Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM

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Allen pinched the bridge of his nose, trying, and failing, to suppress the headache that slowly emerged. The Earl had practically ordered him to steal a national treasure, of his own country! But he knew there was no choice. "Fine. Who will come along?"

The Earl thought about it. "Hm, this is important, so I shouldn't save firepower. Let's see, I think Tyki, Road, Lulubelle and Jasdevi. You can bring Luciano along as well. Alice still needs to get used to all this, so she'll stay here and Cyril still has political duties, so he won't join you either."

Allen winced. If the Earl sent that many Noah with him, he was obviously expecting major complications. "Where's the catch? For just getting something, this is overkill."

The Earl nodded. "Yes, the descendants of the Innocence's wielder are still guarding it, so I don't know if exposure to the Innocence has altered them somehow. Also, they don't permit intruders. They kill the men and nail their remains to the trees as a warning. I have no idea what happens to the women. So I'd rather be on the safe side. Akuma don't function properly in that area, so your Level 5s won't do you any good. Leave them. You will leave tomorrow."

Alicia raised her hand. "Since you all are working so hard to prove all I believed in wrong, just let me check. You say that the heroes of history were users of this Innocence, and that all monsters and demons were really just these Akuma, right?"

The Earl shook his head. "Not all monsters were Akuma, like the Innocence-boosted lion that accursed Hercules slew, or just normal animals. But demons exist, and I don't mean Akuma, I'm referring to real demons. They are few and they're all sealed up, but demons like Lucifer, Satan, Baphomet and Belial exist, and they are very powerful. In terms of sheer power, I would be hard-pressed to defeat one of them, and there are those even I cannot defeat. The demon king Satan and the Fallen Angel Lucifer would tear me to shreds." he openly admitted.

Allen gulped. The Earl had once leveled a city with little effort. How much power would something possess that would render him powerless? How the hell would you beat something like that? Road's thought were following similar paths. "But you said they're all sealed. How could anyone manage to seal something that holds so much power?"

"Simple," the Earl said "magic. The power of magic is different from all other forces, and can indeed be used to defeat something vastly superior to oneself. Why do you think I spent centuries to learn and master it? And the fact that some where nephilim helped."

"Nefe-what?" Jasdero asked, his other side nodding, seconding the question.

Allen spoke. "Nephilim, half-angels. The offspring of a union between angels and mortal women."

Tyki looked at him. "And you know that because?"

Allen rolled his eyes and pointed at himself. "Former member of a religious organization, remember?"

Tyki blinked. How could he have forgotten? He nodded. Then he turned to the Earl. "So if these demons are that powerful, can they be used for our purposes?"

The Earl shook his head. "Unfortunately no. All demons that I know of seek absolute destruction, and would see no difference between us and the rest, perhaps they'd even view us as a major threat and would attempt to eliminate us first. Fortunately, they are safely sealed away and the seals need specific items to be broken, so the chance of one of them breaking free is essentially zero."

Alicia was intrigued. "Do you know the location of one of these sealed demons?"

The Earl nodded. "I know where Lucifer is sealed. He's trapped in China. The Chinese have a recording of his battle against the true Archangel Michael."

Allen looked up, this was news to him. "Really? Why haven't I heard of that before?"

The Earl laughed. "You have, you just don't know it, as the meaning of that recording has been lost. Let me explain. Both Michael and Lucifer are angels, and surrounded by a powerful aura, visible to the naked eye. Michael's, as any loyal angels, was of a pure white, while Lucifer's is black, signifying his status as a fallen. Both circled each other and eventually concentrated a tremendous amount of energy into an orb and firing it at each other, both hitting the other one chest. Lucifer was then sealed by the nephilim that had viewed the battle, while Michael retreated to heaven to heal. But the moment at which both orbs struck, an instant before a giant explosion occurred, was drawn by a painter. It's meaning was lost, and now people assume that it symbolizes balance, known as yin-yang."

Allen looked up. "Angels exist? Should we expect them showing up anytime in the near future?"

The Earl shook his head once again. "Angels don't leave heaven. Michael was an exception, it won't happen again. But back to our original topic. You will leave tomorrow at daybreak. Get some sleep, you might need it." With that, the Earl vanished, leaving the Noah to their own thoughts.

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Levrier leaned back. This was the perhaps most important operation in the Order's history, something that could even the odds, and with correct usage of temporary purification, tilt them in their favor. The choice who to send would be the most critical one he ever made.

He would have taken Friedrich, but since that was no longer possible, Kanda was the next-best choice. Lenalee would be useful with her tendency to make friends quickly, and Lavi and Jesaia he just wanted as far away as possible, not that they weren't good fighters. Timothy and Miranda wouldn't do much good, so they would stay behind. Crowrey seemed to have caught the flue, so he was out of action for a few days. Bookman was too dubious to be sent along for such a mission, and since Lavi would be on it, he wouldn't complain. Dagmar was currently too valuable to be sent out, but her growing friendship with Valkyrie Nocturn was becoming bothersome.

Valkyrie, that name left a sour taste in Levrier's mouth. She had been the perfect tool for his purposes, and then Allen Walker had strolled in and destroyed years worth of training and conditioning in a few minutes, at a point where she was too strong to simply be retrained. All he could do now was use her as good as he could and hope she died in the line of duty, so she was on board for this operation. Which left open the most pressing question: Which General should be sent along?

He had orders that under no circumstances was it permitted for more than one General to remain outside of Headquarters at the same time, so he had exactly one free slot. But who fitted there best?

Cloud Nine was too soft for this operation, she might hesitate to do what was necessary. Froi Tiedoll was too unpredictable for Levrier's taste, he had no idea what to expect of the man. Winters Zokalo would be a good choice, but he needed a functional group that could go fast and under the radar. Under the radar was no problem for Cross Marian, but Levrier was worried he might give the group the slip and vanished again. Then he remembered that there were women in this group, and that Marian would rather shoot himself in the foot than let a woman get hurt. Also, Lenalee had already proven that she could stop him from escaping. Marian would be suited best for this mission.

But better safe than sorry, so Link would be along for the trip as well, equipped with a portable gate generator in case they needed to make a fast escape.

They would leave before daybreak.

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Allen yawned. He looked behind him and noticed that his traveling-companions were not doing much better. Everyone clearly thought they should be in bed right now, Luciano mumbling something about stupid paranoid Earls while Road, who was once again clinging to him mumbled some things Allen didn't even want to understand. He tried to smile, and to his own surprise, he succeeded. He looked at the others. "Shall we?" he asked.

The others mumbled their agreement, or at least that's what Allen decided to translate the grumbles into, and they headed towards the gate. The Earl was waiting for them.

He smiled at them, oblivious to their annoyance. "Hello-ho, how ya all doin this fine morning?" he asked in an overly playful voice.

"Don't ask." Allen muttered, and the others grumbled in agreement, even Lulubelle seemed annoyed.

The Earl cleared his throat. "Anyways, I came to tell you that when you step outside, you won't be right at the goal, but in the forest surrounding it. You'll have to take a five-mile-hike to reach the part of the forest in which the colony where Arthur's descendants live is."

Allen looked up. "Descendants? I thought Arthur's only child was Mordred, who mortally injured Arthur in their final battle, at the cost of his own life."

The Earl nodded. "And you're correct. But Mordred also had a child, although he and his descendants identified themselves with Arthur. Those descendants live there, and I don't think they'll be too happy about your visit, so be careful. Who knows what power the Innocence might have bestowed on them."

Allen yawned again and glared at the Earl. "Why thank you Earl, your limitless optimism is just what we need right now."

The Earl shrugged. "Off you go. Bring me a souvenir, a Excalibur would be nice." he said and gestured at the gate. They entered, Luciano swearing like a sailor the entire time.

The darkness of the Arc was instantly replaced with the green of a giant forest. Then they heard the Earl again. "Oh, I forgot to mention this, but it's too dangerous to keep the gate open the entire time, so until you get the sword and leave the area, you're on your own." Then the voice was gone.

"I'm starting to think he's trying to get rid of us." Allen stated.

Luciano looked at the vanishing gate. "Perfect. Just fucking perfect." He cursed.

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On the other side of the forest, someone was sharing Luciano's opinion. "Another forest? And again we have no real idea what way to go? Please, please let me burn it down, okay?"

Lenalee shook her head. "No Jesaia, you can't burn it down."

Link felt the need to add his two cents. "We are supposed to maintain a low profile. Go in, get the Innocence and get out before someone notices us, that would be the perfect and the desired outcome. And I doubt that turning the forest into a bonfire can be considered low-profile."

Cross looked up. "If you want to make some fire, give me a light." He raised an expensive-looking cigar.

Lavi glanced at it. "What is that?" he asked.

Cross grinned. "Roughly three years of Levrier's life once he finds out."

Jesaia's face split into a grin. "Really? In that case, allow me." He snipped his fingers and a small flame appeared on his fingertip. Cross leaned forward and the cigar in his mouth caught fire. He leaned back, savoring the aroma.

Link's eyes widened. "That aroma! Is that what I think it is?"

Cross smiled. "That depends. If you think that this is one of the most expensive cigar-types in the world, then yes, this is exactly what you think."

Kanda looked at the entire situation, then he looked at the forest. It was a six-mile hike to the designated area, which was huge by itself, and he was stuck with these idiots. "Che, get your asses in gear, I want this over with quickly."

Cross raised a brow. "You think you can order me around?"

Kanda was in a miserable mood. "Everyone, get your asses moving or I gut and castrate you before I shove one of the trees up your asses, your choice."

What could be added to a speech like that? Nothing that wouldn't result in the loss of one's balls, so the entire procession silently started heading towards their designated area.

The silence was abruptly broken when they were three miles away from their target area.

"Lord have mercy." Jesaia gasped.

"Oh god." Lenalee was in tears.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Lavi muttered.

"Okay, that's just fucked up." Val stated.

Even Kanda was slightly shaken. "This I could have lived with not seeing."

The entire forest before them was filled with corpses. Some little more than skeletons, some clearly passed on recently. They were nailed to the trees, some simply impaled on branches. These remains formed what appeared to be a giant, five-foot-thick line or huge ring around the area ahead.

"Well, they certainly don't like visitors." Cross stated.

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Allen and his group had made the same discovery, but took it better. Allen was disgusted, Luciano didn't feel to well, the others were more along the lines of mildly interested. Road in particular studied one of the corpses that had a deep gash in its back.

"This was made by a straight blade, like a European sword." she stated, looking at the terrible injury. "But this is interesting, judging by the wounds depth, whatever made it was much stronger than a human. If I didn't know that it was impossible, I'd say someone trained a gorilla or a grizzly to kill this guy."

Allen raised a brow. "You can tell all that from only this old wound?"

She grinned. "Years of experience." Then she latched herself to his arm. "I caused enough injuries to recognize what object causes what kind of injury."

Allen frowned. "No details please." His gaze fell on a mummified corpse that had obviously hung there quite a few years already. There was a small hole in the stomach-area. He froze.

"What's wrong?" Tyki asked.

Allen pointed at the corpse. "I know him."

Lulubelle raised a brow. "I doubt that. He's been dead at least a decade, more likely two."

Allen nodded. "I don't doubt that. I saw him in my vision when I became a Noah."

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Flashback

Allen still couldn't take his eyes off of the horrible reflections.

Now he saw a man with a mustache running through the forest, a terrified look on his face. He turned back once or twice, but neither Allen nor the man could see the hunter. Suddenly there was a blast of movement from above at a 45° angle, a flash of metal, and the man fell, dead.
Then he saw a woman laying on an altar, squirming in desperation. A shadow fell on her, a dagger was raised, then slammed down into her chest. She screamed.
Then he saw two people in armor, an old man and a younger one, both having the other ones sword run through them. The old man looked angry, the younger one sad. Then the young one spat blood and collapsed while the old one stumbled away.
Then he was on a battlefield, watching men butcher each other.
Now he viewed the plundering of a village, and how the women were raped.
Now the view shifted to a burning castle...

End of Flashback

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Lulubelle nodded. "I see. It's true that the visions an awakening Noah has can come from any place and any time, as long as it's in the past. So it's possible you really saw this man's last moments. Do you remember what killed him?"

Allen frowned with concentration. He really didn't want to remember those tragic images, but he realized that unless he wanted to share this poor man's fate, he had to. "Not really. It looked humanoid, but it moved much too fast for a normal human. I also remember that the attack came from above, but the attacker flew farther and faster than a normal human could manage without breaking bones on impact with the ground."

Tyki nodded. "It seems that if those were Arthur's descendants, then the Earl wasn't kidding that the Innocence changed them."

Road shuddered. Allen noticed it and smiled at her as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Road, are you alright?"

Road looked at him. "I'm okay, I just have this really uncomfortable feeling that gets stronger the further we proceed."

Tyki frowned as well. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine!" she snapped. Then she calmed down. "I'm fine, I just have this weird feeling, nothing serious."

Allen was worried, but he knew that arguing would be useless at this point. He nodded and they passed the corpse-line, Allen still uncomfortable around these corpses.

These people obviously didn't like visitors, and they were about to trespass into an area where they obviously would be attacked as soon as they were spotted, and they didn't know how strong their enemies were. It was doubtful that they would be able to defeat one of them in a one-on-one-battle, but even a grizzly can be beaten by a large enough pack of wolves.

Long story short, he had a really bad feeling.

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Jesaia was disgusted, a sentiment shared by all others, though Kanda, Cross and Link didn't show a single emotion. But even they did not like this sight. But there wasn't the time to take these people off the trees and bury them, as much as they would have liked it. So they decided to carefully proceed onwards.

The forest seemed quiet, but they moved carefully, trying to not step on a single branch, freezing and carefully hiding when there was noise, even if it was mostly only small forest animals. But once or twice they heard something that sounded like voices, but none came near. It was like playing hide and seek, only that the stakes were much higher.

Suddenly Lenalee froze. "What's wrong?" Lavi whispered.

Lenalee nervously looked around. "I have this awful feeling that were being watched."

Cross nodded and they noticed he had drawn Judgment. "We are. Originally there were three, but one left to inform a few more. They'll be back with a few seconds and then we'll be outnumbered two to one. They look human, but they don't move like normal humans, they're too fast. My advice to you all is simple: Show no mercy, you won't receive any."

The others drew their weapons, then all hell broke loose.

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Meanwhile, Allen and the other Noah, who had walked roughly ten minutes since their encounter with the corpses, were about to be hit by the first wave of their own assault. They could see the group of people that was edging towards them, obviously thinking they were invisible. For normal humans, they probably would be, but even in their human-form, a Noah's eyes were far superior to a humans', especially their night-vision and how fast they adapted in the twilight. For Allen and the others, these people could just as well be waving giant rainbow-colored flags.

Allen looked at the others, who had tensed. The twins had drawn their guns, Luciano's hand had edged towards his wristband, Road was still not looking very good, Lulubelle had stepped in front of her, her right hand suddenly sporting a metallic gleam. Tyki seemed completely calm, as he stepped forward. He smirked.

"Evening gentlemen. A nice day for a walk, wouldn't you agree?" The looks on the opponent's faces were priceless, this had apparently never happened before. These people were used to the situation that nobody would see them unless they wanted to be seen. But they quickly recovered and pulled out swords.

Allen looked at Tyki. "Tyki, do me a favor." Allen said "Dodge those blades, I have a bad feeling about them."

Tyki raised a brow. "And where does this feeling stem from?" he asked.

Allen tensed as the horde seemed to organize itself. "My left arm, if you must know."

Tyki paled slightly. Allen's left arm was Innocence, and that happened to be the one substance he couldn't simply phase through. Allen had told the Noah he trusted that his Innocence was at least semi-sentient and seemed to have a soft-spot for certain Noah, like Road, and might be willing to give life-saving advice. Tyki decided to heed the advice.

And his decision came not a moment too soon, as the horde suddenly charged, at speeds that were closer to a parasitic Innocence-user than a group of normal people. Tyki sidestepped a overhead sword-strike that was obviously meant to cut him in half... and stared in shock as the blade cut through a thick tree like a hot knife through butter. Not only was this a clear indicator of their enemies strength, but it also showed that the swords were not normal either.

Allen and Luciano shifted back to their true forms and called forth their Innocence. To their relief, scythe and cloak were stronger than the primitive swords, so Allen had no regret to let Luciano alone for a second to form a protective bubble around Road, who seemed too weak to last in a real fight. When he looked back, he saw that Lulubelle, Luciano and Jasdevi seemed to be doing just fine on their own.

Luciano was performing a move Allen had never seen before, but it seemed to be effective. First he spun in a circle, leaving slight cut-shaped distortions in the space in front of him, then he changed his grip on the scythe, holding it like a billiard-cue with the tip of the blade hovering half an inch above the ground in front of him. Then, as if to make a shot, he thrusted the entire scythe forward while muttering "Withering Winds", causing the distortions to shoot towards his completely shocked opponents. The distortions went through them, but instead of cuts, paper-like gray skin hugging the bones seemingly without any flesh in between appeared on the places hit by the distortions. One man, who would have been decapitated had the distortion been a real blade, reached for his throat and felt his spine through the skin, chocked and collapsed. Those had gotten off lighter howled in anger.

Luciano grinned. "My Morrigan grants me the power over a force. Not fire or a different element, but something much greater. All that stands in my way will crumble to dust, for even rock withers beneath my blade."

Allen had wondered what exactly Luciano could do, but never found the opportunity to ask. Now he had his answer. Luciano's power was withering. A powerful gift if used correctly. Allen's cape billowed and swatted two attackers away like pesky flies as Allen looked around to see who might need help.

Jasdevi seemed to be doing fine as well, as they laughed manically while blasting and freezing the forest and all who were in the line of fire. Not a single enemy managed to close in enough to be even near striking-range. They would be fine.

Lulubelle was also in no need of assistance, though Allen noticed an anomaly here. These people were good, not as good as the Noah or a real exorcist, but good, and they were fighting Allen and the others with all they had... except for those fighting Lulubelle! They seemed more intent on capturing her than anything else, as they made more usage of clubs and nets instead of their blades, not that it had any effect on Lulubelle's now liquid body. The bladed whips were the only thing that were solid, as they forced the hordes away.

Looking around Allen noticed that there were surprisingly few casualties. There was one guy that was frozen in one of Jasdevi's Blue Bombs, but his companions were already breaking him free. In fact, the only one dead body was the man with the withered throat. He had most likely died from lack of blood reaching the brain long before suffocation could set in. There were a few really nasty injuries, but there was no other victim. These people were much tougher than normal humans, as they still fought with injuries that normal people wouldn't even be able to stand with. But it was more than bravado. Those that were injured beyond the point of effective combat retreated or were carried away by comrades. They viewed their comrades as the most important thing there was.

A loud curse interrupted Allen's thoughts. His head snapped to the side and he saw that Tyki was trying to fling some blood off his glove, without much success. In front of him, a man stumbled backwards, his nose smashed beyond all recognition, his sword long lost. The man uprooted a small tree, obviously intending to make it into a makeshift club, and swung it at Tyki.

Tyki looked at the man, clearly impressed. "You're strong. And I can't simply slip through your defense for some reason. But all this would be a lot less troublesome if you weren't so fast."

The other man snorted and brought the tree down. Allen was about to come to Tyki's rescue, when he realized that Tyki was standing behind the man that had tried to clobber him, and with a single motion, he snapped the man's neck.

Allen jumped next to him. "That seemed a little barbaric compared to your usual methods, Tyki."

Tyki glanced at him. "I don't have much choice, for some reason, I can't phase through them. Phasing in general is much harder here. Which leaves plan B." With that, they jumped out of the way of a sword that was swung at them.

Allen suddenly noticed that a few of the attackers were trying to roll Road's orb away. "And where do you think you're going?" He muttered as he dashed forward, scattering interceptors in the winds.

Tyki looked at his newest foe. "You're annoying, way too strong for a human and incredibly fast." He stated as he ducked under a decapitating swing.

His enemy smirked as he poised the blade to run it through Tyki's body and dashed forward. Suddenly Tyki was behind him, his left arm hanging over his opponent's shoulder, going loosely over his neck and grabbing the other shoulder. Tyki leaned closer towards the man's ear.

"But still not fast enough. From your reaction just now, I know you can understand me, so listen well. I am no ordinary human, we are the Noah. Everyone of us has special gifts, and mine is the ability of choice. I chose what I touch. Normally, I phase through what I don't want to touch like a ghost, but for some reason that doesn't work on you. I'm curious as to why."

The man grinned and actually spoke. "Fool, a proud descendant of the great King Arthur is bound to be immune to thy evil witchcraft."

Tyki blinked. "Shakespearean English? Please tell me you can speak normally." He stated, ignoring the battle raging around them.

"You're right, such noble words are wasted on you scum!" The man hissed.

Tyki sighed. "I'm not going to get an answer from you, am I?"

Instead of answering, the man spat at him, although he missed. Tyki sighed again. "Didn't think so. Anyways, there is something else I can do. If I choose not to touch something, I usually pass through it, but there is an alternative. Instead of phasing through it, I can repel it very effectively. So, if I choose not to touch this," He grabbed the back of the man's head "what do you think will happen? Especially when you consider that I'm holding you by the shoulders."

The man paled. "You're lying! You couldn't possibly..." Whatever the man's next words would have been will forever be a mystery, as his head shot forwards while Tyki held his body in place. With a disgusting noise, the head tore off and slammed into a tree twenty feet away, leaving little more than a red smear on the bark.

Tyki shook his arm. "I just remembered why I don't do that too often, the backlash hurts like a bitch.", he muttered as he faced his next foe.

Allen, who had successfully sent the wannabe-kidnappers packing, winced. Then he jumped behind Tyki, using Crown Clown's cloak to shield him from two attackers that tried a pincer-assault on him. He looked at Tyki. "We've been knocking these guys around for at least ten minutes and there's no end to them! Every time we take one out of the battle, five more show up to take his place. Even we can't go on like this forever, we need to get out of here."

Tyki nodded. "I know, but how? Retreat is not an option with the Earl breathing down our backs, and these guys don't look like they'll let us go any other way."

Allen thought about it. "Can you use the Tease?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Tyki looked at him seriously. "I'm not sure. I tried to call them when Alicia attacked you, but all I got was a sharp pain in my arms."

Allen frowned. "We'll have to do something about that later, but for now, please just try it."

Tyki nodded and focused. Allen pulled back his cape and they dashed under the cover of thousands of black butterflies that swarmed around, obstructing the attackers' vision and actively attacking their eyes.

The others quickly understood and made a dash for it, Allen stopping only to grab Road, who seemed barely conscious, leaving the confused and blinded attackers in the dust. Allen separated himself from Crown Clown and made it go in the opposite direction, leading those that actually managed to pursue them on a wild goose-chase.

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The exorcists were having a slightly harder time with their enemies. Kanda was hacking away all who faced him, their sword-skills, while not bad, nowhere near equal to Kanda's elegant blows.

Cross was calmly shooting whoever approached long before they could do any damage.

Lenalee had chosen to go up high and attacked from above, carefully aiming at points that would only stun instead of kill.

Jesaia went his usual way and threw fire at anything that moved, at one point grabbing a sword and heating it to the point where the owner had to let go of the red-glowing piece of metal. After repeating this process, Jesaia was now swinging around two pieces of extremely heated metal, making all foes think twice about getting close.

Lavi, Link and Val were having a harder time. Their speed and strength wasn't boosted that much by their Innocence, in Link's case there was no Innocence, and these people were just faster than they were.

Lavi was swinging his hammer like a madman, swatting the enemies like mosquitoes, but they were getting closer.

Link was solely relying on his flexibility and talismans to hold his ground, though how long he could last was not certain.

Val was focused on dodging. She noticed that these people weren't trying to kill her, and she mercilessly used that to her advantage. But even so, most of the time she had to dodge, which pissed her off to no end, especially since she would be much more effective in her true form. But revealing that was stupid, revealing that in front of exorcists was beyond stupid, and to reveal that in front of a general was suicide, so she remained human.

Jesaia blasted away a man that tried to kill Link from behind and jumped to his side, shooting flames to force the attackers away for a few seconds. During this short breather, Jesaia looked at Link. "So, now that the plan is obviously shot to hell, what do we do?"

Link ignored the slight sarcasm as he answered. "Now we improvise."

The exorcists were slowly getting pushed back , when Val snapped and did what no man would do unless absolutely desperate: She grabbed her attacked and sunk her knee deep into his groin with massive force and speed. The man gave a short squeal like a panicked rat, then he silently collapsed.

All fighting stopped as everyone stared in shock, a lone cricket was the sole sound in the dreadful silence that had fallen on the battlefield. Jesaia gulped. "What did you just do?" He asked, even though everyone knew the answer.

She gave him a brilliant smile. "I improvised."

Cross chuckled, even though it sounded a bit forced. "And this is why pissing off a woman is never a good idea."

Val gave him a smile, albeit a slightly darker one. "Words of wisdom. But this has gone on long enough." She pulled out her flute. "Innocence activate: Divine: Lullaby of Hypnos"

Just as fast as the attack had begun, it was over. All attackers collapsed into a deep slumber.

Jesaia blinked. "So, we were fighting this whole time when you could have done that from the beginning?" He asked incredulously.

Val shook her head. "No, these guys didn't give me the time to grab my flute, so it was only an option after everyone stopped and stared." She calmly stated, ignoring the reason they had all stared.

Cross nodded. "I see. Can you get any information out of them or should we just find some cover?"

Val smiled and walked to the next-best sleeper, a roughly twenty-year old blond, grabbed him by the hair and unceremoniously pulled him up to eye-level. "Answer my questions." She ordered in a dark voice. And the man began to talk.

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After ten minutes of running, they took a short break and Luciano asked what was on everybodys' mind. "Now what? We don't know this place well enough to find safe hiding places and we don't have any information on what the hell is going on here. All we know is that they're insanely strong and don't like visitors. That's not much, and we don't know the location of our target either. How are we supposed to find it, this forest is huge!"

Allen shrugged. "I have no..." He began when a voice interrupted him.

"Um, I may be able to help." A timid voice spoke up. They spun around to see a boy with blond hair and blue eyes standing a few feet away, looking terribly uncomfortable. A second later he had reason to be uncomfortable, as a blood-red scythe-blade was hovering right in front of his neck, and the tip of Lulubelle's bladed hand was resting right above his heart. He gulped and slowly raised his hands, the universal gesture for 'I come in peace and have no weapon.'

Allen looked at him. "Who are you?"

The boy seemed in a hurry to answer. "Mynameisarthurand..."

Tyki raised a hand. "Slow down, we can't understand. Lulubelle, why don't we let him breath for now?" Lulubelle's hand returned to normal. Luciano glared at both Tyki and their hostage, but Allen nodded and Luciano's scythe returned to it's dormant form as a wristband.

Allen smiled at him. "Now, could you try that again?"

The boy nodded. "My name is Arthur, and I live here. I couldn't help but overhear that you were looking for a safe place, and I know this forest better than anyone else, so I thought I'd offer my assistance."

Tyki raised a brow. "So, if you're one of the people that attacked us, why are you helping us?"

Arthur looked down. "Because I don't agree with them. I don't think what we're doing is right."

Allen raised a brow. "And what are you doing?"

Arthur shook his head. "Not here, follow me. I know a cave not far from here that nobody else knows about. We'll talk there."

The Noah looked at each other, but there was really no better option, so they followed him.

Lulubelle leaned towards Tyki. "Why are we following this human around?" She asked, putting a low hiss on the word human.

Tyki looked at her. "Because he knows the way and we don't. If he tries to trick us he dies, but for now, he's useful." He calmly replied.

Lulubelle nodded, it made sense.

Allen, who had not been listening to his siblings, decided that the hunt for his cloak had gone on long enough and deactivated his Innocence.

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Almost twenty miles away, a white cloaked figure suddenly stopped and turned to his pursuers, who stopped as well, weapons drawn. The cloak gave a short bow, and the silver mask seemed to give them an amused look, then the figure faded away completely, leaving a confused and raging mob behind.

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Arthur held his promise and brought them to a cave that would be impossible to find, even if you were looking for it, unless you already knew where it was. It was spacy and with thick tree roots coming out of the walls, there was enough space to sit and even lay down without getting dirty. Road seemed to be doing better, she had fallen into a peaceful slumber moments after they had set her down.

Allen cleared his throat. "I think now would be a good time to answer some of our questions."

Arthur nodded. "We have lived in the depths of this forest ever since King Arthur's time. Our settlements are situated close to the lake where Excalibur rests."

Tyki's eyes widened. "Excalibur is at the bottom of a lake?"

Arthur shook his head. "No, it's on a small island in the center of the lake. There is only one way to reach it, and that path is very exhausting and difficult to cross. Every descendant of Arthur may attempt to remove the sword from the stone it is placed into, but only on his fifteenth birthday. So everyone has only one chance, after that they must stay away from the lake for the rest of their lives."

Lulubelle looked at him. "So the lake is only approached once in a human's life?"

Arthur frowned. "Not exactly. Every newborn is bathed in the lake's waters at birth, at a marriage, the couple is being sprinkled by the water, and all weapons are forged with it, but the high priest is the only one who may take enter the lake, and only for these purposes."

Luciano spoke up. "So why do you kill all who get close?"

"And what do you do with the women?" Allen added, remembering the difference in attack-patterns for him and Lulubelle.

Arthur sighed. "That's what I don't agree with. Most of my clan believe that strangers can't be trusted and would try to steal our sacred sword. The men are killed and hanged on the trees as a warning not to enter. The women..." He looked at the ground and bit his lips.

Tyki looked at him. "The women what?"

A tear ran down Arthur's cheek. "The women become Ladies of the Lake. They are sacrificed and their spirits bound to protect the lake from all who shouldn't be there."

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Lenalee stared at the man who had just given out this horrible information with a smile and a voice filled with pride. The others were shocked as well. Val stared with disgust, then she slammed the man's head back into the ground.

She looked at Cross. "Make us invisible now, or I swear you will envy the guy I kicked."

Cross remained calm, but the coffin appeared very quickly. Maria stepped out and a moment later, they were invisible to all who might have looked their way.

Val shuddered. "Let's move, I don't want to stay here longer than necessary."

The others shuddered, nodded and seconds later, they really were gone.

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Allen's face was a grimace of disgust, the others were not quite as moved, but for some reason, a tinge of sorrow was in their hearts as well. Tyki took a deep breath.

"As upsetting as this is, we need more information, specifically the layout of this place" He stated.

Arthur nodded and broke off a small root to draw in the sand. "We are here." He drew a cross into the sand.

"And the settlement is here." He drew a few squares, a few inches away from the cross. "It's roughly four miles to the southeast. There are around 2000 people living there, and we are all trained in the way of the sword, even the women. In an emergency, nobody would hesitate to go into battle, not even the children or elderly. We are all gifted with superhuman strength and speed, the priest says it's because Arthur's blood flows in our veins."
He then drew a skull to the left of the settlement. "This is one of our sacred places, according to legend where Arthur and Mordred fought and where latter died. We bury our deceased here, but otherwise, it's abandoned, so it'd make a good resting place, as long as you don't make a fire, it's a giant meadow. And finally,"
He drew a circle to the right of the settlement "the lake with Excalibur is here. I couldn't help but overhear you speak, so I know that this is your goal. I don't mind, if that's what it takes for this madness to end, then I'd personally deliver the sword to you. But be careful, there are patrols around the lake, and the path is always guarded so that nobody who doesn't have the right gets close to the sword."

Tyki nodded. "That's valuable information. But I can't help but wonder. Considering your lineage, the name Arthur would not be something that would be given to just any child, yet you bare that name. Why?"

Arthur looked at the floor. "My parents told me that when I was born and bathed in the lake, the entire lake seemed to tremble. My parents took this as a sign and named me Arthur, believing that I was his reincarnation." His look became very sad. "But up till now, I have been nothing but a disappointment for everyone. And looking at my actions, that's not about to change." He stood up. "I have to go now, or it will seem suspicious. I'll be back soon."

Allen nodded and the boy left. Allen activated Crown Clown and told him to keep an eye on Arthur, just in case. Then the Noah formed a circle to discuss these new informations.

Allen spoke first. "Okay, I'm not sure what to think, but if what Arthur said is true, and I'm fairly sure it is, then we have a possible explanation for the strength and speed of these people."

Jasdero blinked. "We do?"

Tyki face-palmed. "Yes we do. The Earl mentioned that the Greek heroes got their strength from a sacred spring, and he also mentioned that he thought Innocence was involved. If we follow that train of thought, it's getting clear that the water has absorbed some of the qualities of the Innocence that's so close by. The water isn't Innocence, but it's saturated with the power of Innocence, which it gives to the infants and the weapons it cools."

"Aah." Was all the twins said.

Lulubelle gave them an annoyed look, then she looked at the others. "So, how will we proceed?"

Allen spoke. "I sent my Innocence to keep an eye on him, I have a special connection to it. If he rats us out, we make a break for it, but if he keeps his word, I'd say it's safe to stay the night. Looking at the sky, I'd say it'll rain soon. Rain hard. And I really don't want to be outside for that. Excalibur has been here for the last few centuries, it won't run away if we wait another day. And I don't want to move Road, the rest seems to do her good. But maybe we should guard the entrance, just in case this cave isn't as unknown as Arthur thought."

The others nodded and decided to call it a day, Lulubelle taking the first watch, Allen checking what his mental link gave him as the rain started falling.

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The exorcists had been lucky to find a cave before the rain turned into a torrent. Even luckier for them, Jesaia was able to create a type of fire that, while warming them all, neither smoked nor gave any light to someone farther away than ten feet, which was immensely practical.

They looked at each other, then Val spoke. "We got the layout of the place out of that bastard, but we still have no plan on what to do. We know, or at least we're pretty sure that the water of that lake, strengthened by the Innocence, is granting these people their power, and even if we reach our target unnoticed, we have no idea how to get the sword out of the stone, considering these strength-freaks couldn't do it and after all these years of hulks pulling on it, the thing is still held as securely as on day one."

The others nodded. Cross spoke. "My estimation is that it is held by magic that only allows it's true wielder to wield it, though it could just as well be the will of the Innocence itself. But I think it's magic, no normal rock could withstand the strain it took."

Val raised a brow. "Magic? You have got to be shitting me."

Cross shook his head. "No, I'm not. The Earl for example is a great magician, one of the best. In fact, on the long history of mankind, there was only a single person that was superior to him. The only one that could go toe-to-toe with the Earl when magic was involved and walk away from it was..." He suddenly stopped, a dark, solemn look flashing on his face before vanishing behind his usual mask of slightly amused disinterest.

"Was who?" Lavi asked, this information was new to him. According to his sources, the Earl was the greatest magician to ever walk the earth, using his seemingly endless life to find new spells. There was no known person that was the Earl's equal, let alone his better.

Cross glared at him. "That's not important. We wait till the rain stops, then we try to find a way to get the sword and leave!" He all but barked at them.

Lavi decided that this little outburst revealed some interesting things. For some reason, Cross didn't want to talk about this mage, which hinted to both a personal relationship of some sort and a tragic end. Considering it was Cross who they were talking about, it had probably been a woman. Bookman would be interested in this, and maybe leave him alone for a few days while trying to find out the identity of this mage.

But for now, sleeping out the rain seemed like a good idea, so they laid down while Cross sat in front of the entrance and stared out into the rain.

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Crown Clown was elegantly gliding through the rain, somehow avoiding the drops as it followed the boy to his house. He barely made it before the downpour started. While the Innocence couldn't really hear, it was able to analyze and judge whether or not an action was treacherous to it's master, and read intentions, so it calmly observed for any hint of betrayal.

Meanwhile, Arthur was sitting in front of a table, waiting for his father and older brother to return, while his mother cooked, completely ignoring him. Then the door opened and his father stepped in.

His mother ran towards him and gave him a short kiss. "Did anything happen?"

His father looked grim. "You could say that. There was another group of invaders, but these were unlike anything I've ever seen before. First they looked like people, then their skin turned gray as ash. The men were monsters and the woman that fought seemed to be a Lady of the Lake already, as her entire body turned to water when I tried to throw a net at her. But her arms were horrible, swift and bending like a whip, but sharp as a blade at the same time."

His wife gasped. "Monsters."

Arthur's father slammed his fist on the table. "It gets worse. They got William and Pelgran. And Parafan has a broken neck, we don't know if he'll make it."

Tears ran down his wife's face, she knew all three. "How? They're strong warriors, worthy of knighthood, how could they be...?"

Arthur gulped while his father's face twisted in rage. "They had some sort of sorcery! Parafan got hit because he got careless, but William and Pelgran were slaughtered without a chance to fight back. One of them had a red scythe, he swung it through the air, sending his evil power flying like arrows. What they hit dried up until the entire flying cut was, well, withered like an old dead tree. Poor William never stood a chance, at the end his neck was as thick as my thumb. Pelgran was worse. Another grabbed him from behind, and before anyone realized what happened, his head was flying through the air, and smashed at a tree."

"Great forefather." She muttered.

He nodded. "But the one that scared me most, was the ghost. He had snow-white hair and once we attacked, he was suddenly wrapped in a white cape that no blade could penetrate. He was so fast, it was like a mirage. And worse is that he was the strongest thing I've ever felt. I and a few others tried to hold him off when comrades tried to take a sick girl that was with them, but with a mere motion, he swatted us away like flies. Then the cloak formed some sort of bubble, and when it opened, swarms of black butterflies came out and blinded us, literally! Those insects went for our eyes, some of my men are still blind! What really scared me is that we chased him when he ran. Then he just turned around, gave us a mocking look and faded away into thin air. Merlin help us, evil is approaching."

Arthur silently winced. He had seen the battle, but chose not to engage. But what worried him was that his father was drinking while telling his gruesome tales, and he tended to get violent on him when drunk. Arthur knew he was useless in every ones' eyes, so there would be no one to help him.

The door opened again and his older brother entered, soaking wet and bleeding from the nose. "What happened to you, son?"

Valan spat out, and one could see some blood in his spit. "We found intruders and attacked, but they were unlike anything I've seen before. One was a swordsman of incredible skill, he was the only honorable in the bunch. The others were warlocks and witches. One relentlessly threw fire at us, while a red-haired man used something that looked like those weird weapons some of the other invaders used, but that one didn't cause flesh-wounds and scratch bones, everyone who got hit flew right through the next tree. There were two girls, one was just dodging while the other one walked on air and cowardly attacked from above. Then the other girl did something that may have destroyed Vincent's manhood. After that they cast a spell that caused us all to fall into a darkness where we could neither see nor move. When we came to, they were gone."

"Horrible son, but what happened to your face?" The father asked.

Valan ground his teeth. "There was one more, he swung a hammer that could change from tiny to humongous in an instant. The flying girl attacked a comrade and I let myself get distracted for a moment, during which the man nailed me with his hammer." That was a lie, in reality he had been fine when he fell asleep and woke up with a bloodied face. But because he was the only one wounded in his sleep, he lied both to his comrades and his parents. In the heat of battle, nobody remembered who got hit when and by what.

Then Valan turned his attention to Arthur. "And how was your day? Oh yeah, you stayed away from the fighting while proud men risked their lives! Pathetic fool, they should have left you underwater at the ceremony, then you couldn't have brought such shame to the great Arthur's name!"

Instead of defending him, his mother gave Arthur a cold glare. His father stared at him in anger, then, without warning, he threw his empty wooden cup at Arthur, who never saw it coming. He was hit on the forehead and blood quickly flowed down his face. Arthur knew it would heal quickly and perfectly, but it still hurt, especially when his father muttered "Useless." before getting a new cup.

Arthur sighed. Useless, that was a word that had followed him his entire life. He wanted to be useful, just not part of this genocide his clan was practicing. But perhaps he could be a help to those that just might end this madness.

Outside in the rain, Crown Clown observed and sent information to Allen, who felt both his respect for Arthur rise, and a burning anger at those who mistreated him like this.

Arthur's father turned his attention away from his bleeding child back to his wife. "We'll get them, all of them. Tomorrow the patrols will be tripled in size and reinforcements will be waiting so that when they're found, the other patrols won't leave their posts and let somebody slip through. By the next sundown, they will be hanging from a tree, it we leave enough to hang!" His wife nodded, not caring for Arthur in the least.

Arthur had listened to everything and would continue to listen, so that tomorrow, he could give enough information for all this to end. And maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be useless, just for once.

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Link had set up the portable-gate-generator-backpack and gave a report on the situation that surpassed even the worst expectations through the inbuilt telephone. Levrier's orders didn't change, they were to get the Innocence, and if they had to slaughter every soul in the area to do it, then he didn't care. Big surprise here.

Lavi sighed. "Let's see, from what we gathered, the fastest way for us to reach the lake with our target would be going right through the settlement with Maria. A second, but safer way would be crossing the graveyard, then using the cover of the trees to get there unnoticed. The graveyard is our best shot if we want to conserve our Generals' strength while the other way is faster. Everyone, we have to make up our minds by tomorrow. For now... YAWN... I suggest we hit the sack. Who wants first watch?"

Nobody spoke. "Jeez, not all at once." Jesaia joked. Val and Lenalee were raising their hands, but Cross would have none of that.

"Ladies need their beauty sleep, I'll keep watch." He stated.

Who could argue with that? None of them, so everybody went to sleep while Cross sat at the entrance, thought no outsider could understand running through his head.

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The next day Arthur stepped out of the house, only to find his brother waiting for him. "Valan." he muttered.

His brother looked at him with hatred. "Arthur." He grabbed him by the collar and lifted him above the ground. "I still don't get how something like you could have been born into our noble clan. What disgusts me most is that in a few days, you will turn fifteen. Your filthy hands will touch Excalibur, that I find a blasphemy to a blade so sacred. Why don't you just leave and spare us the embarrassment? Why should such a noble blade like Excalibur want anything to do with a useless weakling like you of all people?"

Arthur looked at him. He wasn't weak and Valan knew that, he just disliked hurting someone for no reason or motive. Maybe that was weak to these warriors. He looked at the ground, which only enraged his brother further, who gave him a hook that ripped his collar and sent him flying backwards.

Valan spat out, narrowly missing him due to a slight breeze that had risen up. "You don't belong here. You should leave, we don't stop cowards like you from leaving."

Arthur stood up and left. Valan followed him with his eyes, then he turned away. Who cared what his brother did today.

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"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!" A shout woke the exorcists. They blinked. That wasn't possible. Link was calmness incarnated, there was no way that he would shout like that.

"What's wrong?" Val asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Link took a deep breath. "It seems that our General decided to take a vacation. He's gone."

Now they were wide awake. Cross was gone? This was bad news. Jesaia cursed, but Lavi raised a hand.

"Bad as this whole mess is, we can't really do anything about it, so there's no point in getting all worked up." He sighed. "Well, on the bright side, our problem about the route has solved itself."

Link nodded. "Without Cross, trying to go through the settlement would be suicide. We'll take the route through the graveyard."

"Let's hope that our path won't be our final destination." Jesaia muttered.

Val smirked. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

Jesaia grinned. "Now hiding behind a girl, even one as cute as this one, is something my pride wouldn't survive, so it's time to march."

Val smirked and extended a hand to help him up. He took it and a second later, he was on his feet. The others were also ready to leave.

Lavi grinned. "I'm not one for speeches, so I'll make this short and sweet. Today will be hell, stay on your toes. We're going in alive, and we're coming out the same way. Thank you for your attention, let's go."

The others nodded and the group began their careful journey to the lake, knowing that their chances of success without blood were not that high.

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The Noah's morning was more peaceful. Allen was the only one still awake when Arthur approached. Allen had deactivated his Innocence the moment Arthur was in his line of vision. He was happy that his hope and belief in this boy had not been disappointed. He woke the others and by the time Arthur arrived, they were all awake.

Arthur reported what he had overheard and the Noah frowned. "The exorcists are here as well, no doubt they want the sword as much as we do. But they don't have a guide, so they're progress will not be as fast as ours. Still, we should get a move on."

Arthur nodded. "I'll lead the way and keep an eye out, the patrols are used to me wandering through these woods."

The others nodded and followed Arthur in a safe distance so that they wouldn't be spotted with him, Tyki carrying Road. Allen looked at Arthur's back, a ominous feeling that he couldn't place coming over him. Something would happen, but Allen didn't know if it'd be good or bad, all he knew was that it involved Arthur. And Allen was right, before the sun set, Arthur Pendragon would cease to exist.

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Chapter 20 is done. The longest chapter I've ever written, over 10.000 words of story. Don't get your hopes up, this won't be my usual chapter length, see it as a way to celebrate the twentieth chapter. I also said that I'd make the next chapter longer, and longer it is. My respect for those authors who write 10.000+ words per chapter on a regular basis has skyrocketed, kudos to you.

This could have been done ten days ago, but school dragged me to Greece. To all Greek reading this, I have nothing against Greece, but from my experience, when god made Greece, he was out of everything but plants, rocks, mountains and mosquitoes. I've been stung at least ten to twenty times, which is really annoying. But what's done is done, and it wasn't that bad a trip.

The water of the lake gave the descendants of Arthur their strength, also stopping the usual disfigurements and mutations that show up with centuries of inbreeding. Road is weakened because as I've written before, Dreams are very easily influenced, the other Noah sans Allen are also slightly weakened. And Arthur's descendants are still weaker than a Noah or even a parasitic-type, but they have sword-skills and strength in numbers, just to make things clear.

And the thing with the demons was something I wanted to mention last chapter, but forgot. For now, it's just background-information, but I may or may not decide to give a real demon some screen-time, maybe if I decide to make a sequel or twist the story a bit.

Oh, and I decided if i add another Noah, it won't be one of the canon-ones, they don't really sit right with me, though again I create an exorcist with all-seeing eyes, and a Noah with five of them appears in canon. Either coincident got me again, my mind is similar to the author's, or someone in the DGM-production is using some of my ideas (yeah right, like that will ever happen).

Now onto the questions.

1. How do you think will things play out? What will happen next?

2. Where did Cross disappear to and why did he leave?

3. Who will reach the goal first? Who will get the prize?

4. Writing battle-scenes is still really tough on me. How did you like this one, was it alright?

5. Just for curiosity's sake: What should the new Noah represent? I've pretty much already decided, but I'm always interested in my readers' opinions.

6. The usual: How did you like this, what can I do better, on a score from 1 to 10, etc...?

7. Tell me whatever you want to tell me.

To addenza: Your idea was not bad, but the Skull aren't really front-line warriors, and considering that they went looking for replacements at Exorcist headquarters of all places after Cross destroyed three or four of them also indicates that the Earl doesn't have very many of them, so he wouldn't send them into unknown dangers.

To Winged Golden Tiger: Thanks for the love, but Archangels are a very scarce source. Each one is overkill, and having too many in actual combat would bring the curtain down much faster while taking all fun out of it, so they need to be used carefully to keep the story interesting. And I already have an Uriel, he's the third Archangel that looks like a child and has the power of the Light of Judgment. Check chapter 16, that's where he has his first appearance.

To tsub4ki: Thanks for your review, it's appreciated. As for strength-levels within the Order, they're not like they may seem at first. I'm giving my OCs more screen-time because unlike canon-characters, their strength is not known. If I had to make a ranking that ignored the Generals, It'd look like this:

1. Kanda/Val (Kanda is technically stronger, but Val can bring sleep and death to all who hear her melody)
2. Lenalee (with her purer Innocence)
3. Jesaia (Effective in short and long range combat)
4. Crowrey (in sheer strength superior to Jesaia, but focused on close range)
5. Lavi/Noise Marie (roughly on the same level, difference in experience and style balance each other out)
6. Bookman/Chaoji (one is inexperienced, the other one doesn't try that hard to bond with his Innocence)
7. Timothy/Miranda/Dagmar (all more support than frontline, first two risk leaving themselves open to attack, Dagmar's non-visual boosts focus on speed and agility.)

To terracannon876: I'll try not to overpower Allen. Wait, that's not phrased correctly. His power will eventually become insane, but there will be drawbacks so that he doesn't overuse it to become invincible. Is the new Noah one of the freed ones? You are perceptive, and completely right. Hope to hear from you soon. Same to all my readers.

I've truly done enough for now, and if I don't get some reviews for this, I'll really be upset. I wrote 21 PAGES, something I never dreamed I'd do one day, so I'd really like a nice big review-reward for my hard work, PLEASE.

Enough said, enough begged, now it's your turn.

Please Review