Sooooo look who's finally being introduced in this chapter. THE ANTAGONIST.

And Word absolutely HATES their style of speech. Green lines. Everywhere.

Now then. I'm gonna need to find some sandwich filling for this story because I need to stretch it out more... OTL

EVERYTHING'S HAPPENING SO FAAASSSSTTT

It was nearly pitch black in the tunnels. The ground was cold underfoot and everything smelt of earth.

Amaterasu padded onward without even a spark of fear. She was a goddess; she wasn't scared of demons and she definitely wasn't scared of the dark. Besides, she still had her sense of smell to stop her from accidentally walking into any of the walls.

She could feel the tunnels gradually sloping downwards, and soon she could tell that she was deep underground. After a short while, she finally noticed some light ahead. A faint blue glow, flickering slightly.

Tipping her head to one side and letting out a quiet grumble, Amaterasu quickened her pace.

Around the corner, the tunnel opened out. Here was a small room, metallic walls with flickering blue lines snaking across them. There was a screen on one of the walls with some kind of strange symbols scrolling on it, like the screens that had been in Waka's house, and every so often it would flicker. It seemed like there had been some kind of Moon Tribe technology here, but something had happened to cause the higher levels of this area to explode… she didn't doubt that this had something to do with that demon Akuro who Chibi had defeated a few months ago.

The wolf padded through the room, claws tapping on the metal floor. There were various exits so this place was probably somewhat of a maze. Choosing a path to take at random, she headed back into the semi-darkness.

Every so often there was a pattern of blue lines on the wall, providing a dim light and proving that she was still within the ruins. The evil aura was gradually getting stronger the deeper she went.

At first glance, the path appeared to come to a dead end. A blue marking glowed at the end of the path, providing some light, and upon closer inspection she noticed some stairs.

Ears twitching, Amaterasu looked at the stairs for a moment, deciding whether to go any further underground or continue exploring up here. Then she just shrugged and took off down the stairway.

Once she reached the bottom of the steps, she glanced around once more. This was another large metal room. Computers lined the walls but most of the screens were cracked. A few lines glowed on the walls, but these ones were red instead of blue.

It didn't take long to notice the black mist swirling around the ceiling.

Not far away in the palace prisons, there wasn't much to do but look at the ceiling.

Waka lay on the prison bed, staring up at what he could see of the stone roof above him in the dim moonlight. He'd been here for a day now, and he was seriously starting to get concerned. He still couldn't find any way to escape. And if he didn't get out of here, well… it seemed that he wouldn't live to tell the tale.

Kazuki hadn't spoken for a long while, so he'd probably fallen asleep. But Waka knew he'd never be able to do the same. He was too preoccupied with trying to think of a way out of here, wondering what Kagu was so mad at him for and worrying about Amaterasu…

What if it wasn't just that the guards were going crazy? Perhaps there was something affecting them… in which case, it was highly possible that other people were affected as well. And as it seemed, he wasn't the only one who became the victim of it… what if they turned on Amaterasu as well?

No. Ma chérie is fine. She must be. I'm the one who's trapped here…

Maybe he was worrying too much. The whole Tero incident had made him paranoid. How close they'd come to losing the sun goddess…

Amaterasu is fine. I have more pressing matters to deal with right now. Being locked in a cell was starting to get to him.

There was the creaking of a heavy door as one of the guards walked into the corridor for a patrol. Waka barely noticed. Too busy thinking.

What was annoying him the most was that he hadn't foreseen any of this. Not when Tero had tried to kill the goddess and not now either. Without knowing the outcome, that left even more room for speculation, and with everything he'd seen in the past Waka couldn't help but expect the worst. When he'd fought Tero to save Amaterasu he'd had to try and believe in his own ability to win the fight, and that was something he wasn't used to having to do.

Waka let out a long sigh. This was getting him nowhere.

"Uagh!"

What the—

He jumped up instantly as he heard the shout from further down the room, cut short and followed by the distinctive sound of someone collapsing.

"Kazuki!" Waka called. "What's going on?"

No reply. Was he hurt? Had the guard done something to him? He had been in here longer than Waka, after all, but only by a day or so… and if the guards were trying to kill him already…

Even looking through the bars of the cell he couldn't see far enough to find out what was happening. Yet he could hear a creaking noise, like a door opening… followed shortly by a slam.

A moment later, a shadow flashed past the front of the cell. It halted, doubling back.

"So I'm guessing you wanna get outta here, right?"

Waka just blinked, somewhat surprised. "Kazuki?"

"What, you think I didn't wanna escape?" Kazuki laughed, holding the ring of keys up in the air where they glinted in the moonlight. "Better hurry though, that guard won't be out for long."

Pushing the shock aside, Waka shrugged. "Fine then. Prison breakout it is."

Kazuki took a moment finding the right key before shoving it in the lock, attempting to unlock the door but not being very successful. "Hang on, I got this…"

Waka rolled his eyes and held out a hand. "Give it here."

Kazuki glanced up arrogantly, eyes glinting in the low light. Red eyes. Perhaps that was why the guards had mistaken him for a demon. Though it was still hard to see in the darkness. He took the key out of the lock and tossed the ring through the bars of the cell. "Okay, geez."

With a shrug, Waka effortlessly unlocked the door. He found a smaller key and managed to finally remove the chain from his right arm. It was good to be free of that thing…

"Ambidextrous. Lucky," Kazuki muttered as Waka swung the door open and stepped out.

"Quoi?"

"Nothing. Let's get out of here."

As much as Waka wanted to just teleport away and be free from this place, he had the feeling that if he left Kazuki here on his own he might get captured again. The guy had just helped him get out of the cell, he owed him that much. And he also needed to find where the guards had put his weapons; he didn't want to face them unarmed…

"In a minute. The guards took my swords when they put me in here and I need to get them back."

"Seriously?" Kazuki sighed. "Okay, fine, but if you get us locked back in here again…"

"Jamais peur, I won't. I can get us out of here." Hopefully.

Amaterasu growled as she watched the swirling black mist. So there was a demon here after all. And it must be a reasonably powerful one for there to be this much fog.

"Ama… sun god…?"

Her ears pricked as she heard the voice. Yet it echoed around the place and she couldn't tell where it was coming from. She glanced around, trying to spot anything in the darkness.

"Ama… why you here. Nobody go here. Not anymore."

Amaterasu stopped growling, listening for any signs of there being someone else here. All she could hear was the voice. There was no scent other than her own and the aura that travelled with the mist.

"You look for me, aren't you? You want find way to save friend."

The wolf let out a confused grunt. How did this person – or whatever it was– know that?

"I can read mind. Your friend. Trapped. Not for long. He escape."

Escape? Ammy stood back up to her full height, tipping her head to one side.

"He try to escape guards now. Not your concern."

Amaterasu let out another growl. She wanted to know who or what was talking to her. Whatever it was, it didn't sound particularly good at speaking…

"Who I? My name DD."

The goddess glanced around again. DD? That was an odd name… and where were they?

"You want know where?" DD asked. "Look up."

She tried looking up, but she still couldn't see anything. Only the swirling black mist.

"I no have body. Just mist. When I have more power, I get body."

Taking a step back, Amaterasu let out another growl. DD definitely wasn't a human. He must be a demon. There's no other creature that would be made up of swirling mist…

"Yes. I demon. Now you no like me."

Huh?

"People no like demons. It not fair. Demons 'evil'. But humans easy to fool."

Amaterasu took another step back. What was this thing saying? Was it responsible for the guards turning against them…?

"Yes, that me. People no like demons. Now you know what's like. More people hate, more power I get. Soon I have real body."

So this was the demon responsible. Because of this thing, Waka had been captured, the guards had turned against her… maybe that was even why Issun had been so mad at her.

But why was it only manipulating the people? Surely it would have caused a lot more confusion if DD had used her as a source of hatred…

Better not think things like that. DD could read her mind; she didn't want him getting ideas…

Apparently he hadn't missed the thought. "It no work on Ama. Or Moon Tribe. Mind too old. Block out telepathy."

So that was how it worked. DD was sending thoughts to the people in the city, which would confuse them… but it wouldn't work on her or Waka because they were too old.

Well now. That was the first time anyone had called her old…

"Not just city. All Nippon. Much more power created. You no stop me."

Amaterasu jumped back into her defensive position, letting out a snarl. I will stop you. I need to protect Nippon. And I'll do that by defeating you.

"You no defeat me. Impossible. You can't hurt me. I have no body. I can't hurt you either though."

She narrowed her eyes. So she couldn't defeat DD. Yet.

So how was she going to stop him?