Chapter 31: The War Begins

Peppita, Raditz, Lancar, and Roger stepped on the emergency transporter located at Astral Castle, they were sent instantly to the city hall located in Tartaroy. As soon as they emerged out of the transporter, an injured soldier approached them so that he could show them the way.

"The… demons… there are… too many of them! Please… help… the exit is over to… the right…" The soldier struggled, holding his wound. "Please… hurry…"

"Let's hurry!" Raditz yelled. "It looks like they've been causing some havoc already!"

The group followed Raditz's lead, taking the exit to the right and coming out of the city hall into the main square of the town. The town square was already filled with fire and smoke, filled with sounds of people screaming in panic and pain as they struggled and ran away from a mass hoard of Demons.

"Shit, let's stop them before they do even more damage!" Lancar yelled as he charged towards a group of demons. He took care of the two that were closest to him by delivering a swift double kick, then jumped up to demolish several more of them by using his Hammer of Might attack.

"What?" One demon yelled as he looked back to Lancar and the rest running at them. "There are mortals here that can actually stand up to us?"

"HURRICANE AXE!" Roger yelled, as he spun himself around in a circle furiously with his two axes stretched out across the length of the field. The demons that were unfortunate enough to stand in the way of its path was helplessly cut into pieces.

"HIYAA!" Raditz shouted as he went through a group of monsters with numerous rapid sword slashes. The demons were cut down before they could even attempt to dodge or counter his slashes.

"HI-YA!" Peppita yelled as she sent out an invisible Instanto Blast towards another group of demons. The impact from the blast knocked the demons away, sent flying into other demons that happened to stand in the way.

"Huff… there are way too many…" Lancar said, out of breath, as he tore his way through another group of demons. "Where the hell did they come from? huff, there's no end to 'em!"

"Gah!" Roger yelped as he was eventually hit from the back by one of the demons. "They're… attacking from everywhere! I'm…surrounded!"

"FIRE…BOLT!" One demon yelled as a ball of fire homed in towards Peppita, who only noticed the attack coming the last minute. "Ahhh!" Peppita screamed in fear as she covered her face with her forearm helplessly.

"AIR SLASH!" Raditz yelled, as he neutralized the firebolt that was about to hit Peppita with his wind blast just in time. "Shoot, we're outnumbered!"

"We're going to tire out before we can kill them all… gahh!" Lancar grunted as he was interrupted with a nasty claw swipe from a demon.

"Alright, everybody, take cover!" Raditz yelled, as he all of a sudden jumped back, charging his sword in massive amount of energy. "I'm going to toast 'em all at once!"

Raditz's sword lighted up brightly with the intense amount of energy channeled into it. After few seconds, Raditz took a giant swing with his sword, spinning and releasing the energy that was channeled into his sword while yelling "FLASH WHIRL!". Countless numbers of fireballs were sent scattering all over the battlefield, toasting every single demon on the field with remarkable precision.

"Wow! That was great, Raditz!" Roger yelled in triumph, praising Raditz's attack. "You got 'em all!"

"…Huff thanks…" Raditz replied with a smile, little out of breath from using a strong technique.

"Let's go into the Arena!" Peppita yelled, as she ran in front of everybody towards the Arena. "Father, Mother, and everybody else from the Troupe are in there!"

"I hope they're all right… let's go!" Lancar said as him, Raditz, and Roger followed her into the Arena.

The Arena was partially destroyed already just like many of the other buildings in town. As the group ran in, they saw a group of 6 demons that were getting ready to blast through the dressing room door. "There are more mortals hiding in here!" one demon yelled. "Let's kill every single one of them!"

"Not so fast!" Peppita yelled from behind the demons. "You're not hurting my family! You'll have to go through us first!"

"Heh, more mortals made it in here?" Another demon sneered. "Great, instead of hiding, they came right to us. Saves us the trouble. My brothers, let's kill them!"

"STOP, NOW!" A gigantic figure with a deep voice yelled, as he kicked through the dressing room door out to the main hallway. "You evil demon, don't lay a finger on our missy! Ursus shall punish you!"

"URSUS!" Peppita yelled with a look of relief. "You're all safe! I'm so glad!"

"Please stay back, missy." Ursus said, as he got ready to fight the six demons in front of him. "This place very dangerous. Please take cover, Ursus can take care of the demons!"

"Heh, pretty big for a mortal… but nonetheless, he's still a mortal!" A demon yelled as he charged towards Ursus. "DIE!"

The demon threw a deadly claw swipe right at Ursus, but Ursus simply grabbed his arm with his huge hands. He then picked up the demon by his arm with least amount of effort, swinging him back and pounding him straight down to the ground. He picked the demon up again from the destroyed ground, pounding him down to the ground again several times like a rag doll. He then tossed the lifeless corpse of the demon at another demon, sending it flying back along with the corpse.

"W…what?" One of the four remaining demons yelled, stunned at the level of Ursus' power. "What kind of freak is this? Take this, mortal! EARTH PRESS!"

The demon created a large rock boulder right above where Ursus was standing, sending it straight down in an attempt to crush him. However, Ursus simply raised both his hands, catching the boulder like a little toy, and then tossing it away to the side.

"H…HOW CAN IT BE THAT STRONG?" the demon yelled in fear.

"Alright, no more playing! Time to kill all of you!" Ursus yelled, as he raised both of his hands behind his head to get ready for an attack of his own. He then pounded the ground in front of him with great power, causing the surface to erupt. "TEAR INTO PIECES, DEMONS!" Ursus' Ripper Blast attack smashed all of the remaining demons that were standing in front of him with the rocks emerging from the ground from the impact.

"Yaaaaay! Thank you, Ursus!" Peppita said as she ran towards Ursus to hug him. "Let that be a message to all the demons out there - Don't ever mess with us, the Rossetti Troupe!"

"Wow…" Lancar muttered in amazement. "So that's the true power of a Rondo Lukian… I've heard that they even surpass us Klausians in terms of raw physical power, but still… I'm impressed!"

"Is everybody all right?" Peppita asked Ursus.

"Yes, missy. Everybody safe and sound." Ursus replied in his deep voice. "Don't worry, Ursus will protect them."

"I think that's about all of them!" Raditz said. "It's a good thing that we came here to help before it got worse!"

"I hope others are okay…" Roger said worrily. "If the situation in Portmis is just as bad as it was here, then… err… I hope they got there before it was to late!"

"Let's hope so…" Raditz said, as he waved everybody out of the building. "Let's go back to Astral for now to see what the situation is."

"Alright," Peppita said, as she turned to Ursus before leaving. "Ursus, please take good care of the family… I'll come back, I promise!"

"Yes, missy. Ursus will take good care of them." Ursus assured. "Please be careful."


"I have to go look for my mother!" Reen yelled as she ran out of the transporter room in Moore Castle in Portmis. "I hope she's still safe…"

"Let's hope that everybody ran away to a safe place…" Clair said, running along with Reen. "Simone… please be safe…"

Please be safe… Albel thought of the same thing to himself as well. At that moment, Albel's mind became puzzled; he started wondering why he even wished for anybody to be safe at all. Why are you even concerned about the fates of these insignificant townspeople, or about some insignificant woman that had no importance to him whatsoever? He wondered. This was unlike him, so unlike him, that he was absolutely disgusted in knowing that he was even thinking of those things. He didn't care for anyone. There was no point for him to volunteer in doing this.

So why are you doing this?

Albel couldn't answer. Who cares, it doesn't matter, he told himself. He was already here, and it was too late to turn back.

As Albel and others ran out of the Moore Castle, they stared into a scene that could only be described as total devastation. Every house was destroyed, on fire, and many lifeless bodies were scattered across the streets.

"OH MY GOD…" Reen cried as she stared down at the frightening scenery in utter disbelief. "MOTHER!"

Mother?

Simone! Albel suddenly thought to himself as he started getting worried. Why was he even worrying about her? He wondered for a split second. Who cares why? I have to find Simone. Now. Albel ran off to Simone's house to look for her, ahead of everybody else.

"KIYAAAA!" Albel yelled as he ran through a hoard of demons with his katana swinging wildly. Any demon that happened to be in his way to Simone's house was brutally and mercilessly cut down by Albel's devastating slashes.

"Albel?" Clair called for Albel as she started chasing after him. "Please wait for us!"

"I'm going to go check for my mother!" Reen said. "I'll meet up with you guys after!"

"Let me clear the way!" Farleen said, as she charged up for a spell. "EXPLOSION!" her devastating Explosion spell incinerated all the demons in the way, clearing a path for Albel, Clair and Reen to go through.

Albel and Clair ran towards Simone's house to see a fallen woman by the doorsteps. To everyone's dismay, it was indeed Simone; mortally wounded from the demon attacks.

"No….NO!" Albel yelled in panic as he picked Simone up in his arms. "Simone! Get up! Speak!"

"Al….bel… Clair…" Simone spoke faintly. "Run… Save… your…selv…es."

"SIMONE!" Clair yelled her name in concern. "Let me cast a healing… AHHH!" As Clair was getting ready to cast her healing spell, she was knocked away by a demon from behind.

"Heh… there are few mortals left here that still needs to die." The demon said. "Make sure they all suffer a slow, painful death!"

"HOW DARE YOU…GWAAAAAAA!" Albel screamed as something snapped in his head. He swung his katana back, then slashed forward repeatedly in mad rage. "AIR SLASH OF FURY!" Countless number of Air Slashes blew away all the demons that were standing in front of him.

"Hiyaa!" Clair yelled as she slashed and cut her way through the demons with her twin daggers. After cutting through several demons, she found herself surrounded by dozens of demons. Clair then charged her body in wind energy for few seconds, releasing it while yelling "WHIRLWIND!" The raging tornado surrounding Clair's body blasted away all of the demons that were standing close to her, setting her free from the trap.

"There's… too many of them!" Farleen said, barely fighting off the demons that were attacking her with her lower-class spells. "They're not giving me a chance to cast stronger spells! They won't stop attacking!"

As Albel, Clair, and Farleen were struggling with the hoard of demons, Reen rushed to her house to discover her mom fallen down nearby. "MOTHER!" Reen yelled in panic. "ANSWER ME!"

"Reen…" Reen's mother struggled to answer. "You have to run… these demons… are too strong…"

"No… I can't forgive these monsters! They destroyed my hometown, killed the townspeople and my friends… they're destroying everything that I have ever cared for!" Reen shouted in anger. "And they hurt you, mother! I can't… I CAN'T FORGIVE THEM!"

Reen suddenly ran out of the house, confronting the big hoard of demons. The demons were destroying the remaining houses and killing anyone that tried to run away.

"STOP IT!" Reen said in rage as her eyes started sparkling brightly. "STOP IT NOW!"

Reen suddenly flied slightly off the air, and charged her orbs in mass amount of energy. She then put the orbs together into one gigantic ball of light, shooting it high up in the air.

"HAIL ORB!" Reen yelled, as hundreds of energy orbs showered down from the big energy ball towards all the demons like a furious hailstorm. The showering orbs ripped through all the demons, killing every single one of them on the field in an instant.

"Ahh…" Reen yelped softly as she fainted from overexerting her power.

"Reen! You okay?" Farleen yelled as she ran over to Reen in concern.

Meanwhile, Albel and Clair rushed over to Simone. Simone was almost lifeless, her face pale white and not even showing any pain.

"Get up! GET UP!" Albel yelled frantically. "Don't die on me!"

"Let me try a healing spell!" Clair said. "HEALING!" Her healing spell could not do much as Simone's wound was too great to seal.

"My healing spell is too weak…" Clair said in despair. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"There….s… nothing… you can…do…" Simone struggled to say. "It's… too late… I've…been…infected…with…virus…as well…"

"No!" Albel yelled. "It's not too late! Let's get her back to the Castle!"

"Albel… I just… want… to… ask…" Simone asked faintly, her life draining away as she spoke each word. "a… favour…"

"Huh?" Albel wondered. 'She's dying… why am I feeling this way? Why do I feel like… I'm losing… someone important? She's…'

"If… my… son… happens… to… be…still…alive…" Simone spoke so weakly now that it was hard to hear her. "Please… give… him this…"

Simone gave something to Albel with her last ounce of strength. It was a tiny music box, which Albel seemed to remember very well. As a matter of fact, he was SURE that he's seen it and heard it before. Somewhere.

"This is…!" Albel asked.

"He…had...the..same…name…as you…" Simone spoke softly as her eyes slowly closed. "…Al…bel…"

As soon as Simone finished her sentence, her head dropped back, and her body just gave in. There was no motion, no sound, no nothing. Only thing that could be heard was the bittersweet melody from the music box. Her life was now gone.

"NO!" Clair cried, as her head sank with despair and sadness.

"This sound…" Albel said, his voice now choking and his body trembling. "I've… heard this before… where… how… why… WHY?"

Right at this moment, Albel felt something that he hadn't ever felt in his entire life. Even when his father died, he did not feel this way. But there was something about this moment. He was sad. He was mad at himself. He was mad at himself for not being able to do anything, for being helpless. He was mad at himself for failing to protect her. He was mad at himself for not knowing what was going on inside. At this point, Albel couldn't take it anymore. He had to let it out.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Albel yelled loudly, letting out all his frustration, sadness, and anger that was bottled up inside. The sound echoed throughout the now-deathly quiet town, filling the air along with the fire and smoke.


Chapter 32: King's Conference

The group sat in the Conference room in the Astral Castle, everyone stunned and deathly silent after hearing the news from Albel, Clair, and Farleen.

"Simone…" Raditz muttered. "I can't believe it…"

"I'm…so sorry…" Peppita apologized, her eyes swelling up in tears. "I can't believe we lost her…"

"Those bastards…" Lancar swore, then calming himself down to ask Clair a question. "Clair, how is Reen doing?"

"She's exausted from her attack… she'll be fine. She just needs to rest for a little while…" Clair said quietly. "Her mother was badly hurt, but her injuries weren't life threatening. She'll be fine as well, thankfully."

"Portmis… is gone…" Raditz said, with his fists clenched. "Those demons… I can't forgive them…"

"We're sorry…" Farleen apologized. "We weren't strong enough to save the city."

"Don't blame yourself, Farleen." Lancar said. "You guys did the best you can, and you did eventually clear them all out. You saved the rest of the Moore continent from those demons for now. It's not your fault that you got there too late."

"Yeah, good job Clair! Farleen! Albel!" Roger tried to cheer them up, as he noticed Albel with his head down, elbows on the table, and hands covering his face. "Albel?"

Why… why am I feeling this? Albel asked himself. Is this sadness? Is this what grief truly is? If so, why am I feeling this grief? Albel then slowly thought about Simone's last words and her music box. Her son had the same name as me? How was that possible? Albel had seen the picture of her husband and son before, and neither of them looked familiar to Albel at all. His son did not look like him. He didn't have blue hair… he didn't even have a tail. Most importantly of all, he wasn't from this planet. So how can he remember the tune to the music box so clearly? Why did he feel so attached to Simone? Too many questions were left unanswered. This was all getting too confusing.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting." King Warren XIII apologized as he entered the conference room with the two security personnel. "Let's begin the meeting."

The King sat down at the Royal seat located at the top end of the conference table. After a little moment of silence, The King started speaking.

"First of all, I have to thank you warriors from repelling the demon attacks in Tartaroy and Portmis." The King said with sincere gratitude. "Even though Portmis has been unfortunately wiped out, by defeating the demons, you have temporarily ceased the attack on the Moore and Astral Continent. I have no idea how the situation would be right now if you didn't take care of them. I can't thank you enough for helping us in the time of need."

"Our pleasure, your majesty." Raditz replied. "It is our mission to defeat these demons… and most of all, I would never hesitate in helping to defend my own planet. I would give my life to protect it."

"I am very glad to hear such noble intentions." The King said. "We need more heroes like you in this world… in this universe."

"It's true, your majesty." Lancar said. "We just wanted to help. Even though this may not be our world, we still want to protect it as if it was our own."

"And we must thank you…" The King said, pausing and thinking for a while before speaking again. "So, where do you intend to go from here, great warriors?"

"We would like to visit the Parj Temple, if we may, your majesty." Raditz humbly asked. "Now that the invasion of the demons are indeed getting serious in our world, I believe that we need to enter the Daemoneum as fast as we can and defeat them, before they cause even more harm."

"And hence, you need the 'Eye of the Truth'…" The King said. "At first, I did think that it would be foolish to let unproven group of people to enter such a potentially dangerous place. However, now that the invasion of Roak by the demons is indeed the reality, I feel that there is no other choice. Moreover, all of you have now proven your credibility and prowess from your heroics in Tartaroy and Portmis. You have proven it more than enough."

"You mean...!" Raditz asked.

"Yes, I shall grant you the access to the Parj Temple." The King said. "You must first go west from Tartaroy then head north from the fork. Do not worry about the guards. You have my full permission."

"Thank you, your majesty!" Clair thanked him as she bowed.

Right at that moment, a soldier barged into the Conference room, in panic and urgency.

"Your Majesty!" The soldier reported. "More demons have been sighted heading towards Ionis, Edcart, and Van City! They have already destroyed Dulce, and now heading east towards Sylvalant! Our forces from other planets still need another day or two to return… at this pace, we're…we're doomed, sire!"

"Ahh…" The King sighed, turning back to Raditz and the rest. "I am sorry, but it looks like you will all have to begin your mission right away. From the look of things… we may not have much time left."

"...You heard the King." Albel said as he finally broke his silence, getting up to leave. "We leave for Parj Temple, right now."

"Albel…" Clair said, with a look of concern on her face. "Yes. Let's begin our mission at once."

"Let's go!" Raditz said, as he and others got up to leave on their quest to Parj Temple.

"Good luck to you all, noble warriors." The King said.


As the group walked towards the transporter room to Tartaroy, they were interrupted a voice coming from behind them. "HEY! Stop! Wait for me…"

"Reen?" Raditz asked as Reen caught up with the group.

"Huff... You guys weren't going to just leave me behind, were you?" Reen asked, catching her breath. "Cuz you're not going anywhere without me!"

"But Reen, you still look really weak! You haven't recovered fully yet…" Clair said in concern. "And what about your mother?"

"Heh, I'm feeling just fine and dandy. And my mother's going to be alright, the doctors said." Reen said. "Don't try to ditch me now! Things have gotten personal now… I'm going to track those demons down and help you guys save this planet, and the universe!"

"Alright. Let's go together then, Reen." Raditz said with a smile. "That's all the reason you need. We'll all go to the Daemoneum and save our universe from those demons."

"Yeah, let's go, Raditz!" Reen said. "Let's save our universe!"


The road from Tartaroy to Parj Temple wasn't particularly far, but it still gave the group a lot of trouble as the road had been blocked off for the last 600 or so years, turning the road into a wild, dangerous, pathless wooded area. The fact that the demons were now looming around the area didn't really help the cause, either. However, every demon they encountered was taken care of by the group without much problem. Eventually, the group reached the entrance to Parj Temple.

"This must be it." Albel said. "But how come there is nothing behind this gate? All it leads to is some pointless rooms!"

"The King told me that there is other entrances to the temple." Raditz said. "Let's go back out and look for another entrance… it's probably hidden, somewhere."

After searching the outside of the Temple for a while, Roger discovered a huge boulder that seemed to be blocking the pathway into something. "Hey guys, I think we can go in from behind this rock!" Roger said. "It's kind of big, though. Can we move it?"

"Hey, have you forgotten what I did at the Mt. Metox cave?" Lancar asked, cracking his knuckles. "Leave it all to me!" Lancar stepped back couple meters, and then charged towards the boulder shoulder first with great force. The boulder shattered in pieces, revealing the secret entrance to the Parj Temple.

"Looks like this is the REAL entrance…" Raditz said. "Let's go in."


Chapter 33: Inside Parj Temple

As the group went inside the temple, they noticed that the place had a very eerie and mysterious vibe to it. They also noticed many huge floating translucent orbs scattered throughout the room.

"Avoid those orbs, and head forward." Albel said. "We're going through that door up ahead."

After about 20 minutes, the group went through numerous doors and many different rooms. However, it seemed that in the end, they ended up at the same room with all the big orbs scattered around.

"What the hell?" Albel cursed. "This is the same bloody room as before…"

"My scanner is telling me there's no other paths leading from here…" Lancar said, looking into his quad scanner. "We've went through all the paths already… they all lead right back to this room."

"Damn, we come all this way and now we're trapped?" Raditz complained. "Should we go back out?"

"Wait!" Farleen said. "Look at that orb over there… all the orbs are orange, except for that one over there… that's the only blue orb out of the whole bunch… maybe that's the clue?"

"Maybe we should go into it!" Reen suggested. "It could lead us somewhere!"

"Are you sure?" Peppita asked. "But we're not sure about where that thing could take us…"

"We're not going to get anything done by just standing around and searching like idiots." Albel said, walking towards the orb. "Let's just see where this thing takes us. We'll go from there."

"Honestly, there isn't much else we can do." Lancar agreed. "We've already entered all the rooms… this might be the only way through, who knows."

"Let's go ahead then." Clair said, walking along with Albel towards the blue orb.

As everybody stepped into the huge blue orb, it disappeared with a flash, transporting the group to the hidden room within the Temple. They arrived in a large, empty room, with only one big door located in the north.

"The 'Eye of the Truth' is probably behind that door." Albel said. "Brace yourselves. We might have to fight."

"Heh, you most certainly will." A mysterious voice came out from thin air, just as another orb appeared in the room. A gigantic red demon stepped out from the orb, showing himself to the group.

"You must be the mortals that decimated our forces in those two cities." The red demon said, holding out his pitchfork. "Your level of power is quite fascinating… it's surely beyond anything that regular mortals can achieve. You surely did a number on our forces back there… but that's as far as you go. I shall now end your lives."

"Heh, another maggot." Albel sneered as he went into his ready stance. "How many of you weak fools must I beat into submission before you finally realize it's no use?"

"Get our of our way, demon!" Raditz said. "Or you'll have the fun of ending up just like your friends!"

"Overconfidence is such a typical mortal trait." The Red Demon said as he powered himself up in bright aura. "And as always, the trait that leads to the inevitable downfall of your kind. I shall reward you justifiably for your foolish acts."

"KIYAA!" Albel yelled as he charged towards the Red Demon. "DIE, YOU DEMON SCUM!"

Albel swung his katana repeatedly at the big Red Demon, but for his humongous size, he was very fast. It evaded every single slash from Albel without a problem.

"Hmph. I'll get some of you useless punks out of the way first, then have my fun with the rest." The Red Demon said, as he spun his pitchfork rapidly in a circle. "DAZER BLAST!"

The Red Demon's Dazer Blast was too fast for most of the group to avoid. While Raditz, Farleen and Albel just got out of its way, it hit everybody else, paralyzing them with the beam.

"I… can't… move!" Lancar said, as he tried to struggle out from his paralysis state.

"My body won't budge!" Roger yelled, twitching helplessly in his futile attempt to move.

"Ah… how can this be?" Clair said, as the nerves in her body went into sleep.

"Hehe… now I'll play with you three that were lucky enough to escape." The Red Demon said, swinging back his pitchfork. "Die, insolent mortals!"

Albel just barely avoided the pitchfork thrust from the Red Demon, by quickly leaping to the side. As the Red Demon followed him, Raditz came out of nowhere from behind the Demon, yelling "TWIN SLASH!" His slashes were only met with some sort of barrier, however, deflecting them back.

"Shoot!" Raditz cursed. "This guy has a barrier, too?"

"My shield is inpenetratable, mortals." The Red Demon said proudly. "You can try to break it if you like, but that would be impossible with your pathetic level of power."

"ENERGY ARROW!" Farleen yelled as numerous Energy Arrows homed in on the Devil, exploding against his barrier. Unfortunately, it didn't even do a single scratch.

"Heh. It's as if you're trying to break a rock with an egg." The Devil said cockily. "It's so amusing just to watch."

Suddenly, the devil disappeared, reappearing in front of Albel, Farleen, and Raditz in that order to blow them away with his energy ball attack. All three were thrown down to the ground, in tremendous pain.

"Gya…" Raditz grunted in pain, getting up slowly. "Too…strong…"

"We…we can't break that barrier…" Farleen said, kneeling on the ground. "We're not strong enough…"

"Giving up already fools?" Albel yelled. "I'll tell you right now, that maggot won't be seeing the end of me anytime soon!"

"Let's all attack him together at once!" Raditz said. "I think I can break that barrier. When I do, Farleen can lock him down, then Albel, you can deliver the finishing blow!"

"Sure, but…" Farleen asked. "Are you sure you can break that barrier?"

"I'm gonna hit it with all I got!" Raditz said, as he jumped high in the air to charge himself in blue energy. "Get ready!"

"Heh, this should be interesting. The fools don't learn." The Red Demon sneered.

"DRAGON HOWL!" Raditz yelled as the blue energy around his body formed into a shape of a large dragon. Raditz then dove right onto the Red Demon in his dragon form, slowly burning through his energy barrier.

"WHAT? How can this be?" The Red Demon yelled in disbelief. "It's impossible for any mortal to break my…"

"Here's my chance!" Farleen yelled as she charged up a quick spell to lock down the Red Demon. "THUNDER FLARE!" A large ball of electricity surrounded the Demon, shocking it and stunning it in one place. "Gwa…aaa...aaaa...aaa!" The demon yelled, spazzing out in shock.

"DIE!" Albel yelled, as he got ready to set up the final blow. Albel held his katana high above his head with both of his hands, charging it with massive amount of spirit energy. Albel swung his katana down at blinding speed yelling "CRESCENT MOON FLASH!" A large, sharp, crescent moon-shaped energy wave shot out of his katana, going right through the Red Demon like hot knife through butter to slice him in half.

"We got it!" Farleen yelled in triumph of victory.

"Huff... some impressive stuff as usual…Albel…" Raditz said as he kneeled down, tired out from his attack.

As soon as the Red Demon died, the paralysis effect inflicted upon the other group members disappeared. Lancar and Roger helped Raditz back up to his feet, and everybody looked ahead to the big door ahead.

"Let's go in." Albel said, walking through the door to claim the 'Eye of the Truth'


The group entered the large, ornate and fancy inner chamber, impressed that a place like this happened to exist in the temple. Everybody searched the room for the 'Eye of the Truth', all to no avail.

"T…there is nothing?" Albel yelled in disgust. "So this stupid legend was false after all?"

"Quite the contrary, visitor." A gentle voice replied as everybody looked around to search for the source of the voice. "What you are looking for does indeed exist. As a matter of fact, you might discover more than what you were looking for."

"Who… who are you?" Raditz asked in bewilderment, as three spirits, one green, one red, and one yellow, materialized in front of the large statue that was located in the center of the room.

"It has been over 700 years since the mortals last visited this place…" The Red spirit said. "And they are still as ill mannered as ever. Leave our sacred place at once."

"You are being too harsh, my friend. You are acting just as rudely yourself." The Green Spirit retorted, chiding the Red Spirit for being too harsh.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves." The Yellow Spirit said. "We are known as the Sacred Runes of Roak, the ancient spirits that grant this land with the blessing of heraldric energy."

"I've… I've heard of the legend!" Raditz said. "I thought it was only a made-up story, but it's really true!"

"I see that you are a descendent of those who came here over 700 years ago, young one." The Green Spirit said. "You carry the same passion and the spirit as he did back then."

"He's not the only one it seems." The Yellow Spirit said. "That Featherfolk woman over there is also a direct descendent of another one of those who came here back at that time."

"Me?" Reen asked, surprised. "Could it be, Joshua the great?"

"The rest of you I see are not of this world." The Green Spirit continued. "For what purpose do you come here for, mortals?"

"Your greatness, we are here to acquire the 'Eye of the Truth' from you, a device that is needed in order to enter the Daemoneum." Clair replied humbly. "We were hoping that your greatness would grant it to us, so that we can enter the world of the demons and eliminate this new threat to our own dimension."

"Just as I thought. It's exactly like 700 years ago." The red spirit sneered. "You mortals are foolish for letting your own history repeat itself…"

"I see that your intentions are pure, and that you are worthy of being entrusted with the said device. Unfortunately, we do not posess the 'Eye of the Truth'. We did not have it 700 years ago, and we still do not." The Green Spirit said. "However, we do know where it is located."

"Now where might that be?" Albel asked.

"After the last war between humans and the demons ended 700 years ago, your ancestors hid the 'Eye of the Truth' within deep confinements of a cave in hopes that it would never be discovered again." The Yellow Spirit said. "The object that you are looking for is hidden in the Sylvalant Caves. That is as much as we can tell you."

"Sylvalant Caves?" Raditz asked. "So we'll find it for sure there? Perfect! We can find the 'Eye of the Truth' from the caves, and head directly to the Demon Island to enter the Daemoneum!"

"Thank you, your greatness." Clair expressed her gratitude with a bow. "We shall find this object and defeat the demons to ensure the safety of our dimension."

"Let's go to this place then." Albel said, turning around to go back. "There's not much time to lose."

"I am afraid that the young man is right." The Yellow Spirit said. "The existence of this planet, the other planets, and both the human and the demon dimensions will be threatened if are unsuccessful in your attempt. Good luck to you, mortals."

"What?" Lancar asked. Both human and demon dimensions?

"Alright, thank you very much, your greatness… we shall be on our way at once!" Raditz expressed his gratitude, as every body walked out of the room to transport out of the temple via the blue orb. As they group left, the spirits talked amongst themselves.

"That boy…" The Red Spirit said. "There is something strange about that boy."

"Indeed, I see that I wasn't the only one that noticed." The Green Spirit said. "Which world could he possibly be of? It is quite mysterious, indeed."

"Could it be the act of the forbidden mirror?" The Yellow Spirit asked.

"That is quite possible, yet cannot be proven. It is quite astonishing that even we can't truly understand this phenomenon" The Green Spirit replied. "I supposed all we can do is to keep a watchful eye on them and find out the truth."

"Yes, as they are this dimension's only hope." The Red Spirit said.

"True indeed." The Yellow Spirit agreed.