Rizal turned his head around and noticed that he was in the biggest area that he had ever seen in a Shadow's world. He looked down and found himself looking like a crusader in a European city, just about to go to war in what looked like a hilly meadow. The buds around him looked frozen in time, as if they were never going to bloom.

This place…whose mind did they take?

Five seconds later, someone came tumbling in after him. The Filipino didn't have to turn his head to hear Lovino swear a couple of times and dust off what looked like the outfit of a Renaissance royal. The dirt on the ground didn't cling onto his outfit like it would've. It was almost as if time had stood still…

"Where the fuck are we?" He stood up.

"In someone's world."

"Whose world?"

"Like I know. I didn't see any trace of them around." Rizal turned his head before blinked. "Op. Someone's coming with us."

Lovino stared at him in confusion as Rizal reached into the sky and started pulling on some air. To his amazement, he was pulling on a delicate hand, and soon Erika came through the air wearing her hair up and some very masculine body armor. She looked around surprised at what she was seeing.

"W…what is this place?"

"It's the other realm. It's a long story, and we don't have that much time to explain it." Rizal answered. "I'll explain what I can while we look around."

"Look around what? It's just a huge empty meadow!"

"Well, that explains who we're looking for, right?"

Lovino just rolled his eyes as Rizal escorted Erika around the area. No matter where they were going, all they would see were gardens and mountains. They were beautiful, mind you, but for some reason it didn't even feel like they were heading anywhere. That was pissing Lovino off.

"OK, where the fuck are we? We haven't been moving for shit, and now I think we're lost."

"Um…" Erika looked around. "This place looks like the Hautes-Alpes."

At the mere mention of the words, there was the sound of rumbling behind them. The three turned around and saw a small cloud heading toward them from the hills. Rizal squinted and barely noticing something that looked like black horses. Suddenly, he froze in shock, his eyes flashing a brief red.

"Get out of the way!"

"What?"

"To the sides! Now!"

They didn't hesitate to follow Rizal's orders, charging to the side as the squad continued to come close. Rizal was barely able to get them out of the way as they watched an entire war explode before them. Lovino held onto Erika to make sure she didn't fall off as a few knights barely missed them with their blades. What was weird was that their blades were caked with black fire…

"Rizal, what the hell is going on?"

"…I have no idea." He stood up. "Ivan told me that it's commonplace, but I never saw Shadows fight each other before."

"So this is a Shadow's war…" Lovino looked around. "The clash of millions of true selves…"

"What…" Erika stood up. "What is this?"

"Well, according to Ivan…" Rizal looked down. "This is the birth of nightmares."

"Nightmares? The fuck are you-?"

"Take a look."

Rizal pointed forward and saw that some of the Shadows were falling in battle. As they fell, black flames shot upward into the air, disappearing into the sky and almost burning the atmosphere that was in contact with it. Lovino stared at the whole chain of events in confusion, wondering what he was seeing.

"When a Shadow dies in this conflict, their thoughts are freed into the atmosphere, and like magnets they are attracted to the mind of their creator." Rizal answered. "Because of the nature of both sols and Shadows, they clash in the mind of the creator, creating a nightmare."

"Wow…" Erika looked around. "So many nightmares…"

"That's the thing…they already dragged a human down to feast. They shouldn't be fighting each other like this…" Rizal looked up. "Unless they're building up an army…"

"Say what now?"

"They're scared of their victim…that's the only explanation."

"So we can save whoever they dragged down here?"

"If they don't kill us first…"

"So where do we start looking?"

Rizal started looking around, leaving the other two wondering just what the heck he was planning to do. From the corner of her eye, Erika could see his eyes flashing back to a strange shade of hazel-red…and was his nose twitching? Before she could question it, he pointed at one of the mountains.

"There." His voice was blank. "He'll be there."

"What makes you say that, bastard?" Lovino grumbled.

"A hunch." He answered with a shrug. "Unless you have a better idea."

"…not really. So how are we going to go through this huge mess without getting killed?"

"We tear through the war."

"Fine- wait, what? ARE YOU NUTS?" Lovino spat. "If you haven't realized anything, me and Erika just started whatever the hell you call this profession!"

"True…all right. I'll tear through the war. You two just have to catch up."

"That's not a better plan!"

"We have to get to the other side." Rizal answered. "Again, you have a better idea?"

Lovino grumbled, beaten.

"Then we're going through." He answered. "I only got two rules for you two. One, stay as close as you can."

"Easy enough." The Italian muttered.

"Two: whatever you do, make sure I don't see you until my weapon is away."

Say what?

"Now that's out of the way."

The Filipino gestured them to be as close to him as possible as he started to play with his yoyo. They could hear a low chuckle before the toy snapped into the golden blade Lovino had barely seen before and he charged forward, leaving the other two in the dust.

"Wha-hey!" He turned to Erika. "Come on! He's blasting through them!"

"All right!" Rizal looks so different from his usual self…

The two of them kept as close as possible as Rizal tore up the place and the Shadows with one swing of the blade. Erika couldn't help but notice that most of them were hesitating when they saw Rizal, almost as if they were scared of him as well. Then she realized that their eyes were fixated on his blade.

"Those things are scared at his weapon." She concluded.

"Hey, according to what I saw, that thing can end these bastards in one stroke." Lovino answered. "No wonder they're backing the fuck away."

"So it's a Vorpal sword?"

"It stopped mine."

Erika stared at him in confusion as Rizal finally got them a clear path across the field. The minute they were away, the war escalated yet again as if they had not been terrified of a glowing yellow sword just a few seconds ago. Lovino held onto her hand as they watched the Filipino stare up into the mountain he wanted them to be at before the sword vanished from his wrist.

"We're good." He answered, turning to them. "You're clear."

"OK, why the hell did you not want us to be seen when you were clearly tripping balls while tripping other balls?"

"It's a secret~"

"Son of a-"

"Rizal, you said that there's a victim that had been dragged in this place."

"Yes, that's right Erika."

"Well, who's in here?"

"What, you don't know yet?"

"No we freaking don't!" Lovino started flailing. "Tell us if you know, dammit!"

"We're standing right on top of the answer."

Erika and Lovino stared at each other for a few seconds before looking down. They were standing on what looked like the surface of a main square, carvings of soldiers and quotes all over. What caught their attention was the one painted picture in the center, where Rizal was standing on.

It was the French flag.