The rest of the walk to Azamir's castle was spent on introductions. The walk was filled with laughter, talking, and shouting, and everyone seemed to be getting along just fine. The only person who wasn't laughing, however, was Susumu. She tried to be cheerful and join in with the others, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible had happened to her friends.

Eventually, however, she decided that she should say SOMETHING, at least. "...Hey, Martcha?" She asked. "...You're stronger than the Dark Lord, aren't you?"

Martcha smiled slightly at the question. "Well, Susumu... As I have said before, I am a god, and... That Dark Lord... I'm not sure what he is... But, yes, I can confidently say that I am stronger than he is."

Raya gave her an odd look. "If you're so much stronger, then why not just go take him out yourself?" he questioned.

Martcha looked down at that. "Well, you see, Raya," she began. "As a divine being, I am not allowed to interfere with destiny. The will of other beings must be carried out on their own, after all."

"Destiny..." Susumu mumbled. She wasn't sure what Martcha meant by that. Was she saying... That it was her destiny to defeat the Dark Lord? To save all of Miitopia? ...To become a hero...?

While Susumu was pondering this, she didn't even notice that the group was walking right into the Dark Lord's castle. Or that she ended up wandering too far away from the others. Or that something was looming behind her, preparing to hit her in the-

"GAH!" Susumu was suddenly slammed in the face by... Something REALLY heavy. She didn't quite know what was happening, but her head was hurting a lot now. When Susumu looked up, she was terrified at what she saw. It looked like those Fire Demons they had fought before, except this one was MUCH larger. And what's more, it had Neal's face attached to it.

"Neal!" she called out. "Oh no, where are you?!" Something wasn't right here. This thing had Neal's face, but Neal was nowhere to be found. What... Did it do to him? Was this thing... Going to kill her too?

"Hey, Susumu!" Suddenly, Susumu was scooped out of the way. "Are you alright? That thing almost made you into Susumu dust!"

Susumu looked up to see that the group had caught up with her, and she was being carried away by Raya. "Raya! I-it's Neal! He's..."

"We know, he had his face taken," Raya replied. "But don't worry! Look, everyone's fighting to get it back!"

Seeing her friends fight, however, only made Susumu more terrified for their lives. "G-Guys, wait!" She called out to them. "That thing... I-I think it..."

Meanwhile, Susumu's friends were having a hard time taking down the Neal Demon. "What... What is this thing?!" Samuel squeaked. "Why is it so strong?!"

At this point, Priff was starting to realize what was going on. "Ku... It's Susumu," she said. Everyone gave her an odd look, until she explained herself. "This thing is absorbing Susumu's fear. Her terror is actually making it stronger. If we can get her to calm down, we can defeat it."

"But what we age to be doing?" Bowyetta asked. "Miss Susumu is thinking that Neal is being dead!"

"I'm sure Samuel has something that can help~"

"Something... That can help..." Samuel looked at his staff for a moment, then at Susumu, who was now on the ground sobbing and clinging to Raya. "Um... I'm sorry to have to do this to you, Susumu, but..." He then cast a gentle blue light upon Susumu.

Susumu couldn't place why, but the blue light was making her feel... A lot calmer somehow. "S-Samuel? I... Think I can..." Slowly and carefully, she started to stand up.

Raya immediately hit the Neal Demon as hard as he could. As it turned out, Priff was right! "Hey! This thing's a lot weaker now!" he declared.

"Kukuku... I told you so~" Priff said, delivering one last hit to the demon. "Susumu? Care to do the honors?"

Susumu gave a half-hearted hit to finish off the demon. Priff was surprised to see that Susumu still wasn't happy about this, however. "Well, there goes his face," she sighed. "But... What does that matter when-"

"KYAAAAH!" Suddenly, a shout rang out through the castle. "Alright, where is he?!" Out of the darkness came a very familiar looking figure. A figure that looked like-

"Neal!" Susumu suddenly pounced on Neal, her eyes filling with tears. "Thank Garaden you're okay, I... I thought that thing killed you!"

Neal pulled away in surprise. "Wha- Hey!" he exclaimed. "It's alright. I've told ya before, nothing can kill me! But... Where did that Dark Lord get to?! He dumped me here and took my face to put on that... Thing!"

"It's alright, Neal," Susumu said. "We're going after the Dark Lord now, actually. But... There's still someone we need to find first."

"Someone we need to find?" Samuel asked? But don't we have everyone all together?"

"Not quite yet," Raya replied. "We still gotta get Konade."

"Who's Konade?" Sachio asked. "I thought we were looking for Yardi!"

"Er... I'll explain on the way," Susumu said. "Neal, did you see anything before your face got stolen?"

"Uh, yeah!" Neal answered. "There was a pink haired girl, and some angry-looking guy... I think I saw them in the next room, actually!"

"Pink hair and angry eyes?" Susumu nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right... Come on, guys. Let's just hope they're okay..."