"You…You're still alive…" Justin growls at the sight of Noah, his anger rising.

"Heh. Yup. Did you miss me?" Noah chuckles as he smiles calmly. The sorcerer turns to look at Eruka and Free. "Medusa shouldn't have gotten far. You two should go and tend to her wounds." Nodding, the pair begin to walk, only to be cut off by Justin. "Just where do you think you're going? You don't really think I'm letting you go, do you?"

Noah frowns and stands in front of Eruka and Free. "Leave them be. It's me you're dealing with right now Justin. We have some things to discuss."

The blonde priest laughs and grins widely. "And what is it that we have to discuss?"

Noah gives Justin a cold stare. "About why you killed Mizune. And Giriko." At these words, Gopher's eyes widen and he looks at Justin with utter shock. The priest snickers and licks his lips. "What is there to discuss about that? If you know about Giriko, you must have been nearby when I did it."

The male sorcerer nods and looks towards Gopher. "Step away from Justin. Now. Don't trust a word he tells you, understand?" Backing away and doing as he's told, Gopher nervously shivers. Snarling angrily, Justin looks from Noah to Gopher, ignoring Free and Eruka who run past them.

"Where's the book of Eibon, Justin?" Noah demands. The death scythe laughs and tilts his head. "Why on earth would I tell you? So you could have a fighting chance against me? Don't think so." Noah looks to Gopher and gives him a look that seemed to say, "Get him." Hesitating, Gopher stands for a moment, unsure of what to do.

"Enough talk. I'll kill you where you stand, Noah-sama" Justin grins as he lunges towards Noah, his blades out and ready. Leaning back and quickly moving out of the way, Noah avoids getting his throat slit. Just great. He's attacking with killing intention. Not good.

Standing helplessly and still not sure of what to do, Gopher watches, biting on his lower lip. "Noah-sama…"

On the floor and barely conscious, Medusa crawls as she hears the sound of footsteps approaching. Oh Death. It's the death scythe. He's come to finish me off…!

But at hearing a voice call out to her, she realizes it wasn't Justin. "E-Eruka?" Medusa coughs up some blood and clenches her throat that seemed about ready to burst. Kneeling beside her, Eruka gasps loudly. "Lady Medusa…! What happened to you…?"

"Later…" Medusa mutters as her breathing grows weak and her eyelids grow heavy. Free quickly scoops her up in his arms and looks to Eruka. "What the hell are we supposed to do now!?" The frog witch shrugs and thinks quickly, then looks up hopefully with an idea. "That Noah guy! He has the book of Eibon, right? Maybe there's some spell or something that can heal Lady Medusa!"

Nodding, Free rushes back to where they last were, Eruka at his side.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Liz asks nervously. Kid shrugs slightly and stares at his feet. "I kind of don't want to find out. Besides, Asura's morning announcement would tell us the outcome…"

Kim clings to Ox's arm as she stares at the sky. "It's getting dark again…" Kilik looks back and nervously chews on his lip. "Is it safe to stop here?" Kid shakes his head as the group continues. "No, its still too soon to stop. At least a little more. We can't risk getting killed out here with the others actually playing the game nearby."

Crona gulps and holds his arm nervously. He wanted to talk to Maka but it seemed she was too occupied talking to Soul. Tsubaki glances over at Crona and notices something troubling the young lad. "Are you alright, Crona-kun?"

The shy male looks over at Tsubaki and blinks a bit before giving a slight nod. "Y-Yeah I'm fine…"

Smiling gently, Tsubaki lightly squeezes Crona's hand. "Well if anything is bothering you, I'm here to talk, okay?" Crona blinks quickly, lightly blushing. "O-Okay…"

Staring up at the sky, Maka frowns. Is the Kishin watching us? Does he enjoy this? Watching us suffer like this?

"Yo Maka? You're daydreaming again" Soul says as he lightly punches her shoulder. Maka looks over at Soul and weakly smiles. "Sorry about that. It's just hard not to ponder on things, especially at times like this." Soul nods a bit and looks forward. "Got that right…"

Noah quickly finds himself flat on his back as Justin approaches him, blades raised. Rolling to the side, Noah lucks out and just barely avoids getting cut again. "Gopher! Help me out!"

Walking forward, Gopher looks to his right to see where the book of Eibon was.

Justin growls as he lunges forward, his blade finally making contact with Noah, wounding him on his shoulder. Wincing in pain and backing up, Noah bites his tongue and pants heavily. This isn't going well. If this keeps up, I'll end up getting killed.

"Noah-sama! Over here!"

Turning his head, Noah's eyes widen as he sees Gopher holding up the book of Eibon. Smiling widely, Noah gives him a nod. Noticing what Gopher was doing, Justin snarls and turns his attention off of Noah, charging towards the young boy.

Gopher's eyes widen as he sees Justin approach him. Noah runs forward and yells out, "Move Gopher! Run, damn it!" Before he could run however, Justin was on him. The death scythe quickly gets behind Gopher and brings his blade by the boy's neck. "Move and I slit his throat."

Noah stops and his eyes widen. "Justin…don't…"

The priest hisses harshly and grits his teeth, his blade pressed up right against Gopher's neck. "Don't test me, Noah." Stopping in his tracks, Noah puts his hands up. "Okay. Okay. Lets talk about this Justin."

"There's nothing to talk about" Justin barks loudly. Gopher squirms and cries out. "N-Noah-sama! H-Help me!" Biting his tongue hard, Noah starts to sweat and panic. What do I do? What do I do?

"What the hell do you want, Justin?" Noah asks nervously. Justin scoffs and gives Noah a displeasing look. "What I want is for you to suffer. So…"

Slowly slicing his blade along Gopher's neck, Justin smirks. Gopher's face goes blank with fear and he makes a sound between a cough and a choke. The blood along Gopher's neck was almost a perfect straight line. At least until the blood started splattering from it.

"GOPHER!" Running forward and holding his wounded arm, Noah rushes to the boy's side. Gopher was barely conscious and his eyes were on the verge of closing. "Noah…sama…"

The sorcerer didn't know why but he was crying. He was crying over Gopher. "I…I'm so sorry Gopher…I didn't mean for this to happen…"

Gopher didn't reply. His face was as stiff and lifeless as death.

Justin sneers and raises his blade, ready to strike. "Oh please. You're more pathetic than I thought, Noah." Before he can strike, he is hit in the back by Free who shoulders him with incredible force. Noah gives a shocked look, surprised to see Eruka and Free. The werewolf was holding Medusa in his arms and she seemed in terrible shape. Alive but in terrible shape.

Eruka quickly gasps as she notices Gopher. "Oh my Death! He's…!"

Free looks over to Justin to see him groaning and getting to his feet. "Now's not the time! We can mourn him later! We need to go now! That includes you, Noah!"

Hesitating, Noah looks from Gopher's lifeless body to Justin and then stands up, picking up the book of Eibon and running with Medusa and her group. Shaking off the hit that he took, Justin turns to look at his fleeing prey and he spits at the floor, not bothering to chase after them. "Next time…but not this time…"

Looking up at the dark sky, Justin yells at the top of his lungs, "Well? How was that! Am I worthy yet, Kishin-sama! Have I pleased you!? Will you accept me as your faithful servant, my dearest Kishin God!"

Raising his brow, Asura lets out a low chuckle. "Rather disappointing. Only one person died. I was hoping for Noah to die there. But I suppose him being alive isn't such a bad thing. Justin still has madness boiling within him." He grins and stares intently at the camera with Justin on it. "Lets see what you can do for me, Justin Law."

END OF CHAPTER 9
DEATH COUNT: 5
R.I.P. Gopher