Nobu wasn't sure how to feel about anything happening around him. A bunch of his classmates that weren't really his classmates and basically him but a chick… At least he knew the Akira with them was his Akira. Not that that meant much in the long run, though. Akira was also Amon, after all…

Okay, so maybe he was basically alone. Not fun, but what could he do? They were all trapped and working together to get out. He could possibly pull Akira away and have them do their own thing, but…

That just seemed like it'd make getting home an even longer process. That was about the last thing they needed right now. He was sure they'd go right back to dealing with the Land of Nomos after this, after all.

Damn, this all sucked. A lot.

But at least they were making progress. They'd finally found a building that might lead to some sort of answers, after all. It wasn't just one room or anything, no. It was a big floor, demons lurking around…

Thankfully they were pretty weak demons, seeing as everyone here were anywhere from a little to a lot weaker than they remembered being. Hell, their Guardians all seemed to be weaker on top of that!

This was all just unfair, if you asked Nobu. He was planning on trying to pretend none of this happened once he got out of here… Maybe pretending long enough would let him forget it, even…

He walked along, thinking about what he was going to do after this so much that he lost track of what he was doing and hit right into someone. Someone who seemed to be built like a goddamned brick wall, if how hard he hit the ground was anything to judge by.

And looking up at the guy, damn was he not wrong. This guy was ripped to a scary degree. Sure, Nobu had seen tall and strong guys… But this guy was almost monstrous, looked like he could rip anyone in Nobu's group in half with enough effort.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?" The man offered a hand and Nobu took it after a moment of hesitation.

"Fine… Uh…" Nobu finally took a chance to take in the man's outfit. What the hell was he wearing?

"Nobu…! Why'd you run ahead!" Before he could think of something better to say to the man, there was Tamaki, pushing him with a huff. "What if you'd run into a demon instead of, uh… A really muscular guy?! Or what if the guy had been hostile?!"

"Sorry, sorry. Guess I didn't wanna hang out with a bunch of people I didn't know…"

"You know Miyamoto-kun."

"I'm not sure if he's more Akira or Amon, so he doesn't count." Nobu shook his head.

"Oh, so a guy gets possessed or, uh, fused with a demon and you don't know him anymore, huh?!" Tamaki frowned as the rest of their group walked up to them.

"A human fused with a demon…?" The man Nobu had hit into frowned, crossing his arms. "Another one…"

"Another?"

As if on cue, another figure approached. While Nobu wouldn't say he looked nearly as monstrous as Akira did… He was still pretty clearly not fully human.

"There you are!" He approached the other man. "Kazuya found a weird door and everyone else joined up with him… Well, besides you."

"Oh, you guys are exploring this place too?" Yumi rose a brow. "...Guess that means there's more people around than I thought."

"You're lost here too?" The demon man sighed. "That probably means more teaming up… It'll be harder for any of us to get stronger if the group keeps growing…"

"I'm… sorry?" Reiko frowned a bit at the comment. "We don't have to work together…"

"Aleph is sure to want to at least meet you all if you're in the same position as us!" The first man spoke up. "We can decide after that if we all want to work together or not."

Tamaki and Nobu shared a look, shrugging after a moment. "Sure, why not?"

Tadano really wasn't comfortable with the current group he was travelling with. He had been able to do fine with Jimenez and Zelenin, despite their now inhuman nature, because he knew them before and considered them close allies… But now that they were travelling with another human turned demonic and two humans who had never fought in their life, he was worried…

He was sure he could trust his comrades to fight, but could he trust the other demon? And would the other humans be able to hold their own like he could? Those questions were at the front of his mind and not something he could easily ignore, no matter how hard he tried to do so.

"I'm going to scout ahead." He looked at the group as he stepped forward. "We just found this warehouse, so I don't want us to all walk into a trap."

"Wouldn't a demon or an angel be a better choice to go first, then?" Isamu looked over at their inhuman companions. "Probably better equipped to handle it than us humans…"

"My Demonica and my training will be fine. Besides, we all seem weaker than usual… The only things separating us at all is experience and equipment."

"If you say so." Isamu looked away and Tadano took the chance to go forward, weapon at the ready.

At first he saw nothing, it seemed that they were alone in this building, besides the wandering demons. So far it seemed like it was trap free, as well. Good, the easier it was to make it through here, the better. Less relying on Naoki and less worrying about Chiaki and Isamu.

That's when something caught his eye and he readied himself to be attacked. Whoever or whatever it was moved fast and was hard to spot, but he liked to believe himself sturdy enough that he wouldn't be taken down that easily.

A cleaver came flying towards him and, before he could so much as try to defend, someone called out 'Toki!' in a loud voice. The cleaver came to a stop right in front of his chest as a boy ran up and Tadano realized it was a girl in front of him. Children…?

"Why are children like you here? And why do you have such a dangerous weapon?" He took a step back, eyeing the girl (Toki was it?) carefully.

"Are you not used to seeing kids with this kinda stuff?" The boy looked at him, frowning in confusion.

"Not at all." Tadano shook his head. "Things that are thankfully not the norm…" Though that didn't mean it didn't happen…

"How do you deal with the demons, then?" Toki looked at him with a frown, no clear emotion on her face. More to set Tadano on edge…

"Well, I'm not sure… Demons have just recently invaded from the Schwarzwelt…" Were these kids forced to battle those demons. "I thought the world's forces were working together to stave them off while we investigate, though."

"The… Schwarzwelt…?" The boy made a face. "I've never heard of that."

"You haven't?" Just like Naoki and his friends. "...I see, is it just you two? I feel I need to explain some things to you."

"Actually, there are others…" The boy looked over his shoulder before pointing at, well, a giant group of ragtag fighters. "There they are."

There were a lot of people… And more of them looked younger than he would have liked. How many teenagers were here and why were they all equipped for a fight? He supposed them being ready was better than Chiaki and Isamu, but…

Something about seeing young teenagers like this made his heart heavy. No one that young should be forced to deal with this kind of ordeal… Though he supposed only seeing a few was better than the possibility of seeing many back on Earth...

Tadano blinked a few times before heaving out a sigh. "...This might take a while."