A/N: Sorry for the late update. I had exams and my priority to study outweighed my priority to update. Hope you guys understand, and to be fair, I never expected the reviews to pile up that fast, so kudos to all of you! Thanks very much.

Oh yea, the line break refers to spoilers of several books. Don't blame me if you spoil the ending, you were warned!

Well, at any rate, enjoy.

(1/15/11)

Wednesday...

I had yet another nightmare...

This time, Elder was laying down on the surgical bed. Guardian was working on the leg wound I caused as Sensei supervised it.

The wound was grotesque, green and sickly looking. I had cut him straight through the bone and the flesh around the wound was as good as necrotic.

"Elder..." Sensei growled, "You careless fool! You nearly got yourself killed!"

Elder tried to smile, "Thank you for your concern, Sensei, but it is nothing-"

"I don't care if you die, but unfortunately, you are a major player in Lucifer's plans. If you even injure yourself, this would end quickly." Sensei said coldly.

Elder frowned, "He used his Personas. I was overcome by his sheer power..."

"Well, no wonder." Sensei mused, "A weakling could not stand a chance against the Messiah, especially when he is angry. Also, you let your chance slip. You had an opportunity to strike him from behind-"

"I have my honor. I never strike from behind." Elder said defiantly.

"And yet, he had no qualms about using poison." Sensei said angrily, "I think... It's time to tell you about the Lords of the Dark Arts."

Elder perked up, "Lords of the Dark Arts...?"

"The Lords are four extremely powerful warlocks, who each mastered the four pillars of Dark Arts, the most powerful of its countless branches, Time, Space, Weather and Creation. They had lived in this earth since the dawn of time, with other guardians. Of course, they aren't the same persons, just reincarnated, but they can choose to live forever if they want. I know for a fact that if you kill them, their powers would be yours." Sensei said with a gleam in his eyes.

Elder began to stand, but his leg gave out. Guardian caught him in time, "Where are they? Who are they?"

"First, the Lord of Time, Isil Dûr. He has a Persona, Kronos. He controls Time and the flow of it. He is known to be kindhearted and hospitable. He is also the Guardian of Nepal."

"Second, is the Lord of Space, Køn-ryl. His Persona is Chaos. He can warp space and bend it to his will. Extremely unforgiving, he once killed his own son when he tried to insult his powers. He guards Scandinavia and the northern territories,

"Third is the most powerful. Zythos Menethil. He controls the sphere of Weather, and is known as Zeus. In fact, he was called Zeus in his homeland. His Persona is obviously Zeus. He agressively defends his home territory of Greece and the Mediterranean with thunder and lightning and the force of nature.

"Fourth and last is mere legend. His name is shrouded in mystery. His power is the most obscure, but the darkest of all. Indeed, probably the most powerful form of Dark Arts... you can create armies of your style. Yes... Heinz Frankenstien, patriarch of the Dark branch of Creation."

"Heinz?" Elder said quizzically.

"Yes, his brother, Viktor, was famous. He was a well known icon amongst the Devil Summoner population, but died long ago. Hienz is his younger brother. He uses Thesis, Titan of creation. His current whereabouts are unknown and he has never been heard of since his brother's death."

"Well then..." Elder said, standing tall and proud despite his gangrenous leg wound, "It's time I pay the first three a visit. Perhaps they'll know the whereabouts of Heinz."

"Indeed, my pupil. I shall observe our little Messiah." Sensei smiled devilishly.

I woke up with a start. The plot thickened somewhat. I needed to find out about the Lords before Elder kills them.

Before I do any of that, I needed to head for class.

The day was uneventful, and I spent most of my break at the library with Minako. No luck in any of the books.

After classes, we headed home.

Minako and I discussed Dark Arts, her being a Slytherin in Pottermore, in the living room. Junpei had an assignment book report last month and he was already beginning to enjoy it. He was sprawled in the sofa, reading.

"Sigh... I don't know why I've been avoiding books! They're loads better than the crappy movie versions!" Junpei cried, "I mean, Harry Potter is hilarious! Peeves is pretty cool in the fifth book, and I'm getting started on the 6th book."

"That's a good book," Minako said, "Dumbledore dies in that one."

Junpei looked at Minako with a shocked face.

Minako smiled, "Yeah, I never saw that one coming. Snape took him out!"

Junpei's face contorted with fury.

"Not to mention Tonks, Fred, Dobbie, Remus, Snape, who turned good, Hedwig and Moody died as well. Not to mention Harry dies and talks to Dumbledore before killing Voldy." Minako said absentmindedly.

Junpei took a deep breath and set down The Half-Blood Prince, "Well, there goes my happy reading hour. Oh well, at least I still got Percy Jackson. I'm on the final one."

"Love that part." I said, "Percy turns invincible, Hades helps the Olympians, Silena Beauregard is the spy, Beckendorf dies, Clarisse sends reinforcements, Luke killed Kronos and dies, so does Ethan Nakamura, there will be more campers and Annabeth and Percy kissed."

Junpei set down the book as well and picked up The Hunger Games Trilogy, "Well, I know this one is relatively new."

"Oh, I read that-PDF," Minako said, "Katniss volunteers, Peeta's leg gets sawed off, Rue dies from a spear, Thresh saves Katniss, the two attempt to kill themselves, but were named winners, Katniss and Peeta were forced to join it again, escape to District 13 with other winners, got the 12fth District bombed, Cinna died too, so did his assistants and most of everyone at the 12fth District, President Snow dies and so does Primrose."

Junpei threw the trilogy on the ground as well, with a bitter expression.

"Okay, but Twilight saga... You fools ain't crazy enough to read it-"

"Actually, I was." Minako said, "Bella becomes a vampire, has a baby and Jacob falls in love with it. Talk about pedophilia. Also, the Volturi didn't kill anyone because that's how much it sucked." Minako said.

"Well, I read this fanfic-"

"Saw it at your browser. The magic ring really wasn't magic and the third sister died!" I said.

"Dude, not cool!" Junpei cried.

"That's for all the times you co- I mean, chop blocked me!" I said hastily, not noticing Minako was listening.

Minako gave me a meaningful look.

"Oh well. Time to get my books!" Junpei cried and tried a Superman jump, but his foot got caught up with his blanket and he did a faceplant on the floor. After a few seconds, we laughed for a few minutes before helping him out.

We took him to the Hospital, where he was given 10 stitches to the lip. In the E.R., we found an unlikely person. Naoto was on her way out, using crutches to support herself.

"Oh!" Naoto cried in surprise, "Uh, nice to see you two here!"

"Naoto, what happened to your leg?" Minako cried.

Naoto winced and looked at it, "A mugger."

"A mugger, huh," I mused.

After treating Junpei to ice cream at Pinky's, Minako and I had a heart to heart chat at Narda.

"So, uh, Minato..." She said, eating the homemade ice cream from Pinky's cafe, "What do you think? D'you think we should do it?"

I nodded, "Yeah. At the proper time." I added, "Maybe some time after exams."

"Exams..." Minako muttered bitterly as she ate another spoonful of ice cream.

I thought for a while, "Minako... I want to show you something... You're gonna flip." I held Minako's soft, gentle hands and opened the door to my armory. Everything was in place, except Lucifer's Blade, which Elder had undoubtedly 'borrowed' again.

I knew she'd entered it before, but I wanted it to be official, "Minako, you know, this life is not what I had imagined last year. I'd been beaten, insulted and pushed around before... But where I am now in life, with all my hopes and dreams coming true, in a strange way, its because you always stood by me... I mean, I couldn't have done any of it without you."

"Horseshit, Minato, that was all you." Minako smiled, "Well, not most of it..."

"Here... I'd like to show you the most precious possession I have..."

Her eyes gleamed, "Really?"

I opened the cabinet and carefully took Deus Xiphos out. I knew it accepted Minako and I handed it to her. Minako's Days of Autumn ring I gave her seemed to glow as she handled the sword, untouched by its ancient magic.

"It's so light... And balanced!"

"Yes... Yes... Made by Masters of Swordcraft, you see." I explained, "Its been in the family for generations now. My father owned it before he died."

"Yeah... It's beautiful..." Minako sighed, admiring Deus Xiphos' jewel encrusted crossguard and its gilded hilt. Her face was reflected by the narrow, crystal sharp blade.

"Like your fa..."

She looked at me, "You're ring!" I added nervously.

She gave me an even more puzzled look, "Minako, what I'm tryin' to say is that I'm really glad you're my friend."

She smiled, "Me too."

"I'm just sorry it took this long..." I said, "I'd wish we met sooner."

"That's okay." Minako said, raising the sword.

I held her hand, "It's not okay," I said, "I really did wish we met last year."

"Me too. More than you, since you're the first person who ever showed me real kindness," She said seriously, putting Deus Xiphos down to hold my hand, "I really wish you were my friend last year, and the years before those... Because frankly, Minato, you're the one who dragged me out of those dark times of loneliness... And I'll forever be grateful."

We both looked at each other fondly.

"Ahhhh!" Leah cried, "Minato! Help! There's a mouse!"

"It's a big ass mouse!" Akihiko said with fear, "Help! We're trapped!"

Since I was dead tired of being cockblocked yet again, for the millionth time, shouted lazily, "Just shoot the damn thing!"

"I left my gun at my drawer!" Leah cried.

"Get Koromaru to chase him then!" I shouted.

"Who do you think is up here with us?!" Akihiko shrieked.

I ignored them, "Minako... Uh... You, uh..."

"Yes?"

Then, four loud gunshots cracked the silence. We ignored them again, "What would you say? After exams?" I asked her.

"Sure." Minako said, "This had been a long time coming."

"Right." I said, cheering out loud in my mind.

"Besides. We hang out so much, we're practically a couple." Minako said with a flashy smile.

I laughed to hide my joy, "Is that what you think? Sounds good."

"But..." Minako bit her lip, "There's nothing stopping us from making it official..."

I smiled and looked directly at her, "What about Prince Charming?"

She scoffed, "What about him?"

"I see..."

"But first..." She tossed Deus Xiphos at me and grabbed Pinaka, "Let's have some fun. I challenge you to a duel!" She cried.

"Okay," I said, and with that, she charged at me with the spear.

I shrugged and readied for combat. Minako was no delicate flower and I was eager to spar with her.

"Haduken!" She cried as she thrusted the spear to me. I dodged it and slammed on her with my shoulder.

She ran up to me and leaped, the spear poised for my chest. I blocked it with my sword and disarmed her. I expected her to yield, but she grabbed the nearest weapon, Masakodos Blade, and attacked me with it. I knew that if Deus Xiphos wouldn't fold, I would, so I grabbed Corpse Rod and used the Kanabo to defend. If I did counter attack, I'd break her bones with one strike. Eventually, she dropped the sword and used the spear again.

She was surprisingly fast. She stabbed as soon as her hand touched the spear and I parried it with the flat of my blade. She aimed at my feet and I dodged it. She dislodged it as I jumped on the spear and used it as a springboard and dove down with it. Minako blocked the arc I made with the blade and spun it around her head before thrusting it to me. I weaved past it and slashed.

Her agility and nimbleness surprised me. She countered with an audacious charge and I stumbled back to Narda after feeling the wrath of her three talon strikes. I parried her blows and counter-attacked with a torrent of slashes and stabs.

At that point, she tossed the spear to me and I did the same with my blade and essentially did a switcheroo.

She shouted and cursed loudly with each strike, stabbing and slashing wildly with my sword as I was practically helpless against her wrath. How she got this strong, I'd never know, but she was more of a brawler than a warrior. She made a grand mess of the room because I dodged and rolled away rather than to fight her. She wasn't particularly skilled, but she attacked in a way that forced me on the defense. I managed to sweep her off her feet, literally, and grabbed my sword back.

That made her furious. I grabbed a book and threw it at her before charging. She knocked it away with the spear and used the end of the polearm to whip me in the gut. As I reeled, she spun the blade with a crescent sweep and attacked again. I rolled away and zipped past her maneuvers.

We were face-to-face, "Nervous?" She asked, darting the spearhead around, hoping to confuse me.

"Petrified," I trusted my instincts and avoided getting hit. Yet I stumbled on the book I threw and fell.

"Come on, Minato..." Minako jeered, "I don't want Breaking Dawn to steal my glory."

I stood up and got so close, her spear was useless. I wrenched it out of her hands and knocked her down with a palm strike. She inadvertedly grabbed me and took me down with her.

"I win. You lose. What more is there to say?" I said as I mounted her.

"Cheater... You'd hit a girl?!" She said playfully.

I smiled and went close enough to smell her hair. She giggled and laughed with me.

Then, our eyes fell to a resident clown.

"Um... I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Junpei asked.

"No-" I began.

"Yes," Minako said angrily, "You kinda are."

Junpei smiled, "I knew it!" His eyes fell on the destruction Minako and I caused in our wake, "You two like to play rough, eh?"

Minako looked furious, "So what if we do? Quit cockblocking us, Junpei, and take a hike!"

Junpei and I were shocked at her words, "So-" Junpei stammered.

"Get out!" Minako barked, "You ruined a shit load of moments and my soul will be damned before you do it again!"

Junpei stood transfixed. Minako grabbed the spear and hurled it at him, and embedded itself beside Junpei's head, to which he fled the room.

Minako smiled again, "So... Want to get off me now?"

I apologized and got off her, "When we do it, I'm on top," Minako said, "You're heavy."

I shrugged. When Leah came to clean my room, she threw a hissy fit of a lifetime.

"It's not our fault." I said, "Minako and I were just fooling around."

Leah smiled mischivously, "Ah, I see..."

Blushing red, I cried, "It's not what you think!"

"It is what I think." Leah said with a smile.

"We were just duelling!" Minako said defensively.

"Duelling with your genitals?" Junpei piped.

Minako threw a dirty look at him, "Junpei, I'll buy you a puppy, wait for you to fall in love with it, murder it in front of you and force you to eat it."

"You're a monster!" Junpei cried in horror and ran away.

After carefully explaining it to a dubious Leah, we finally cleared it up.

I studied for a while and slept early.

I had another dream.

I was in an derelict monastary, with two people sitting in front of each other. One was an aged monk and the other was a cloaked teenager who wore an orange monk's garb. His hood was orange as well. A few monks armed with staves stood from a distance, looking nervously at the visitor.

They drank tea together, "So, I presume you're Isil-Dûr? High monk of the Himalayan Ranges?" He asked quietly.

"Yes." Isil said, "It was quite fortunate you arrived here before nightfall. There have been whispers of growing evil from the east. A young Demon Lord, who arose from the uttermost east... He is called by some as 'The Elder' and 'The Hood'... They say he has arrived on this mountain."

"Indeed?" The blonde teenager said.

"What is your name, young traveller?" Isil asked.

"My name?" The boy asked, "My name... Christopher Natas, born of Asia. My mother's memory for her homeland made me embark on this journey, to hopefully find myself."

Isil nodded, "A wise choice."

"Tea please." Christopher asked as Isil signalled a monk to pour him more tea. Christopher drank the tea and his blue eyes fell on a black monk's garb framed beside a photo of four men. One was Isil-Dûr, one was a muscular man with angry eyes, the other was a short, but evil looking man and the last one looked more kinder.

"Japanese sake." Isil said.

"Of course." Christopher said amiably, "Tastes great."

"Yup, that's from Konishi liquors!" A monk from the side said and roared with laughter. Three senior looking monks joined with us.

"What brings you men here?" Christopher asked a burly monk and his friends.

"I was from India. I love the climate here and I'm not leaving!" The monk replied, "Right now, I'm a herdsman."

"I have been a tent maker all my life," a formidable monk said, "My family made the finest tents in Canton, China."

"What a coincidence," Christopher said quietly, "I'm from China as well. My parents grew up in Canton."

"What were their names?" The formidable one asked.

"Oh, they had names," Christopher said, "But their names were taken away by herdsmen," he clicks cups with the burly monk, "And tentmakers. All under the employ of one delusional communist madman." He said and drank his tea and refilled it. The monks looked uneasily at each other.

He smiled at them and rolled up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing a black tattoo of a withered tree with a skull and 666 at the roots.

The monk's eyes widened with pure fear.

He smiled evilly. The burly monk drew a knife, but Christopher held his arm easily. He withered the monk's arm toa claw, much to everyone's horror and took the knife with ease, and read the inscription, "'Covert Acolytes of the Forbidden Path From Flesh to Soul', eh?" Christopher sneered, "I wonder which one you'd care to lose first?"

"We will never yield to you!" The burly monk cried defiantly.

"Heh... flesh it is then." He hewed the monk's arm off with the knife, to everyone's horror. Isil Dûr moved back with several monks.

"Freeze, asshole!" A monk with a bow and arrow aimed at him.

"Go ahead and shoot him!" A monk beckoned as he complied. The arrow sailed at Christopher, but he used time to zip past it and it hit the tentmaker monk behind him in the chest.

Christopher glared at him from under his hood. The monk shuddered and began to age rapidly, until he was a broken pile of bones held together by withered skin.

Christopher grabbed the arrow from the fallen monk and used it to pin the burly monk's hand to the floor.

"Who are you?!" The monk cried.

Christopher laughed, "I... I am the Devil's servant. I am... Elder." And cut off the burly monk's head with a clean sweep.

The monks began to panic and charged. Elder summoned Lucifer's Blade and made short work of them. Their staves were no match to his zweihander. Acolyte after another fell quickly, and just like that, over ten score or more monks were killed. The only consilation they had was that they died quickly albeit bloodily.

Elder marched through, killing the remnants with ease, showing no mercy and slaughtering man, woman and child in the courtyard in order to reach the final sanctum.

One monk was begging for the ones inside to grant him entry, but he was ignored. He panicked when he saw Elder.

"Look, I'm not a monk! They're in here, just let the normal people go-" his pleas were cut off when Elder ran him through with his blade before destroying the gate with his sword.

Inside, three monks guarded Isil-Dûr, who was behind another door.

"I have dispatched the Temple Guards to our location. They will descend upon you shortly." The Captain of the Temple Guard said menacingly.

"You mean the same ones who are flooding the courtyard pool with their blood?" Elder said with a smile.

"You butcher!" He spat, "You shall die!"

"How about... Joining me?" Elder said.

"No!" The Captain said, "We would die a thousand deaths for Lord Isil-Dûr!"

"One would suffice." Elder said as he made short work of the Captain, whose head fell off with a clean sweep. The two were dispatched quickly, one with the power of time, and the other thrown out the window,

Elder smashed through the doors, where Isil-Dûr sat silently.

"Hail Isil-Dûr, Lord of Time!" Elder said with contempt, "I am Elder, Lord of the Shadows."

Isil-Dûr nodded grimly.

"Oh, don't give me that," Elder said, "What was supposed to do? Let them kill me? I came here to ask questions."

"So you killed the thousand inhabitants of this monastary to ask a few questions?!" He fumed.

"I would've done that anyway. Besides, you aren't true monks anyway. You're really just worshippers and disciples of the Forbidden Path!" Elder said dissmissively, "And a Demon Lord, caring for people? How very touching."

"Ask your question." Isil said, "A thousand lives were lost for this."

"To the point, aren't we?" Elder said, "I want to know the locations of the other Demon Lords." Elder said.

"I only know the locations of the Lords of Space and Weather," Isil said, "The location of Lord Creation is lost to me. And even if I did know, I would never tell you!now get out of my mountain and never come back!"

"Curse you, wretched old man!" Elder spat, "Would you think I came here just to do that? No, I plan on destroying this entire mountain and salting the earth! After all, the Lord of Time knows everything will be barren. Osn't that what the Forbidden Path taught you?"

"I walked away from that path a long time ago..." Isi-Dûr said.

Elder walked quickly towards him, "My son, my son, what are you doing?" Isil Dûr cried.

He grabbed the old man by the throat and raised his sword, "Succeeding you." He plunged the sword to the old man's heart and absorbed his powers. Isil-Dûr, former Lord of Time, dissolved into sand.

"One step closer..." Elder growled, "To killing the Messiah."

A/N: Whew. Done. Again, so sorry for those who waited. The next chap will appear soon, since exams are all but as always, and this time, I will update sooner ratherthan later if they piled up like usual.

Also, sorry if Elder seemed too violent. Again, I wanted to ephasize his cruelty and evil. Also, they weren't real monks. Jus covert cultists.

Q/A:

aaronvang: Yeah, no. He did say yes. And I was younger than 18 when I did 'it' and I'm hardly even 18. Its kinda based after some personal stuff.

Gin: Hey, glad you could review!

Aw, thanks! You give me too much credit!

Also, sorry if it seemed toodark at times. Some of those stiff are kinda a norm where I'm from. But Ihaven't done what they did, except the occasional teasing of a gay friend of ours.

Well, next time again!

CQS: Yeah, I was gonna include a part where Minako kicks Elder off the cliff, but it'd seem foolish.

Dr. Franken Stein: Always a pleasure reading your reviews.

Radaketor: Of course Minato's gonna say yes! This is Minako we're talking about!

Yep, I sang whilst reading too. I used a shoe, like Quan did.

Hoshi: Thanks! I did put up more description, I think...

Cutiekuts: Thanks! If I don't update and you want to know what comes next, feel free to drop me a PM.

Vault Hunter: Thanks. I do have a lot of OCs, but trust me, I can manage them and there's nothing that can overwhelm the Prince of Dreams.

As for the tropes, if you could revise it I'd appreciate it!

Sacky: He won't, not until Minato is dead. And you can see, Karma bites Junpei in the ass.

Scrappy: Thanks! I hope you'll enjoy the next arcs.

Jenkins: I love reviews as much as Kenji loves ramen.

Troper Fan: I thought you just had to input it from the index, no spaces and a colon?

Nope, no cliffhanger here!

KronosFireZeroOne: As you can see, Sensei is just the TEACHER. Elder is the ENEMY of Minato.

I find that statement really funny. Nathan is nowhere as near as evil as Elder. Nathan was just a jealous husband and bully, while Elder... He may very well be Minato's evil counterpart.

Tourist: He's not really my favorite actor, per se, but now I think he brought about his death. No one asked him to inject himself with heroin and booze off. Still sad though.

Winnie: I guess it was coincidence?

Well, it is based on something funny I saw while I was at my cousin's house... Pinky's house is above her cafe, so I think no one saw them.

Kanji is not a thug. He's thuggish, as seen when he handles Adachi, but he's a big panda bear inside.

You'd be surprised of who it actually is. Is it Naoto? Is it Lee? Is it Quan? Or is it Minato's evil twin? Who really knows?

Well, Narda is based after it... I think I explained how it looked in one of the past chapters.

I heard dogs understand orders better if their owners spoke German, the laguage of discipline.

Fortimerr: Like I said, exams, exams, exams... Writing and waiting for reviews doesn't actually hand me a diploma at the end of the year, mind you.