Let's dive back into it! Just a reminder, these next few 'arcs' will be pretty short. But they're arguable the most important in a while!

Enjoy!

"So let me get this straight," Zynna said, "You guys have to fight the Demon Lords?"

"Pretty much," Natsu answered.

"Because Nashi actually did die a year ago, but she was brought back, which is against their laws?"

"Yes."

"So you're scanning everywhere for answers?"

"Uh huh."

"Huh," Zynna finished, crossing her arms. They were currently trekking on a dirt path through the forest, which was nearly as black as midnight now that the sun was setting. Nashi was surprised at the lack of snow on the ground. The trees were so thick none of it was reaching the ground. "That is a hell of a story."

"You don't know the half of it," Nashi's father said, walking beside her as they went. "That was just the important points. It'd take me a long time to tell you all of it."

"Yeah, about seven or so years," Elise joked, making Nashi snort.

"Think you can help us out?" Her father asked, stepping over a huge tree root in the path. Zynna made unsure sound.

"I don't know," she answered, "I know my family had tons of records about Demons and stuff, how much of that will help you all I'm not sure."

"Literally anything at all would be helpful," Nashi said encouragingly. "We don't really know anything about them at all."

"We'll do our best," Zynna replied with a smile. "Now, Dharen, we're almost there. Cover us up."

"On it," The Druid said, bringing his hands together. As he did so, a green mist spread outwards from him and encompassed the entire group, before fading towards the ground. "There," Dharen said, "we should be invisible now."

"Good," Zynna said. "Follow me, everyone. We can go through the garden door. Less conspicuous that way." They all followed Zynna without question, seeing as she was the guide. Nashi soon found herself lagging behind Ultear and Elise because of the size of the path, putting her behind them and next to Anna. Stealing a sideways glance at the girl, it made Nashi uncomfortable. She'd never seen a Demon Lord Takeover Wizard so young, not even Ben and Zoe. Just knowing the power the girl possessed kind of freaked her out a little.

"What is it?" Anna asked, making Nashi realise she'd been caught staring. The small girl was tilting her head at her, her blood red eyes shining in the darkness of the forest. Nashi gave her a small smile.

"I was just thinking how cute you are," she said. This made Anna smile widely.

"Thank you!" She said, Lizzie says I'm the cutest girl in the guild."

"Does she now?" Nashi asked, "I can't disagree."

"Mm hm," Anna said, "and Gin says it'll go to my head, but he never disagrees with her! So I know he thinks that too." Nashi chuckled at the girls infectious energy.

"How is Gin?" She asked, "I haven't seen him in a while."

"He's great!" Anna replied, "he'll be happy to see you! I heard you were dead, is that true?"

"Of course not," Nashi lied through her teeth. "I'm right here, aren't I? I'm not dead."

"Yeah," Anna said, "I remember when Gin saw the newspaper. He seemed really upset by it. I don't like when Gin's upset. It makes me upset." Nashi managed another smile at the girl.

"I think Lizzie is on the right track," she said, "you definitely are cute."

"Follow me everyone," Zynna's voice came, "we need to go this way to avoid Neptu's Hunters camped out in front of the mansion." Nashi watched the girl go off the beaten path into the brush, everyone else close behind. She followed Anna as the girl hoped into the brush, and kept to herself as they went. Soon enough, the trees parted and she was greeted with a massive mansion appearing out of nowhere. She could only assume it had similar protective enchants on it as the city. Just as Zynna said they had appeared by the side of the building, near a garden that was rather dull looking in the winter. The only plant in bloom were a pink flower off to the side, which Anna jumped to happily.

"Look Dharen!" She said, "the hellebores we planted are blooming!"

"So they are," The Druid said with a laugh, patting her on the head. "You've got a knack of gardening, Anna."

"Better than you?"

"Definitely not. Better than Zynna though."

"Excuse me?" Zynna asked, looking over her shoulder. Dharen just whistled out of the corner of his mouth.

"Nothing," he answered. This made Anna giggle. Zynna and Dharen both smiled at her, before Zynna pushed forward towards the door.

"Well, we're here," she said, "welcome to The Hollows." With this she pushed the door open, and the group was greeted with a massive hallway big enough for all of them to stand side-by-side. No one was around save for one man, standing nearby. He was clad in robes similar to Dharen's, except they were white. He had spiky white hair and light blue eyes, and he smiled as they approached.

"You're back," he said.

"You say that like you couldn't see us," Dharen said.

"I like to act surprised for you all," the man said. Dharen laughed and turned to them, gesturing to the man.

"This is Hyperion," he said, "or so he calls himself. He's clairvoyant, so he keeps watch of the entire forest for us."

"It's a hobby," Hyperion answered.

"Where are Neptu and the others?" Zynna asked.

"In your study," Hyperion answered. "They've been looking into the Demon Lords like you asked them too."

"Good," Zynna said, nodding to them, "let's go." Staying silent like everyone else, Nashi gave Hyperion a small wave and walked behind the woman as she led them through the halls. The group got a fair amount of stares from other members they found in the halls, but no one spoke up. Maybe Zynna was scaring them off. After climbing a flight of stairs and walked down another long hallway, they eventually came across another pair of dark wooden doors. Zynna approached and opened them without hesitation, startling the people inside.

"Zynna!" A familiar voice said, "Don't do that!"

"Get your nose out of a book for two seconds and you'd have heard me coming, brother," the woman chastised, making the man groan. As everyone filed inside the study (which Nashi noted was massive for such a room), she saw the people who were waiting for them, and recognised them all in turn.

Off to the right of the room was Tristan and Abigail, members of what had been the Cross when they fought. Tristan's black hair was messier than she saw in her memories, and Abigail's brown hair was now short-cropped. Despite that, the two looked relatively the same. In the middle of the room stood Elizabeth, her blonde hair up in a bun and her blue eyes behind a pair of glasses. She hadn't had those last time. Next to her was Quinn, who looked about the same as he had last time they met. All of them were wearing casual clothing as oppose to combat ready gear, like they had when they fought The Olympians together.

And then, standing by the desk opposite a window, was Neptu and Gin. Neptu had the same black and blue striped hair as his sister, tied up in a short ponytail. Just like Zynna, his eyes were bright blue like their hair. Gin's silvery hair was longer than it had been before, parting to reveal his golden eyes before ending near his nose. Nashi was happy to see a smile on his face.

"Ah!" Neptu said with a smile, "I didn't realise our guests were here!"

"Sorry to surprise you," Nashi's father said, stepping forward. He shook hands with Neptu over the table, the Devil Slaying laughing.

"You're looking as old as ever, Natsu," he said, "how was the trip?"

"Rough," Every Dragon Slayer answered together. As everyone filed into the room and the door was shut behind them, Nashi found herself caught in a whirlwind of reunions.

"Hello boys," Elizabeth said to Michael and Keita, "how have you been?"

"Good," Keita answered.

"Great!" Michael answered, still in a suspiciously good mood. Elizabeth smiled at this.

"That's good to hear," she said. "You've both grown taller since I saw you."

"Do you think?" Michael asked, looking up as if he could see the top of his own head. Elizabeth giggled.

"Maybe you just look more mature," she said. "I can't tell."

"How're you two?" Abigail asked, directed at Elise and Ultear.

"Ready to go," Ultear answered, "and you?"

"My eyes are tired," Abigail answered as she rubbed at them. "I've been reading books since we heard you were coming."

"We appreciate the help," Elise said, "we need all of it that we can find."

"And we're ready to help," another voice said. Nashi turned to find Gin standing before her, smiling at her. She smiled back.

"Gin," she greeted, "It's good to see you."

"You as well," he said. "Is it appropriate to call you Nashi, or has that issue not been resolved?" Luna did her best to suppress the pain stab into her gut she felt when he said that.

"It's fine," she said. "I'm whole again." Gin's smile widened at this.

"I'm glad to hear it," he said. "I'm sorry that I wasn't any help. But, with the way things are now..." Nashi frowned at this.

"No news on that front?" She asked curiously. Gin shook his head.

"No," he said, "I haven't heard from Mortavius since, well, we thought you died." Nashi winced, looking down at her feet.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" Gin asked.

"For causing that," she said. "I mean, I know that you and Mortavius weren't close or anything, but...It's my fault this is happening. I'm sorry for causing trouble."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Gin said, smiling at her. "You're being used by higher beings. I know what that feels like. Trust me, I don't blame you in the slightest." Nashi felt better hearing that, but she didn't necessarily believe him. All she'd been doing lately was causing trouble for the people around her.

"What about Anna?" She asked, gesturing towards the girl speaking with Elizabeth. "Has she spoken with...Whoever?"

"No," Gin said, "not as far as I can tell, anyway. If she has spoken to Quinxotic, she hasn't mentioned it."

"I see," Nashi replied. "Par for the course then." Gin nodded.

"It seems so," he said. "Has Damien or Bella heard anything?"

"Yes," she said, "but from what Xisplate told him he'd breaking rules all over the place filling us in on what's going on."

"I wonder why he's doing that," Gin said, "I can't imagine Mortavius doing that for me."

"Who knows why he's doing it," Nashi said. "If Damien knows, he hasn't said anything."

"We'll fix it," Gin assured her. "Don't even worry about it. I owe you." Nashi raised an eyebrow at this.

"Why do you owe me?" She asked, confused. Gin laughed softly.

"You saved my life," he said, "it's only fair that I save you too." Nashi blushed at this.

"I didn't do anything that important," she insisted.

"Yes you did," he said, "you were the first person in years to show me any modicum of kindness, and all you did was ask if I was okay when you saw me on the side of the street. I owe you." Nashi didn't know what to say to that. He seemed serious, but she didn't really think she was owed anything. She didn't want to insist on that, though, lest she get pressured on why she was talking like that.

"I appreciate the gesture," she said. "I've heard it a lot though."

"And everyone means it," Gin replied. "We can do it. I know we can."

"Alright everyone," Neptu's voice came from the desk, "Let's get down to business here. We've got some news for you."

"What is it?" Nashi's father asked, turning to him.

"Well," he said, "Too make a long story short, my family has a history of dealing with beings like Demon Lords. As such, we have tons of documentation about demons." Neptu picked up a scroll and waved it around. "This is a paper written by my great-grandmother. Seems she was the most interested in the Demon Lords of the people in my family. So she did a ton of research on them."

"What did she find out?" Ultear asked. Neptu made a face.

"That's the thing," he said, "she went around and did research, and here's the thing; no one can accurately say where the Demon Lords came from. Some people seem to think they were created by Anhkseram to watch over mortal souls on their way to the afterlife. Some others seem to think they're chaotic neutral figures who were created to balance out the good and evil people who died. And others seem to think they don't even exist at all."

"I thought we knew that they watched over the afterlife," Elise said, "isn't there something called the Circle of Judgement or something?"

"Yeah," Gin said. "Each of the Demon Lords watches over a Circle of Hell."

"What the hell are these Circles?" Nashi asked curiously. "Is it, like, a dimension of their own or something?"

"I was getting to that," Neptu said. "No one outside of actual Takeover wizards seems to know anything about them. And the existence of takeover wizards for them weren't even very well known until about twenty-five years ago. Until then, it was a pretty cult-like belief. It was only recently it became common knowledge they even existed."

"That's convenient," Nashi's father said, "seeing as Damien is almost that age."

"So is Bella," Elise pointed out. "they're both early-twenties."

"I'm around there, I think," Gin said sheepishly. "I haven't kept track of my birthdays for a while."

"I'll be seven and three-quarters soon!" Anna said, jumping up and raising her hand.

"So let me get this straight," Michael said, "it only became common knowledge that these things existed once Damien, Bella and others were born?"

"Seems like it," Neptu said. "I'd also like to point out something else. In this paper, my great-grandmother reported meeting a Demon Lord takeover wizard after searching for thirty-three years. She only ever met the one, sadly she didn't record the Demon's name. What she did record, though, is that his takeover wizard had never met another like him. Ever. He'd gone this entire forty-some years of life, at that point, without meeting another. Seem odd to you guys?"

"And now we've met almost everyone of them in a few years," Keita said. "That's concerning."

"It's on purpose," Abigail said, "that's obvious. There's no way we go years and years knowing nothing, and now almost all twelve have shown up."

"Exactly," Neptu said. "My great-grandmother tried pushing this takeover wizard for information, but it seemed he knew very little. He treated it more like an affliction than a power. He did say something that concerned her though. He said, and I quote "this power is a curse. If anyone knew the pain I caused because of it, they'd kill me. The only reason I can escape is that the church has blotted out their history."

Silence came over the room at this, no one saying a word.

"The church?" Nashi's father asked, "of Zentopia?"

"I'd assume," Neptu replied, "it's been the dominant religious organisation in Fiore for a long time. They do have a doctrine of belief around Anhkseram, so it stands to reason they know about the Demon Lords. Question is, what history have they blotted out, and why? What are they hiding?"

"I guess we'll ask Damien once we get back," Nashi said, "he and his family went to Zentopia." Neptu paled at this.

"You sent him there?" He asked, "a Demon Lord straight to the highest religious authority in the country?"

"They'll be fine," Elise said, "if anything we may hear news that Zentopia fell to the ground." Neptu frowned.

"Maybe so," he said. "Or maybe his existence will get them to fess up. Only time can tell."

"Was there anything else of note?" Ultear asked him.

"There was one thing; from what research she could complete, she said that every Demon Lord might coincide with something. Maybe some of them only judged murderers and psychos, and others only judged people who died of old age or heroes. This would imply some are more evil than others."

"Might make sense," Michael said. "Xisplate and Meridia seem rather neutral, and some seem more evil."

"I was thinking that," Neptu said, "but without solid proof we can't be sure of any of this."

"Well wait," Gin said, "every Demon Lord I know of has a moniker. Some kind of allusion to who they are, right? Mortavius The Brute, for example."

"Maybe he judges the crueller humans," Tristan offered.

"Meridia is the Succubus," Elsie said.

"Deaths related to love and sex," Zynna said.

"Quinxotic is the Blood Priestess!" Anna said, trying to sound helpful. There was a beat of silence in the room, before Nashi made a face.

"Maybe she passes judgement on the most bloody and brutal crimes," she said.

"This is all well and good," Michael offered, "but are you guys forgetting Xisplate? He's literally called 'The Lord of Death'. That's pretty all-encompassing."

"Xisplate is the strongest of them," Ultear said, arms crossed. "Maybe he delegates souls out to the others as he sees fit. The Lord of Death, meaning he's in charge of them."

"There doesn't seem to be any hierarchy to their behaviour," Gin said, "Mortavius has been plenty disrespectful to other Demon Lords. That doesn't really fit the idea of master and subordinate."

There was more silence in the room before Quinn sighed.

"I hate to say it," he said, "but all of this just makes it sound like we know less than we thought we did."

"He's got a point," Elise said, "and besides, how does this help us with Nashi's problem?"

"It just raises more questions," Nashi's father said grumpily. "If we assume that this 'moniker' nonsense holds any weight, then why was Nashi's soul sent to either Zoka or Ruli? They don't represent anything related to her death."

That was a good point. They were acting on an assumption, but neither Zoka or Ruli really meant anything when it came to her death.

"What is she wasn't?" Ultear asked. Everyone turned to her, and saw she was deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" Elise asked, "Didn't they have a hand in what happened to her?"

"That doesn't mean they had anything to do with the resurrection," Ultear said. "How many Demon Lords can we not account for again?"

"Three," Nashi answered after thinking for a second. Ultear's expression darkened.

"Then can't we assume," she said, "that Hades is a Demon Lord Takeover Wizard?"

BOOM!

No one got a chance to answer her question, as an explosion rocked the study. Nashi nearly fell over, but Michael caught her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, blushing into his chest.

"No problem," he said. "What the hell was that?"

"Probably those damn hunters," Neptu hissed, getting up from behind the desk. "I knew they were nothing but trouble! I'm putting a stop to this, now! Guys, on me!" The Cross and Gin mobilised fast and followed Neptu as he sprinted from the room, Nashi and her friends still in a daze.

"Should we follow?" Ultear asked.

"Please do," Zynna said, who was shielding Anna from any followup damage. "I don't want my brother and his friends alone against them. Those Hunters want something."

"You heard her," Nashi's father said as he jumped from behind the desk, "let's go!" Nashi nodded and turned, sprinting out of the room as she the others did. They followed the sounds of shouting through the winding halls, before coming up on a balcony overlooking the main entrance way. Down below, Neptu, The Cross, and Gin were standing across from several dozen Hunters, a standoff clearly happening.

"Get out of here!" Neptu shouted, "I've told you a thousand times, I want nothing to do with you anymore!"

"Sir Neptu, please just listen!" The woman in front shouted. "We need to tell you something!"

"I'll have nothing to do with people who break into my home!" Neptu shouted. "Leave!"

"I think you'll want to hear this," she said. Nashi and the others descended the stairs, backing up Neptu. There was a tense silence between them as the two sides scanned each other, ready for a fight.

"Should we engage?" Tristan asked, ready for a fight.

"No, it'll cause more damage," Neptu hissed. "We shouldn't."

"What exactly is going on out here?" A new voice asked. Nashi looked up to find a new man descending the stairs, on the opposite side from where they'd come from. He was well dressed in a suit and tie, his head shaved bare of any trace of hair. His eyes shone green with power, which made Nashi realise that despite his indifferent demeanour he was pretty pissed off.

"Master Xeros," Neptu said, "please let me deal with this. They're my problem."

"Seems it's our problem now as well, seeing as we have property damage," Xeros replied. "You there, state your business now or be thrown out by force."

"We only want to speak to Neptu," the woman insisted.

"He's right there," Xeros replied, "so speak, and pray we do not cut out your tongue for this." The woman looked annoyed at how she was being treated, but Nashi didn't see how that wasn't deserved. She took a deep breath and turned back to Neptu.

"Neptu," she said, "I know you said you want nothing to do with us anymore. I get that, but we kept hunting anyway. Because someone has to deal with this scourge of Demons, even if you won't."

"You know damn well why I left," Neptu replied.

"Your change of heart was weak," she spat, "you say demons and their human counterparts aren't the same, yet you stand next to a man who nearly killed me! Remember that Gin?! When you nearly killed me?!" Gin's face went pale at this.

"You..." He said, "that day, outside that town..."

"Yeah," she hissed, "I was apart of the team that tracked you down. My name is Melanie. Do you remember that? Do you remember the names of the men you killed that day?! They didn't survive the beating you gave them! Their names were Arvan and Gunnar!"

"What does this have to do with me?!" Neptu interjected, "why did you come here? To spit out the names of people Mortavius killed in Gin's face?" Melanie seemed to gain control of herself then, taking a deep breath.

"No," she said, "but we came because we bagged a big prize. Well, sort of. And since we found out what it is, we figured you might want to know."

"And what is that?" Elizabeth demanded. A smile crossed Melanie's face at this, but it was too sinister to be anything pretty.

"We found Drakhosz."

Bonus points to anyone who remembers that without me naming dropping it recently. I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!