. Something about that forest drew his attention, some strange energy readings that he felt would be worthwhile looking into. All the while, Nico had Urthemiel appear and remain by where the two had once been, with orders to keep an eye on the organism in case it tried pulling anything like sneak attacks. Secondly. he had Biko keep the books open in the Inner World so they can use the correct methods for extracting these Herbs when he found them.

Throughout his flight over the forest, Nico descended down into the depths more than a couple dozen times, finding al sorts of herbs and materials which, according to the books, once harvested could increase one's combat ability. One of those Herbs had been called the 'Moon Wearing Autumn Dew', something which could enhance one's eyesight. By how much, one might ask? Well, think of an eye belonging to an ordinary person with little to no training in combat. With one of these administered, especially at the quality that Nico had found (These Herbs had over a thousand years of energy to them, according to what he could sense) they could gain the eyes of a Spec Ops level Sniper. Of course one would have to train in the sniper ways first, but you get the gist. Nico had a small bit of trouble with harvesting that type of Herb at first, but quickly got the hang of it.

Nico also found an abundance of materials of which, according to the books he had, would be able to be refined into these pills which would increase one's combat ability by leaps and bounds, essentially creating stronger fighters out of people in much quicker times. With these pills once refined, a Guild Agent's strength would increase to where they would be similar to a Spec Ops Agent, pretty much allowing them to jump up a classification of power, but that would be another story for another time. He found medical Herbs which could be made into medicine to cure some previously thought permeant diseases back home in Gamindustri, increase one's resistance to diseases (he would LOVE to see the look on Nurgle's face should he ever encounter people immune to whatever diseases he dishes out onto whatever Continent he has chosen). As a side bonus, he found that each Herb he collected had seeds in them, so it would be possible to mass produce them back in his World.

More and more, Nico found coming to this place (albeit against his will originally) to be worth it.


Meanwhile, Castiel was dancing in joy as to what he was seeing. This was something he only dared to dream about in the past, a wonder of nature that demanded him to be happy beyond words.

It was a hot spring, it isn't even that large only being around a few meters from one corner to the other, but a curious thing about it was how it was evenly split into two sides. One was hot beyond words and the other so cold it would freeze a soul at the merest touch. Despite that it was in perfect balance even as the temperature around was so weird, at one moment it was hot, the next it was cold, and after it was neutral, the temperature is just impossible to predict.

However, the most mystical aspect was how mystical this place truly is. The name of it is Ice Fire Ying Yang Well, it had only one main function, make special herbs grow.

If a treasured and mythical plant normally would take 1000 years to develop and would need special circumstances now it would simply take 10 years to reach full maturity and without need for any special circumstance. Proof of that was how dozens of unique and absurdly rare herbs were just laying around. There were so many it was scary to have so many growing in one spot, but Castiel did not mind. He wanted to and picked them all.

Not only that but the trees around were also rare items and the fruits being filled with power, If Castiel could take all this back to the Tower and added his new found knowledge in alchemy he was confident in making all his friends reach Leader-class within one or two years, it was just that absurd of a chance encounter.

But don't get Castiel wrong, it was not like only because he cleaned this place clean to the point that even the earth was being taken away (the earth was valuable to grow things later) he started flying through the area, collecting herbs so quickly it was perverse.

The forest was still big and unique herbs and fruits could be found anywhere if the person knew where to look, and if there is one thing Luvia's obsession with money and Rin's obsession in not being poor teched the young blondie was that if given the chance he must take whatever he could from all situations in front of him. For instance was how he took absolutely anything of even slight value, the bark, roots, leaves, and anything else from any tree he found that could be used, the fruits were all taken and by the time he ended it all Castiel had cleaned the state clear and there was nothing else left.

Even some small animals that were there were all captured and any useful part stripped away with care and effectiveness. By the time Castiel finished with this part of the forest it looked even worse than were there was nothing. Not that this stopped Castiel, he was going to get everything he possibly could from this whole place before it was time to fight, this sort of location being simply far too great to not use it up correctly.

Castiel knew exactly how important strength truly is, in his own dimension the only reason why the Tower was originally able to stabilish itself so well was due to the interference of Zelretch, and even if now they had enough strength to not need Zelretch's protection it was still an undeniable fact that they could be bullied by other factions with relative ease.

Castiel hated this, he loved the Tower far too much to let anyone even possibly damage it and he would not allow for that sort of thing to happen as long as he was around. But he still was too weak, so he at least ould try and improve the Tower with all he had. A confident smile on his face as Castiel used reinforcement to accelerate further, not wanting to let any chance or oportunity to pass him by.

He was determined. If this is the last trial then no matter what he must make it count, he would get everything this place has to offer without failure. He had to do at least this much as the next leader of the Tower.


It was about twenty minutes after the two teens started that tremors started happening all over the ground. Roots started breaking out of the ground as a pressure started rolling out of the center of the trial.

"What do you say we should do?" Nico asks.

"I think we should try and continue what we are doing. This place is a paradise of useful things, somewhere like this should not be dismissed so easily to the prospects of a fight. Instead we could go try and obtain more of this place before whatever is happening gets to us. In any case I was thinking my familiars needed some degree of fights to truly bring out their potential, so this might be a chance for them to go and fight for a while and experience fighting for themselves." Castiel proposed the idea, there were still hundreds of things to obtain in this place and losing even a single one was like a dagger to the heart to Castiel so of course he did not want to leave.

He also knew that while his familiars were strong they too would need to train and fight, extreme fights like this would work the best for it and considering that they would be together they might start learning how to cooperate more.

On this, Nico could agree wholeheartedly, having experience in things ended up way better than just skipping ahead with something like items in the long run. "Sure, you do that. I think I'll have Urthemiel follow your example and have him fight things here. It'll do the same as it will your familiars, plus I feel he's getting bored of just watching that damn thing." That, and these tremors made Nico realize that having Urthemiel merely keep an eye on it would be pointless. These Tremors would do that work for him.

Nodding to Nico Castiel summoned three of his familiars, he chose not to summon Eevee since he was not quite on the right level but the other three are a different story entirely.

First was Solgaleon, a large, white beast resembling a white lion. It has a blunt muzzle with a blue-gray nose and pale blue eyes. The top half of its face is a deep blue area that shows a constantly changing starscape. Four yellow spikes frame Solgaleo's head like a crown and two more pairs of spikes adorn either side of its lower jaw, and each spike separates large tufts of Solgaleo's mane. Solid ridges—red nearest Solgaleo's head and yellow farther away—poke out of each tuft along the middle, except on the tufts on its cheeks and chin, with the topmost part wrapping around the tip of the tuft. Overall, its mane creates the impression of a stylized sun. Around each leg is a dark orange band, and there is a black spot on each foot. It has three black toes on each foot with long yellow claws. At the tip of its tail is a large black spot with a thin yellow rim.

Second was Lunala, a large Pokémon resembling a skeletal, legless bat. It has a short snout, dark pink eyes with white centres, and a deep blue area on its upper head that shows a constantly changing starscape. A rigid, raised hood wraps around its head in a crescent shape and drapes around its neck as well. The outside of the hood is yellow, while the inner part that curves around Lunala's head is a pattern of deep blue and white streaks. Its torso resembles a ribcage with a slightly curved spike on each shoulder and three spikes extending from the bottom toward its tail. Its massive wings resemble a bat's wings with the skeleton exposed, except that Lunala's wings have a total of seven "finger bones": four running through each wing, one running along the edge to the outermost tip, and two pointing upwards that may act as claws that are more functional. The four "bones" through Lunala's wings are only visible in segments. The skin of Lunala's wings is an iridescent deep blue, and a light blue light source appears to glow from behind its ribcage. A large, pale yellow crescent connects the outermost tip of each wing to the next two inner tips, and the remaining two innermost tips are adorned by yellow, four-pointed stars. The bottom of Lunala's tail is also lined by a yellow crescent, with a ridge running up the middle of the tail towards the ribcage.

But the last one was the one to surprise. If before Jirachi was cute and cudly now that he evolved he was anything but that. His new name is Necrozma and its body appears to be constructed out of black crystalline material; its disproportionately large arms have three claws jutting out of them, as well as a single large whitish crystal protruding backwards from each arm. Its small legs bend backwards like a bird's and have three toes each. A single small, hook-like wing grows out of each of its shoulders. The large protrusion attached to its head is its tail, which is white in the back with a dark gray symbol resembling a star in the center. This part of the tail glows while absorbing light that it converts to lasers. The sides of its head and the top of its tail are covered in spikes. Its face is actually a prism-like object known as the brain prism, which possesses a collection of multicolored shapes that resemble eyes. Despite being pitch-black, Necrozma's body constantly refracts light like a prism.

But one thing that none could deny was how each of them felt incredibly strong, especially when together side by side. It was like the three were beings of light that united could make the entire world shine like a gew, it was just that strong of a presence. After all, those three together with Eevee were personally chosen by Zelretch to be Castiel's familiars and help protect him, anything bellow the best is simply impossible.

Not like Castiel himself knew exactly how exauted and strong the potential of these three or of his Eevee truly is, if he knew he probably would cry out in happiness, but right now it wasn't that important. All he had in his eyes was love and care for his familiars, even if he was sending them to battle it still did not chang the fact they were closer to him than most could ever understand.


With everything that happened between the two, Nico and Castiel split up once again to do their own things.

Whilst the Heir immersed himself in gathering, Nico returned to the eastern section of the forest and, deciding to follow Castiel's example, summoned Erebus. Thinking to his previous actions, Nico found that if he REALLY wanted to get more out of this trial, then he would have to be a bit more... creative, with his powers. Since Erebus had creation as one of its powers, the Scythe would be able to spawn many excavation teams to harvest as many materials as they could

He mentally communicated with her, giving her the instructions of how to harvest as many items that this book had that were scattered throughout. The Archdevil Arm complied, and within moments Nico found himself witnessing an un-countable amount of humanoid constructs scouring the forest, harvesting as many useful items as they could before bringing them back to him. At that point, Nico would put them in his Void Storage, ready for later use back in his world. He felt like, if he were to provide them to Gamindustri alongside the new knowledge he had gleaned here, then perhaps the many NPCs in the military and Guild would stop sucking like little baby nooblets. Not only that, but perhaps the Spec Ops Agents would increase their powers too, making more powerful ones which could go toe to toe with Bloodthirsters, maybe even Demon Princes if they were lucky. Goddess knows that Leanbox and maybe possibly Lowee would benefit from these since, according to his predictions, their situations should be almost abysmal at this point.

As Nico travelled the forest, constantly being handed items of varying sorts by his many constructs of Darkness, the teen felt the sounds of conflict raging nearby, and mentally smirked. It looked like Urthemiel was having fun, he thought, sensing the Archdemon's ecstasy at being able to drench its claws with blood. Killing was in its nature, as a Demon created by Nico himself, thus it would enjoy this bloodbath IMMENSELY. Who knows, maybe perhaps Urthemiel might be of some assistance when that beast finally awoke. He could feel it proudly exerting its control over its fire powers nearby through the drying atmosphere around him, uteliing heat to its advantage against its opponents. 'Man, Urthemiel's going to be a BEAST when he finally gains his intelligence...'

'It shouldn't be too long now, this combat is going to serve as quality experience for it, hastening its mental growth as it learns how to use tactics and plan according. Using experiences to keep itself as sharp as a finely honed blade. Nevertheless, Nico, I must inform you that I have... discovered something, something of GREAT value?'

The moment that Biko said those words, Intrigue and curiosity blossomed inside the redhead's being. Nico, in response, tilted his head and questioned his Demon Persona in his mind. 'Oh? And, how great are we talking about here?'

'I'll say... on the level that Mundus's little slashing technique he did on us will no longer be a problem... and more.'

'... Now you've got my attention. Show me where it is, then...'

Biko did so, and if the redhead wasn't any less sensitive then he would have sworn that his Ghoul side had begun chuckling in excitement. Biko installed the directions to whatever he had discovered inside Nico's mind, like a computer downloading new updates to its hardware. It didn't take him long, in fact it only took a couple seconds, but when it finished Nico informed Erebus to have her constructs continue working on harvesting the items, then using her Darkness to preserve them until he was done with... whatever that he would end up doing. He wasn't that worried about the Darkness trying to devour it, sine Erebus assured him that it wouldn't happen, that the Darkness would obey him through itself, so that was a plus.

It took him about 1o minutes to get there, mostly through literally ABUSING his Star God's Broken Shadow's instantaneous bursts of speed, but when he managed to get to his destination... Quickly, he became aware of just WHY Biko had said the things that he did. 'Looks like he wasn't joking after all...' the redhead thought skidding to a halt. Good thing he did, since he didn't want to topple over. Especially since... he had found himself at the edge of a pool. A large, LARGE pool which rivalled the the size of a volcano's chute. Not only that, but the pool itself carried a pure crimson colour, and almost seemed to glow with a brilliant radiance hat just SCREAMED power and mystical origins. He could also smell the presence of a powerful toxin in this place, though thanks to his previous exploits Nico didn't even NEED to worry about poison anymore.

'Biko... is this what I think it is...?'

'Yes, indeed Nico... This is what was referred to as the 'Blood Pool of Fiery Poison' Its a pool literally filled with Blood and powerful arcane energies, if I remember correctly from one of those books we looked into. This Pool's powers, will allow us to gain an untold amount of benefits which would not lose out to pretty much consuming every Herb we have gathered and will have gathered when this Trial is over. Not only that, but as you have no doubt summarized there is a potent toxin within the Pool, which would kill any normal person seconds after coming into contact with it. A very potent poison, but luckily for us we have means of being immune to poison. If we were to jump into here, then reach the very depths where its energy and poisons are at their peak... just imagine the benefits it will have for our body.'

Now, when Nico did exactly that, he would not be ashamed to admit that he almost salivated at the thought of such power being infused with his body. His body, which had been refined by the Great Way of the Buddha and various other factors, it could always be refined even further, and hell maybe it could lead to some... potent shit for his Ghoul side, since that side of him was largely organic in its design with the Fatalis flesh having dragonified it. Should he train in this pool by absorbing its energy, he could only IMAGINE the sheer lengths that his body's ability will grow to. Before he jumped in however, Nico remembered something else about the pool. 'But, don't we need it to like overflow for the maximum benefits possible? And isn't that during something called an 'energy tide?'

That was something he had learned a while back, during his research about the Blood Pool actually. Apparently, it reacted to immense energy waves, waves which were specifically dawned on it when the energies of the mountain formed what had been called a 'high tide'. When this phenomenon occurred, the pool's power explodes with potency, allowing for greater benefits, not even considering the bonuses which lay within the depths.

'Yuppero, boy! Glad you're using your noggin for once! Here's a little reward for that, don't say that I'm not generous #smiley face#'

Nico's brows twitched in irritation when he heard the voice of Zelretch echo throughout the atmosphere, but afterwards that irritation vanished into the winds. Why? Because right afterwards, what Nico could only describe as a ray of aurora energy came out of nowhere... and directly impacted the pool like a pillar of light shining down from the heavens. As a result, the pool's waters began to boil whilst rising to the tips of the ledge. Seeing this, Nico mentally grinned, his eyes shining with glee as he prepared to jump in. 'Sometimes, that old man really knows when to time things just right...' the male thought.

'Nico, you MAY be forgetting something...'

Right before he did though, the teen stopped when he heard Biko's voice, prompting him to raise a brow in confusion. For a moment, he didn't get what his Demon Persona meant, but then it clicked in his mind. He couldn't rush in right now, since it would mean that he would be disconnected from his constructs leaving them unable to store the Herbs and other valuable materials inside his Void Storage. Before he could jump in, Nico had to solve THAT problem first. Mentally, the redhead commanded one of the nearest constructs to his position, having to wait about 5 minutes before one came to him. He then did something which he had never done before...

He gave it both of his Bracers.

The moment that he did, Nico sorely wished he could take them back and bring them into the pool with him. He knew they'd be able to handle the liquid, since they were water proof (he knew, he had checked), but they would be of more use here. Things had changed, now that he had this opportunity to refine his Ghoul powers like this and had what could be akin to a mining operation going on, Nico had no other option. It would be best if he left them with his constructs as much as it pained him to do so, though he made sure to give Erebus EXPLICIT instructions on how to handle and operate his Bracers, and told the construct to ONLY activate the Void Storage for storing all the materials inside.

With his orders given, Nico back flipped into the air, before skydiving down like an owl swooping in on its prey, into the crimson waters below.

From the very NANOSECOND that Nico entered the waters, all the male could feel was pain.

Pain coursed through every cell in his being, easily comparable to the time when he first got hit with a Soul attack by Mundus, but Nico pushed on. Whilst he didn't necessarily like pain, he had more than enough pain tolerance built up from all the hardships that he had to endure growing up. Thus, the teen found it much easier to swim deeper into the depths towards the very bottom. According to his source, the very bottom would be where the purity of the energy within this pool would be at its optimum... as well as the poison, though he didn't feel too threatened by that. 'Jeez, this pool is freaking MASSIVE! Just how large is it really? I know that its being boosted by the Energy Tide, but still what the fuck?' Nico wondered in his mind, before shaking his head and doubling his efforts to get to the bottom. 'Alright, since I'm heading to the bottom, i'll think of a cultivation method. Now then, lets see... aha! That's the one...!'

After selecting the best technique that he could think of from within the knowledge gleaned from those books, Nico tripled his efforts to reach the bottom... which turned out to be just what he would need since he finally got to the very bottom. He knew this due to how, whilst the area around him had been crimson for the majority of the dive, this small spot shone with a brilliant golden light. This would be the point where the energy and poison originated, so THIS would be where he would begin cultivating the energy of this Pool. He didn't intend to just cultivate it however, he planned to do oh SO much more...

Whilst he dove however, something caught Nico's attention and made him pause his descent towards the depths of the Blood Pool. He shifted his gaze to the left, where he noticed the thing he had barely perceived due to focusing on reaching the Blood Pools' depths. 'Huh? What is...?' The male wondered, staring at what could only be considered an... abnormality in the pool of sorts. Whilst the Pool Itself remained the colour of crimson blood, with a purely golden area for the depths. However, the moment he laid eyes on the oddity, he immediately realized it as such as, in comparison to the others, it... didn't look like it fit. There, imbued within the Pool's walls, lay what could only be seen as a pure blue light, one which shone through the crimson depths around them piercing through it as if it were a blade plunging into and out the back of a massive body.

'Biko... do you know what this is?'

'Unfortunately, I do not. Perhaps we should hold off a little on the Blood Pool and investigate.'

Mentally nodding in agreement, Nico swam through the waters and reached the place where the light originated from. When he did, Nico saw that it was shining through what could possibly be a contender for the smallest gap in a wall he had ever seen... except maybe that one time when he caught a bunch of peeping toms trying to look through a finger shaped hole into the locker rooms of the changing female Spec Ops Agents. He had almost wanted to let them get caught by those girls to get their just deserts, but in the end he had decided to intervene himself. But anyways, back to the topic, focusing his senses on the light, Nico tried to feel out what this thing could be...

Only to nearly rebound when he felt a pure, fiery hot feeling from behind the wall.

'Whoa! That was... I see... so there's some sort of hot object buried behind this section of the wall, huh?' an intrigued Nico thought to himself, shaking his hands to get rid of the numbness that had assaulted them temporarily. 'That light really is beautiful, and this IS pretty much the last of the Trials, so perhaps I should try and see if I can obtain it for myself. I'll have to keep it on me though since I left my Bracers back up on the surface...#shudder#, lets not think too much about that otherwise bad things will happen.' the redhead mused, analysing is results before shuddering at the naked feeling enveloping his arms.

Rearing a fist back, Nico thrusted it forwards with a large portion of his strength, smashing it into the wall where the light originated from. Thanks to his flame immunity, Nico didn't get burned by the hot object, as the wall collapsed before him. This allowed him to see what lay behind it, and when he did... Nico's mouth partially opened as a light gasp escaped his lips.

If he thought the light before had been beautiful... then the source of it looked freaking DIVINE!

Floating within what looked to be a small chamber built into the walls of the Blood Pool, its heat not affecting its surroundings thanks to constant exposure to it, was what looked to be a pure blue, white hot flame. It looked to be in the shape of a lotus, one which could match the size of an average vehicle in his world, and it just... floated there, doing its own thing. The amount of light he saw emitting from it made what he had seen before look tame in comparison, not only that but... he could feel POWER within that flame, not just beauty. Like a rose, it had its deadly thorns, it seemed.

More importantly, Nico recognized what this flame was. At first, he hadn't a clue what it was when he had seen the light before, but now that he had seen it in its full glory, an image appeared in his mind and instantly the light of recognition shone from his two sockets. "This... This is an Essence Flame! The Blue Lotus Geocentric Flame!"

Essence Flames, or rather Heavenly Flames as they were also known as, were flames in which were given birth by natural forces. These Heavenly Flames are incredibly powerful, with a wide reach and devastating destructive potential much like the Hellfire under Nico's command. However, these things were also very wild, and explosive, not to mention extremely rare (like, legendary weapon rare), so even if one ever encountered a Heavenly Flame, it would still be difficult to absorb and control it. Again, kind of like Nico's own chaotic Hellfire but not split in power between multiple forms, so it kind of works out. Still though, when an Heavenly Flame is present, all other flames fear and follow it because they are the kings of flames and all other flames naturally serve it. Heavenly Flames were formed through the slow accumulation of the world's Heavenly and tend to have their own unique shapes. For example, The Blue Lotus Geocentric Flame, the one in front of him right now, is shaped like a lotus. It is formed deep underground and has experienced the polishing, fusion, pressure, and carving from a planet's flame. It forms a spirit in ten years, takes shape in a hundred years and turns into a lotus in a thousand years. When it is completely formed, its color would slant toward the bluish side and the lotus core would form a cluster of blue flame. The strength of this flame is unpredictable, though. When it is near volcanoes, it can cause volcanoes to erupt, forming massive destructive strength.

Thus, Nico understood just how RARE these guys were, and now that he had encountered one... there would be ZERO chance he'd be missing out on this opportunity! Even if this one was actually one of the weaker members of the Heavenly Flames.

With this intention in mind, Nico reached forwards, intending to grasp onto the Lotus shaped flame. However, just as he made to touch it... the Lotus suddenly shrunk, latching onto his hand and beginning to travel up his arm. 'HUH?! Uh oh, looks like the flame's trying to devour me! It must be trying to test me to see if I'm worthy of using its power by trying to take my life... well, what else is new, practically every power I have gained in my life has tried to kill me, so why should this be any different? The books mentioned something about this, too... well, not on my watch, you don't! My life is mine, not yours! You don't decide my fate, nope not happening!' Nico thought with resolution Eyes wide, alarm bells rang in his mind as Nico quickly pushed his Demonic Power into his arm, hoping to assimilate the flame whilst hardening his arm's defences by buffing it with RC Cells from his Ghoul Side.

Thus, a battle of wills erupted between him and the Essence flame...


Upon the 5 minute mark, a huge gasp escaped Nico's maw as he nearly hunched over, his body wreaked by the exertion of willpower he had just done but recovered fairly easily. His arms, now bare of any RC Cells, burning flames or Demonic Power, hung at his side, limp like they were numb although they weren't. Nico however, didn't mind nor care, as he kept his mind focused on the task at hand especially when he closed his eyes and looked inside himself. He searched inside for the Essence Flame he had been fighting, and low and behold, Nico managed to find it within him, close to the flames which represented his Hellfire and Golden Crow ones, electing a small smirk from his lips. 'I... I did it... I freaking did it...!' the teen thought in joy, his smirk widening into a shark-like grin.

'Indeed, you did. You fully absorbed the Essence Flame into yourself and have gained its power. Its power carries much weight, I can feel, making it more than a match for your Hellfire and could even give the Golden Crow flames, in their current state, a run for their money. Originally, you would have been limited in regards to controlling these flames with help only coming from one of the herbs you harvested, a Fire Lotus Seed which is mean to increase flame attributes within a person. However, due to your affinity and previous usage of it, this is not the case for yourself. I will analyse this flame myself Nico, see how we can implement it, in the meantime you focus on what we came here for.'

Again, Nico agreed with his Demon Persona, and resumed his dive to the depths. Having discovered and absorbed that Essence Flame, Nico had almost forgotten just what it was that he had came down here for: the chance to absorb the energies of the Blood Pool and refine his Ghoul powers. At least to a level where he could safely say they wouldn't lose out to his Demonic Powers, shortening the power gap between them. It hadn't taken nearly as long as he'd thought to absorb it, probably due to his affinity for fire, but he didn't care right now. Power and refinement dominated his thoughts as he made his way down to the depths of the pool.

Once he reached the very centre of the Pool's depths, Nico's body screamed as he shifted into a meditative stance, closing his eyes and beginning his work by unleashing his Kagune. a HUGE wave of fear unleashed itself upon him when his Koukaku formed, almost mind-crippling with its potency, but he pushed through it for the time being. He couldn't allow the trauma burned onto that part of his Ghoul side to interrupt his cultivation right now, not when he had such a DELICIOUS opportunity to refine it into something better. Something which could go on par with his current Demonic Power.

Since he could still feel Erebus on his back, it meant that things upstairs were going well too, the harvesting operations seem to be handling themselves nicely, so when he would be done here, Nico felt like he would be swimming with rare treasures once he took his Bracers back and looked into his Void Storage.


While Nico was going through this, about 40 minutes passed until Castiel found something that made him delirious in happiness. It was a lake filled to the brink with pure energy, it was like the magic energy that you can find in the world but much more refined. Seeing this a crazy thought sprang to his mind.

'This is my chance, let's go to the next level using this!'

Thinking that Castiel calmed his mind and soul, entering the most peaceful state he possibly could while opening to the maximum all his spirit circuits as well as wings before entering the pool of pure energy. There was a root stationed in it draining the energy from this pool, but it was inconsequential since when Castiel entered the place he used the power of his left arm spirit bone, his Devour ability showing its power by pulling all the energy of the pool to Castiel extremely fast.

He instantly started feeling bottled up, like if his body was inflating and all his spirit circuits were getting to full, but he persisted in what he started. It was then that he could truly sense how his body was completely different from before. If previously he would not be able to use this for more time as he would fear to damage his weak spirit circuits they now could carry an almost limitless amount of energy without a problem. He even stopped feeling like acid was running through his veins to instead feel comfortable, something he never once felt while training previously.

Focusing on the work at hand, Castiel nonetheless continued his work. The energy inside his body was integrating with the power of the outside, his soul itself being covered in energy and he could clearly sense how the drops of divine blood of the Phoenix, Vermilion Bird, and Golden Crow were burning away any impurity that might still be inside his body. More and more his body started becoming perfect, but the most important thing was when, by the time the energy of the pool was around half its size, the energy in his body finally reached the absolute limit to what he could reach, but instead of finishing it there it was almost anticlimactic how his energy took one more step.

Castiel, as if nothing happened, reached high ultimate-class.

He was at first ecstatic, but quickly he frowned and wanted to curse. Previously any advancement in class took weeks of hard work or even longer, his body would feel like it was being torn to pieces, reconstructed, and then broken again by a rusty chainsaw, but now that his body was how it should be and even a bit better the same experience was painless and instantaneous.

Ignoring that Castiel continued taking the energy to himself before focusing on an even better font of energy. Until now he avoided touching any of these roots, but considering that he was now more than twice as strong as he was minutes ago he decided to risk it. First he collected all the energy that was still in the lake and sealed it using a little space magic trick he learned from Kuroko before collecting everything still inside the place where the energy was, including a few drops of Divine Water of Absolute Beginning, an item that could be used to make someone's body tougher than any normal magical steel. He honestly did not expect that, and not only that but Castiel got the feeling that most would use them to themselves. Not him though, he wanted to ensure the safety of those from the Tower. This will work well as a way to make at least Kuroko and Yuno, the two troublemakers that don't understand the meaning of limit, to have bodies that will not fall that easily. There is not all that much of this, but these 10 drops ought to be enough to do something, at least.

Anyway, now that he had collected everything, the young Heir knew exactly what to do. Moving to the side of the root, he set about putting one hand on it. Just one hand and he could clearly feel how immense the energy this plant held within was. It would just be a shame if a parasite were to appear and take some of this energy for itself to reinforce his power and try to reach a higher level like the limit of ultimate-class.

Castiel could only smile as he felt the near unlimited amount of energy of this plant be devoured by him. He could easily tell it is also devouring the energy of other creatures right now, but he only smiled at that. 'No matter how great you are a weed is still a weed, and I will remove it.' The blonde Heir thought.

The energy of it was quite revitalizing to my body, it was like every cell in my body was being filled with energy over and over again. But after a while I felt something. In the center of it I could clearly sense that the place where the energy was most focused was closing in on itself and separating from the rest. If he were a betting man, he'd say the boss of this trial was about to get up and start fighting. At this, Castiel frowned, knowing that he could wait no longer. 'Time to get the emo and prepare to fight as our familiars distract the enemy...' Castiel thought as he already sensed his Familiars, along with that flying Dragon, closing in on the cocoon, their instincts telling them exactly what he had sensed.


Later, Castiel began hunting down for is companion. He could hear the sounds of combat being brought about as his three familiars, along with Nico's own, unleashed their powers on whatever this trial's boss was which caused him to hasten his speed. He didn't want to spend too much time looking for the emo, though, since he felt like the boss's power would be too much for their familiars to handle currently... although he wasn't sure on how powerful Urthemiel was to begin with, he DEFNITELY felt like his own familiars weren't on that level just yet.

'Where is he? Where's that guy at now? Ugh, if he's gotten himself into trouble...' the Heir thought tiredly, before remembering seeing him heading to the eastern side before going on his harvesting frenzy. Thus, Castiel spread his wings and flew over there, hoping that he'd fetch the guy as soon as possible. A second he spent finding him meant more danger would befall his familiars, and Castiel REFUSED to allow that.

Whilst the flew over the eastern forest, the Heir looked down noticed how dozens upon dozens of darkness constructs had been gathering and storing all sorts of treasures and materials found throughout the forest. They'd been stored in...those Bracers Mr Emo used, which lay in the grasp of one of the Constructs. That one had to be the one in charge of this little 'operation', which made him wonder if he could have done the same with his dragon tooth warriors. Have them made and gather as many materials as they could and then bring them to him whilst he did his business. But then again, their curses might impact the Herbs, and that wasn't something Castiel found himself willing to practice at this stage in the game. 'In any case, if his Bracer things are here, then that means he must be nearby. Better make this quick then, lest our Familiars get overwhelmed.'

Eventually though, he landed at somewhere he found... quite astonishing, really. 'Well... now what have we here?' The male Heir wondered, observing the crimson Pool that bubbled madly before him.

He didn't have to wait very long, as it looked like Nico was about to finish up... with quite the upgrades from what he could sense.


Inside the Blood Pool, the redhead's eyes slowly opened, feeling unimaginable power flowing through his body. His body, which usually got this feeling when he felt and used his reserves of SP or Demonic Power, felt like it had been overflooded with rich, raw and POWERFUL RC Cells. Cells which filled up every spec of his bloodstream and vitalized themselves with the energy the Blood Pool provided. He could hardly stay still as the last stage of the absorption process neared its end. He felt the rich, gleeful cries of his inner Ghoul, the mad and almost psychotic hollow laughter from his Ghoul Persona filling his mind. However, instead of being disturbed by it like he normally would... Nico could only feel ECSTATIC at the changes having occurred within.

The raw vitality that coursed through his Ghoul side... Nico could hardly describe it. It felt like the energy from the Blood Pool had completely remade his RC Cells from the genetic strand upwards, braking them down and rebuilding them by the second and making them better each time. If his Kagune, once powered by his RC Cells, could strike with enough force to destroy entire large buildings, right now according to his and Biko's calculations, he felt like they would be able to lay waste to a large city at this point, several leaps from what he had been before. Strength wasn't the only thing improved though, speed, endurance, flexibility, reflexes, every physical aspect of his Kagune felt like it had gone through a MAJOR overhaul. If he were to clash with Castiel's Clarent of Hrunting with this Kagune, he could FEEL just how different the outcome would be thanks to the increased physical attributes.

Upon examining himself as the process began finishing up, Nico found that his RC Cells... now had a special ability all their own, one which spread to each of his different Kagune types. According to his senses, his RC Cells now had one HELL of an acidic quality to them now, which could be used as a skin layer over his Kagune or a liquid... kind of like that Octopus Fishman's Tentacles with that liquid of theirs but his had much more potency. By potency, he meant that if he sprayed enough of it, buildings would become mush within seconds. Just imagine what that could do to a PERSON though...

Oh, the possibilities...

Though, upon further testing, Nico found some changes having occurred to HIMSELF as well, similar to his Ghoul Side although to a lesser extent. He felt like his strength had been increased to... well, about small City Class if he were to weigh the power levels in his mind. His Speed, well, that and his other physical attributes being increased in potency would be a given if his Strength had been affected.

If he had any less self control, then Nico would have gladly jumped up and down like a hyper school girl at the new developments for his Kagune. As for having each type gain their own specific upgrades... Well, thanks to recent developments, Nico felt that his stance on that subject may need to change if he wanted to improve it's overall effectiveness.

Shaking his head, Nico sensed that there would be only ONE thing left to do in this Pool... something he found himself all too eager to do.


Outside of the Pool, Castiel soon noticed something occurring within it, and he soon realized what would be about to happen. 'Looks like he's finally coming out, took him long enough...'

Instantly after he thought that, Castiel became witness to all the liquid inside the pool just spiralling together into the middle, as if forming a whirlpool. This Whirlpool's force became intense enough to cause a small wind to pick up, forcing the blonde heir to put an arm over his forehead, all the while EVERY darkness Construct gathered around the Pool's edges, including the one possessing the Bracers (after storing what they had found inside the Void Storage of course). At that point, the entire pool just exploded into a massive pillar of pure energy, every spec of liquid evaporating into nothingness as the being within leapt out of its centre and landed before them in a crouching position.

Of course, Castiel and the Constructs recognized the being as Nico, he still had Erebus on his back. Aside from that though, nothing looked really different about him... if one didn't count the raw energy radiating from his body.

"...#Whistle#, that felt like over 300 meters in height... guess that pool really ran deep, then..." Nico muttered to himself, getting to his feet as he sensed someone approaching him. Looking up, the redhead noticed it was the Construct he had assigned as temporary Leader of this little operation, and when he noticed the Construct holding out his Bracers for him, a wide smile lit up his features. "Thanks, buddy. Thanks for keeping them safe for me." he thanked, grinning like a loon when he finally put his Bracers back on. 'Oh, it feels good to be in uniform, again...'

Just then, several explosions rang in the distance, causing both boys to look in their direction with narrowed eyes.

Looked like things were getting out of hand over there.

"Alright, I know you've just come out of a big thing right now, but we need to get back there and see what we're dealing with." Castiel urged as Nico dismissed the Constructs as well as Erebus, switching immediately to Soul Edge as he nodded sternly towards his companion.

With that done, both boys immediately took to the skies before heading over to the battlefield.


Upon approaching the battlefield about 4 minutes later, did both Nico and Castiel FINALLY get to see what was causing so much ruckus in the first place... and boy did they get the surprise of their lives when they saw it.

There, looming over the surroundings like a massive floating island fortress, was what could only be described as one of the UGLIEST looking Plant Monsters that each of them had ever seen. It seemed to resemble... what looked like a gigantic, plant-like, mixed breed creature that resembled a bulb, with many protruding root like appendages stretched in all directions. It had a face with sunken in black holes where eyes should be and a large grinning mouth with numerous teeth like protrusions. Its size... well, it could EASILY shroud an entire city with its shadow alone, which should be enough explanation in and of itself, and currently this beast looked to be engaged in combat with the four Familiars scattered around the battlefield.

Oh, yeah, the battlefield...

Yeah, BATTLEFIELD.

If what they had seen before had been a wasteland, then this could be counted as a freaking hellish warzone. Simply put, the entire landscape looked like a mix of hell on earth and heaven on earth, as if those two planes of existence had touched their surroundings and infected them like diseases. Light and Demonic energies filled equal spaces on the ground, contaminating it which just showed how intense each of the Familiars had been battling. Solgaleo and Lunala combined their attacks together to create a union between light and shadow, resulting in their attacks having two different elemental affinities and doubling their original damage output whilst their third ally Necrozma kept the endless onslaught of the many Tentacles protruding from the creature at bay. In essence, it used various support abilities to keep the load off its allies whilst they fused their respective elements together in their attacks. They would have to have worked together, the three had summarized, as only that way could they have any hope of escaping certain death by this creature's hands. Not to mention the oppressive aura surrounding it which made movement difficult for them

As for the demonic Urthemiel, an equal focus had been placed on it since the Archdemon would use each and every aspect of its powers to attack... and not just because it didn't have NEARLY as much trouble with its overbearing presence, in addition to the fact that even while on its own, it held its own fairly well against the incoming onslaught. Its wing flaps generated constant gusts the size of double decker buses, which tore apart every Tentacle that tried attacking it, whilst it burned others out of existence with its dark Blue Primal Fire breaths. It's Tail kept busy too, whacking away other Tentacles like a mad bull on a wild rampage. Unfortunately, the venom within it's Tail didn't seem too effective on this plant creature, something it had learned the HARD way. Some Tentacles got through those measures, which had been why it kept itself covered in Primal Fire like an armour to burn them before they could touch it's defensive hide... something which it had learned early on that they were easily capable of penetrating. Aside from that, it constantly bombarded the creature with an arsenal of primal fire-based attacks, conjuring different shapes, raining down large fireballs like meteors, surrounding them in a Firestorm which damaged only the beast as that was its intended target. It truly showcased why it held extreme mastery over the art of wielding fire.

It held a warrior's mindset, and thus it REFUSED to let this beast humiliate it so.

All the while, their two masters stayed on the side-lines as they watched the battle play out, their eyes analysing every movement the beast made and ascertaining its identity. Nico was the one who spoke first while cupping his chin. "Hmmmm, looks like we're up against the Four Beasts, I remember glancing over it a while back during my research. Apparently, this thing's a beast which hunts by generating these four creatures, the ones we've been fighting that fled during the trials, but most importantly this thing's superior to all four of em combined. Any ideas on how to take it out?" he questioned his companion. All the while, he began running through different ideas in his mind on how to take the beast down, analyzing its movements. 'Looks like getting through any openings in its defenses won't work very well, since those Tentacles it has seem to be able to grow from anywhere within its body. Leaves zero openings to attack, and they regenerate quickly, too fast for our companions to damage the main body. Seems like they can form eyes and mouths like my Kagune can, too. Its physical ability must be nothing to scoff at, and I can feel that its getting stronger by the second.'

"If I understand it somewhat I believe this monster probably has immense defensive capacity due to how obviously powerful his body is as well as having great regenerative powers. We probably should focus on fighting it for now to obtain more information, attack with caution and try to not waste energy as best as you can as this might be a fight we need everything we have and more. Try to 'eat' him with your kagune and spirit bone so as to keep your reserves full. Our priority must be not getting injured for now and obtain as much info as we can to the moment we counter it and end this fucking trial." Castiel said. He had learned long ago that if you don't have enough information of the enemy a decent enough strategy was to attack and feign weakness to make the enemy overconfident and show all its cards, after that, it is just a matter of countering them and ending the fight or run away if needed.

"Alright then, lets initiate the mission."

"Yup."