The corpse-like coloration of Alex's body didn't change, but a pale, see-through shape formed above him. Whatever it was, it looked exactly like him, if he was a ghost, anyway.

"What…" His voice was echoing, like he was speaking from the inside of a tunnel. Still, he was coherent and, apparently, lucid.

"I'm… dying?" More or less coherent.

"No, nononono! We can fix this! We're here, the statue is here! I can buy a large Vitality Star and, and I can get you back on your feet!" Sol shouted, a naive hope evident in every word that he spoke.

"Sol… I… I.. I couldn't feel my legs." Alex was more and more lucid every moment. "I'm.. I think the Deep Geryon had… Cut my spinal cord. I couldn't feel anything under my waist. And then… what happened?" He frowned, before starting to look down. At what had happened to his body.

After he glanced at it, however, he stopped and returned looking forward, at the screens.

"I… All of a sudden it got up… and then you were pinned… and I couldn't move it off you! Yo…your hand was exposed and I managed to touch the statue while acting like, like a fucking bridge!" Sol explained manically.

"Sol… I'm… You're the best friend I could have asked for in this place." Alex smiled at him, one hand going to pat his head. Only to pass through him, leaving only a feeling of cold and slight wetness behind.

Alex looked down at his hand for a moment, an indecipherable expression on his face, before looking back towards the screens.

"I… don't think that a Vitality Star will be enough for… this." His voice was slowly, but surely, getting fainter. "I… I think I can feel liquid in my lungs? I want to cough, but not really?"

Chances were, his ribs had perforated the soft tissue of his lungs. Probably in shards. Because this was Hell.

"Bullshit! There's got to be a Golden Orb! There's always at least one! It's always there!" Sol shouted before forcing open the menu and looking. For several long seconds, he looked through the item menu as he felt his heart begin to freeze in terror. He had assumed. He had assumed it would be there… and, and...

"F..fuck…" Sol cursed meekly, and clawed at his helmet briefly, before turning to the statue. "Help him, damn you help him! Isn't that what you do!? Help hunters when they're in need!? Do something!" He cried out.

All the screens in front of both of them disappeared and, for a heart-clenching moment, Sol feared that he had offended the Watcher of Time.

Then, two windows appeared in front of Alex. One was his current balance in Red Orbs.

Red Orbs: 83.800

Right under it, in the second screen, there were three options. No more.

The first was…

Life-Saving Device (L): 25.000 Red Orbs

"Of course…" Alex whispered a bitter twist on his lips. "Of course, there would be something like that…"

Sol didn't say anything, but Alex was clearly hesitating. The option was there, and it was like an insidious poison in his mind.

"Maybe… Only one thing… But.. Let's see if… If there's something else…" More than for his friend, it was for himself. A little, flickering spark of hope.

Perfect Geryon Hybridization (Bones): 100.000 Red Orbs

Again, silence descended.

"I… don't have enough." Alex gulped, for as much as it was a useless motion. Completely useless. He wasn't using his body right now, after all.

"I.. I don't want to die…" He was crying. Tears, pearlescent and transparent, were slowly falling from both his ghostly eyes as well as the real ones.

"Wha… what do you mean he doesn't have enough!? We're sitting on roughly 80,000 each. There has to be something you can do! I'll pay the remaining balance!" Sol addressed the statue with venom staining his voice.

Nothing answered him, but there was a certain feeling of impotence coming from the air.

"Wait..." Alex suddenly had a bit more energy in his voice. "Look…" He weakly pointed at the last option on the list, his hands trembling slightly.

Imperfect Geryon Hybridization (Bones): 75.000 Red Orbs

Sol grew still, the rage leaving his body language as he looked at Alex. "Man if you do this… you could probably live, but…" he trailed off silently.

"Yeah… The lack of Perfect… Means something…" He grew silent, before smiling slightly. "But it's either that… Or selling myself to the demon… That brought us here…"

Again, he grew silent, before his smile turned sharp. "What do you say… Am I going to crave carrots… Now?" He chuckled, silently, before breaking out in a fit of coughing.

Sol gave a sobbing laugh "God, I hope not… Be quick, I don't think you have much time…"

"Yeah… Yeah…" Still smiling slightly, the ghostly finger, almost completely transparent now, Sol was right about his assessment of his remaining time - sliding down and tapping on the Hybridization option.

Then, while his Red Orb counter counted down, he gave the middle finger to the first option. "Not today… Asshole."

**********************************

The duo were still in the Watcher of Time's space of influence after the choice was made. Nothing happened at first until the Deep Geryon's corpse started shining. The bone-like scales slid away, clattering on the ground. The pelt and meat were cut open as if something or someone was butchering it with perfect cuts. The internal organs were reduced into paste and then dust. The bones rose in the air, while the dust created by the organs spread all above them, drying them out. They were shining silver.

Alex rose in the air, his chest not moving anymore, eyes glassy and unseeing. The bones started circling around him, forming a twelve-pointed star all around him, before blue fire and silver dust started to run through him.

The sound of cracking bones could be heard from his body and he twisted, head thrown backward and mouth and eyes open, an expression of agony etched on his face. The fact that he was completely silent while doing this was the worst thing for the entire situation.

Uncaring, the magic continued. It only lasted five or six minutes, tops, but they were the longest minutes that both Alex and Sol had lived through in all their lives.

Finally, the magic was done. The circle had been completely consumed. Alex had changed. His hair was now pure black at the roots, turned silver in the middle, and blue at the tips - landed on the ground with a meaty thud.

Something clattered on the ground near him right after, but it was unimportant.

"Alex! You alright!?" Sol asked with concern.

Alex didn't answer verbally. His hands darted out and grabbed Sol around his waist, before hiding his face in his torso, hugging him.

Sol could feel the strength of the grip he had on him, the muted sobs coming from his friend, and his shaking shoulders.

"It's… okay," Sol began. "You're alive, it's okay, it's okay. Come on, let's get out of here and get some air so that you can clear your head. Alright?"

"I -hic- was dying. I was -sob- dead. It was so cold…" Alex was shaking even more than before. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you. I would be dead without you…"

"You… you shouldn't be. I should have made damn sure it was dead. It was my fault, it was all my fault." Sol said quietly.

"You saved my life!" Alex almost shouted, looking up from his position. He was still crying, tears dropping down from his eyes, but he seemed more in control. And he looked slightly pissed.

"If you weren't here, I would have died in the first room! If you weren't with me, I would have never reached this place! And right now, you saved my life! Without you here, the Deep Geryon would have killed me! And, even if I had managed to defeat him, who knows in what state I would have been?! And who was the one that connected me with the Divinity Statue?!"

"It was… it was me…" Sol affirmed before noticing the item that dropped earlier. It was one of Deep Geryon's horns, broken but still potentially useful. He patted Alex on the shoulders to break the embrace, picked up the horn, and offered it to Alex.

"Take it, use it as a final 'fuck you' to Deep Geryon and all of his accursed kin… A… I don't know what but maybe something to make you feel better about this…" Sol trailed off, a bitter note in his voice.

Alex looked at the Horn, before snorting. "You seem to forget, I have taken his bones. His powers. I'm a Hybrid and, yes, I'm aware it will bring problems, I'm not that naive, I've already given my fuck you to him. Nah, you take it. Ask Rodin to make a weapon for you." Alex closed Sol's hand on the horn.

And then he smirked at him."Get a throwing knife. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to hit with the blade."

Sol nodded, before putting the horn away. Maybe he could do something with his gun instead…

The world snapped back to the plaza and Sol gazed out on the carnage before his eyes naturally found the spot where Deep Geryon finally fell. Slowly, with trembling hands, he removed his helmet and stared unblinking at the pool of blood that was left behind.

"There's so much..." Sol said quietly. There was a tremble in his voice as he said that. As if, a greater understanding of what had occurred came to him.

Alex gulped, hands trembling at his sides, before taking a deep breath. He - hesitantly - moved a hand and put it on Sol's head, ruffling his hair. "Thank you for saving me."

Then, steeling himself, he strode forward, purposefully walking on the giant puddle of blood and moving to where Calcabrina had fallen.

There was a noise behind Alex, the clatter of steel against stone. Turning, Alex could see Sol had thrown his helmet to the ground in rage. There was a furious expression on his face, before the other man looked up at the sky.

"You say I saved your life, well I know damn well I wouldn't survive this long, and even if I did… I probably would have taken those poisoned enhancements. How many times did I whiff a throw!? How many times did I draw a large crowd of demons, ones that when we started would have torn me to shreds only for you to blast them into dust!? You know why I'm still alive!? Because you kept them off me. Because you helped plan shit out with me and prevented me from pulling stupid shit! And what do I do to repay you? I forgot to check the kill, and you nearly got trampled and gored to death for it!"

Sol was quiet before speaking softly. "I just… didn't think… and you nearly died because of that."

Alex gulped, his hands tightening on the handle of the Devil Arm, before moving forward and grabbing Sol's shoulders.

"Listen. Listen to me. Yes, you fucked up in that. I fucked up in other ways. We both fucked up and we will fuck up again, it's how these things go. We are still alive. You saved my life. I don't care about anything else, ok?" He shook Sol a bit, keeping his attention on him.

"You saved my life. You fought with me, you didn't betray me, you listen to me and you don't take any shit from anyone. You didn't go with an objectively stronger party when you had the chance. There could be Dante appearing from that street right now, offering to become my partner, and I would still choose you. Do you understand?" Alex's eyes were blazing with conviction, shining with a slight light blue tinge.

They weren't brown anymore. Now, they had a silver sclera with a black and blue iris.

"I… yeah I understand, thank you. I mean it sincerely, thank you." Sol said before looking Alex in the eye. His expression seemed to change. A look of guilt flashed across his features. "Your eyes, they're different." Sol slowly, before grabbing up his helmet and offering its reflective surface to Alex.

"Uh." Alex just hummed, turning his eyes and seeing how his hair was now. "Gotta admit, I look cool. What do you think?" He smirked and winked, being as obnoxiously flirtatious - jokingly, obviously - as possible. "Does it make me look like an anime protagonist?"

Sol couldn't help but laugh weakly at that. "Maybe you have some hidden special eye-related ability now. Fuck, does that make me your friendly rival?" Sol asked.

Alex snorted, stopping his behavior instantly. "Nah, you're obviously the co-protagonist. Who else would you be?" Shaking his head, he got up and took Calcabrina out.

"I still have something like 10k or so Red Orbs, but I'm not gonna go and spend them here. You, however…" Alex nodded his head towards the statue. "Go and power up. Things are gonna get harder and, if you die, I'm gonna kill you. Also, get some better clothes. Maybe there are some enchanted armors that don't look like you just came out of a Ren Faire."

"I... alright." Sol said weakly before touching the statue.

When the white void replaced the world, he gazed upon the statue in silence. "I… said some shit to you earlier. I can't say whether I'm sorry about that, it's just that my emotions were high, I was pissed. At myself mainly. So uh… thank you, for giving my friend a real option for staying alive."

The statue didn't respond but the now familiar window appeared. Sol scrolled through the options, grabbing Physical Enhancement 2, and watched as his wallet count dropped by 10,000. He felt much stronger than he had before. Despite that feeling, it felt hollow at best.

He went back to the item board and grabbed another Blue Orb. Seeing his wallet drop another 3,000 orbs but also feeling much better than he realized, he paused and looked through the menus. Briefly, he looked at the ability 'Trigger Heart' for 7,500.

"Alex could seriously make good use of that." Sol mused to himself before grabbing a Vital Star (Large). He watched the counter drop down before bowing before the statue and saying.

"Thank you, for both your service and for excusing the words of a distraught friend."

The world returned to the plaza.

"Okay, I'm down to just shy of 70,000… I want to find a Gates of Hell point soon." Sol said while pulling the broken horn out. "I want to use this for something."

"Oh, yeah. The idea of a throwing knife is still in the air. Maybe it could clone itself… so you can hit an enemy with the pommel five or six times at the same time." Alex snickered at his attempt at a joke, before nodding towards the street opposite the one they had used to enter.

"It's the only way that it's still viable. The others are…" He waved his hands towards the piles of rubble around the plaza. "Blocked."

Euphemism of the year.

"So, we need to move. I don't know why, but I'm having a bad feeling, for some reason." Alex continued.

"Well, I wouldn't blame you, all things considered." Sol paused a moment before continuing. "When you say a bad feeling, do you mean like in a general way that you're used to or something else entirely?"

Alex stopped mid-step, before pivoting on the foot still on the ground and looked straight at Sol.

"You're right. It's different." His voice was low, grave. Deadly serious.

"I'm feeling it… into my bones."

A moment later, he fell down on the ground, cackling like a hyena.

"You ass. Pulling a dad joke on me, I swear!" Sol exclaimed before joining the laughter.

That was the only sound that echoed in the air for the next few minutes.

"You know, I think I needed that. Alright Bones, which way do you think we should go?" Sol asked with a smile.

"Considering there's literally a single way… unless you can jump all up there." Alex pointed at the top of the buildings that were still intact and high enough to look around. "And see how the streets are, we can only go blind. Well, half-blind. Do you still have the pamphlet with the map? Maybe we can try to find a place to go."

"Yeah, hold on." Sol said before removing that pamphlet and flipping it open.

"Well, the next closest location is… Clostonbury Theatre. Seems if we follow the main road back and then turn left when first reaching Burrow Marketplace, we should be able to at least see it. The only other location seems to be Alberton Graveyard, but that's a good way past that." He said before folding the map up.

"What's this one? The… Whatever it's called Mall?" Alex pointed to a place more to the right than the other two places. "It looks farther, but I don't remember that from the game. There could be more food." He asked, looking around. "We forgot to grab something from the apartment."

"Yeah we did, there seems to be a fork in the road, halfway between here and the theater. If we stay left, we get to the mall, right to the theater. Okay, might as well try the mall first, there could be a subway station by there. Could take us further down." Sol said.

"There could be more secret rooms or pieces of Orbs. We won't know until we try, after all." Alex nodded, before pointing towards the street. "Let's go and see what happens. Also, what did you grab from the Statue?" He started walking, at Sol's side. "I mean, you DEFINITELY didn't grab better clothes, that's for sure… Maybe you could ask Rodin if he can make you some cooler armor…"

"Again, I like the look. Might improve its capabilities, but I really like the simple fluted look. Feel like I should be charging down a castle in Monty Python's Sir Lancelot style. Besides, the one thing I will have Rodin improve are these." Sol said gesturing to his sword and gun. "I still have the Nidhogg and Geryon pieces. Might as well put them to weapons I'm semi-good with."

"You got the Stinger technique from the Statue. You could always take a few more techniques…" Alex lamented, while the two walked forward.

******************************************

The two managed to make their way through the ruins of the city without encountering many additional demons. Eventually, after they took the left path towards the mall, they came upon its ruined front edifice.

"Well, this place sure looks inviting. Probably is going to beat the Willamette Mall any day in terms of potential dangers. You think the food court is on the first or second level? Usually, it's on the second level if I remember correctly" Sol said while looking at the front entrance.

"I. Literally. Don't care." Alex was shivering very slightly. They had been attacked by several demons on the way to the Mall. All of them Empusa.

And Alex HATED bugs. With passion.

"I just want to sit somewhere and relax without having to deal with giant bugs every few minutes." A bigger shiver ran along his spine, before he strode forward, towards the broken glass doors.

"I want chocolate or candy or something sweet. And I'm liable to messily kill someone if I don't get some right now." Alex continued.

"Well, we'll figure that out when we get there. Speaking of which, I doubt the elevators are going to work if any so… escalator?" Sol asked.

Alex just shrugged, before looking around. It was… big. "Man, these malls were big, uh?" Three floors - the third floor was mostly the roof, but it still counted - and several shops. Decorative flora around. Some of the benches were broken, but the concrete only had a few cracks in it.

And, on the second floor… "I can see some tables and chairs. Probably a restaurant up there. Dunno where the stairs are, though. Do you see any maps?"

"No… oh, wait. There." Sol said before moving to a large display that sat dead center of the hall nearest to them.

"Okay, so the food court IS upstairs… there's also a candy shop near there too, so that's got that covered? No shit, hey look at this, they got a Gamestop here as well. I wonder if Rodin's inventory devices can hold onto a few non-essential items, we might as well get something else out of this right?" Sol asked with a cheeky tone in his voice.

"You, my friend, have just read my mind. I wonder if they have any consoles in stock, I kinda want a couple… Either to resell or to use, I'm not picky." Alex shrugged, before looking down at the map, rubbing away a spot of dried blood to better read the names. "They also have an electronic store. How much do you know about computers? I kinda want one, but I'm broke."

"Well, we do have a surprise 100% sale on our hands… might as well use it while it lasts." Sol said before looking over at an escalator. The stairs were moving, which meant that not only was the power on but that the food supplies were probably still preserved.

"Well, let's see what the cuisine is like." Sol said as he stepped into the elevator.

Alex followed him, idly tapping on the steps with Calcabrina.

"You know, there's something that's bugging me all this time." He started speaking, while the elevator slowly rose, bringing them towards the second floor. "Like… like when you have a word right on the tip of your tongue, but you can't remember it. You know, that feeling?"

Alex's face made a very strange expression, before it smoothed out once again, the umbrella migrating on his shoulder. "It's the same thing, but for something else. It's like… I don't know. Ahhh, it's infuriating."

Sol nodded before speaking "Not to sound like an ass, but you wouldn't happen to feel it in your bones would you?"

Alex didn't answer for a long moment, seemingly lost in thought… before bonking Sol on his head with Calcabrina, strong enough that his helmet echoed like a bell.

"Talk shit, get hit." The elevator reached the second floor and he stepped down, only to stop instantly. In front of his feet, there was a rather large puddle of blood.

"Ah."

"Well, that answers that." Sol said while rubbing his helmet. "I think that whatever is in here, we may not be able to just run from it."

"Yeah, there's no dust in here. Well, there's no more dust than what is normal. Someone came here before us." Alex didn't prod the puddle of blood with his foot, but it was a near thing. "Do you think they are still here? Whoever 'they' are?"

Sol calmly drew his pistol before quietly asking "Maybe… you think that 'they' might be the same ones from the square?"

Alex looked around, noticing that the blood was contained: mostly on the puddle in front of him and then a few more, going towards their right, towards the Food Court.

"I think no. I mean, the only time we met their handiwork, it was a scene of carnage. Here, it's just a trail. Maybe someone was wounded? Searching for a safe place to hide. Not that it exists here, but…" Alex grimaced, actively not thinking about what could have happened.

"Well in defiance of every bit of common sense I have, I say we follow it." Sol said as he drew his sword and began to follow the trail.

It led to a pack of three Empusa clawing at what looked like a store called EAT.

Sol looked at Alex before flipping his visor up and giving him a look saying 'Are you seeing this shit?' while pointing at the sign and not at the demons. The situation finally clicked in the man's head before asking, "You want to work out your hatred of bugs quick? They probably won't even realize you're attacking."

Alex took a deep breath, before nodding. "Yes. I would." Then, he unsheathed his sword - he had decided to call it Brina - and shot forward, a bullet charging on top of the umbrella.

The blade slashed the air two, three, four times, cutting through the flesh of the demon like a hot knife through butter, before he turned one last time, decapitating the head of the demon. In the same twist, he aimed the charged bullet at the remaining two Empusa and unleashed it. The explosion sent them flying back, their cries loud enough to be heard.

"Well, while I am certainly agreeable to man-on-bug violence, seriously remind me to never get on your bad side." Sol said jovially as he walked to where the Empusa were crowding. The blood trail had led to a closed shutter but there was nobody at the front, meaning the trail led beyond it.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I'm as sweet as sugar." Alex answered, flippantly, before stalking forward, his blade shining in the light coming in from the windows. The Empusa were scrabbling to get back up, but he reached them first.

It was more of an execution, at this point, but he chopped off their heads in moments, the corpses vanishing into Red Orbs.

"I have to admit, that felt good."

"It's the little things." Sol said reassuringly, before trying to open the shutter. He could definitely feel something was holding it down on the other side. A part of him wanted to wrench it up, but something made him stop. That bloodstain might have meant people, maybe… maybe they could use some.

Taking his pistol, Sol rapped it against the shutter rhythmically. "Hello, is anyone there? The demons are gone."

Sol turns to Alex whispering, "Do you think anyone is alive in there?"

"No idea." Alex whispered back, before putting a finger to his lips in the universal signal of silence. Right after that, he turned his head and put his ear against the door, before breathing deeply and holding his breath for a few moments.

Silence. Then…

A breath. Two. More. Alex couldn't really count them all, but he knew that there were more than two people beyond the door. So, momentarily satisfied, he got up and nodded at Sol.

"At least two people." Again, he whispered, before he pointed towards the side of the place and started walking.

"Well, even if there are living people, it's not like we care, no? We just need to find the Divinity Statue and then we'll be on our merry way." He was purposefully loud.

There was a brief moment of pause before Sol caught on to what Alex was going for.

"You're right, they're probably dead. Damn… It would have been nice to meet some other sane people here. Let's find that statue, maybe even raid the food court if we have time." Sol said, matching Alex's volume.

The two walked away, loudly, until they reached the next restaurant. Again, Alex gestured towards it and, this time with much more carefulness and stealth, they hid inside it.

"And now, we wait." Alex was smiling, using the blade of his weapon as a facsimile mirror to see beyond the corner without poking out his head.

Sol's only response was a nod and him raising his handgun toward the EAT.

After a few moments, there was the sound of a shutter opening and a figure walked out. It was… someone younger than Sol would have guessed, male, maybe fifteen, sixteen, wearing mostly black with some well-placed chains and crucifixes. Or at least there were, the clothes had seen better days and the cuts and bruises just barely hidden under the flaps of torn material hinted at a desperate attempt at survival.

"He's just a kid." Sol whispered to Alex while letting the hammer of his pistol drop quietly back down.

"It's worse." Alex's voice was somber. "It's more than one kid."

Right behind the black-clad teen, another one - this one in khaki pants and polo, both that would have looked rather posh if only he wasn't covered in splashes of blood - followed. The second one was holding his grip on a table chair with white knuckles, while the goth kid had a pipe in his hands.

"Something's telling me that there are gonna be more than one kid inside that restaurant."

"I don't think these are our red eyes, what should we do?" Sol asked, unease present in his voice.

Alex didn't answer for a long minute, while he kept watching the two kids. They were busy looking around, almost as if they were searching for something. Or someone.

"I don't know. What do you want to do? Beyond it being impractical or anything else. I mean."

"Maybe… we should just say hi." Sol asked before getting ready to get up.

Alex didn't stop him, even if he had a vague feeling that it wouldn't end well. Considering how fearful the kids had been of them before, there were near zero chances that they could be more welcoming right now.

Sol calmly and quietly got out from behind the counter and walked out of the restaurant entrance. They hadn't noticed him yet, but he made himself known by pulling the hammer back on his pistol. The sound of the pistol going into Single Action was loud enough to catch their attention. The two whipped around fast, their expressions fearful but almost resolute. Behind his visor, Sol looked at their eyes.

"Normal eyes, not red… okay then." He slowly de-cocked the gun, holstered it, and spoke to the two. "Take it easy guys, we're not here to hurt you."

"Who-who are you?!" The goth boy asked, pointing the pipe towards Sol, attempting to be menacing. And failing horribly, considering he was shorter than the guy by several inches and a few tens of pounds of muscle.

"My name's Sol, I'm…" Something was wrong, Sol would never claim his memory was perfect, but he was damn sure he had never seen this kid or the other before. They weren't from the jock group, so who the hell were they?

"I was going to say a survivor like you, but I didn't see you before when we were all pulled together. How'd you get here?" Sol asked cautiously.

"Wh-what? We all came together. Our… It was like…five classes and ten teachers. We were in the auditorium of the school and then we were… Somewhere. In a room. There was this voice, but…" He trailed into silence, instead raising the pipe again.

"But it told you to kill a demon lord and go home with the power acquired here?" Sol asked, finishing the kid's sentence. "Damn, looks like this just became more complicated. Alex, you might want to hear this." He said, calling out to his friend.

Alex got out from his hiding spot, eliciting a drawn breath of surprise from the other two, as they saw his hair and the glowing eyes.

"So. Let me see if I got the news right: you got summoned here with your schoolmates, all of them more or less the same age, and a few teachers. A voice started talking to you, before vanishing. And you got access to a Golden Statue where you could buy powers like RPG enhancements. Did I get everything?" Alex questioned the students.

"Uh… yeah." Said the prep, his knuckles white with how he was holding his improvised weapon before he looked at Sol. "You, you don't have eyes like that do…do you?"

Sol gave out a sigh before lifting up his visor. "Not necessarily yet… speaking of which, you haven't encountered anyone with red eyes have you?"

"Don't worry about my eyes, they are the results of an experimental… thing that's definitely going to bite me in the ass, if I know my tropes, and aren't relevant to this discussion." Alex's voice lowered considerably in the middle of his sentence, but he soon returned to his normal tone.

"So, tell me, how come you and your friend? Are you here? Nobody else remains with your group? Did you get kicked out?"

There was a moment of silence as the two looked at each other before the goth spoke.

"We weren't a large group but we tried to keep together, Mr. Riker wa… is leading us but…"

The prep cut in, "One of the bug things, but uh bigger cut him badly. Fran is with him now but, well we don't have anything to stop the bleeding."

"Then that was his blood trail we saw then?" Sol asked.

"Yeah, probably. Do you still have the med kit you bought?" Alex asked, looking around and then using his umbrella as a cane and leaning on it, mostly for show than anything else.

"Yeah, I…" Sol paused and realized that no he didn't. He had thrown it away at Burrow Plaza when… That feeling of self-hate rose back in his heart like a bitter shadow. However, a ray of light pierced that bitterness as he remembered something he did have with him.

"No, but I have something better," Sol said to Alex before looking at the students and taking out the Vitality Star (Large) from his inventory. "Take me to your professor and I'll have him back on his feet in no time."

"Why should we trust you? Half of those who had bought powers from that strange statue went crazy in minutes! I don't trust you!" Even if the boy looked like he was doing decently, both Alex and Sol could see that he was struggling to not cry.

"I understand you, believe me. There were four groups of us. There was Alex and I, a high school mix of sports teams, and the business people equivalent to a Karen and Ken. Now the two business groups started going, like you said, crazy. I saw the Karen backhand someone so hard their neck snapped, and her rival looked bored of the whole situation. The jock team is gone, wiped out, by a group of people with red eyes. That's why I asked you before if you had seen them. Alex and I, just want to get through this with a clean conscience, so if we can help, then we'd like to." Sol responded in a placating manner.

"How could that many survive? Demons attacked only moments after we had been summoned! Only a few of us had managed to reach the statue. Then we had to run!" It was the prep boy who spoke, this time, following both the boys inside the restaurant they had chosen as a hiding place.

Only four more kids were immediately around, but both Alex's and Sol's eyes were immediately attracted by the bleeding figure on a table.

It was an older man, his once black or perhaps brown hair streaked gray and matted by sweat to his pale face. There was blood pooling around him, a lot and all stemming from a nasty gash across his thigh.

Sol practically let out a hiss of phantom pain seeing the wound. "That's a femoral cut, no wonder there's so much blood." He said before holding out the star, "I can heal with this, do you all trust me?" He asked the group.

"What if that makes him go crazy!?" A girl asked, her voice tight.

"It won't, I've tried myself." Sol lied, but they didn't need to know that.

The kids didn't look convinced. Alex decided to cut the problem at the root. "Look, we don't have either the equipment or the experience to heal him. We either take our chances with something both he and I KNOW will work or he's gonna die. What's it gonna be?!"

Probably it was cruel of him to ask this to a group of terrified school kids, but the time really was short and he didn't have the patience to let someone die when he could save them. More or less.

"Al…alright." The goth began, "But we're watching you." he finished while gesturing with his pipe.

"That's cool." Sol said, before kneeling next to the teacher.

"His breathing is shallow… How much blood has he lost? Alright, let's get some good karma and good luck for the future." He thought before taking the vitality star and placing it in Mr. Riker's hand.

"Mr. Riker if you can hear me, my name is Sol and what I want you to do is crush down on the star in your hands with all your strength. Can you do that for me?" Sol asked softly.

There was no verbal response, but the older man's eyes were partially open and his grip on the star began to tighten until a small creaking noise began to make itself known. This continued briefly before the star shattered in his hand. The light inside and the shards began to flow into the injured teacher and Sol watched in astonishment as the blood began to cease flowing and the wound closed in on itself.

"Not even a scar." Sol said quietly and watched as the teacher's breathing became more relaxed and eased.

"I think he'll be out of it for a little while… we'll talk with the others outside. Can you all watch over your teacher until he wakes up?" Sol asked the group inside the restaurant. They nodded mutely too, to which Sol responded, "Okay cool, we'll just be outside."

Leaving the restaurant Sol looked at Alex and then the two students. "He'll make a full recovery, if you guys escape this place alive, although he won't have a cool scar to show off to his co-workers or at family gatherings. Now, you mentioned earlier that you were part of another group, and how a majority of the people there went crazy after using the Divinity statues right? Did any of you do so?"

"We didn't have the time." The goth said bitterly. " Only some of us managed before the monsters attacked. And they were mostly the teachers. They remained back to stop the monster, while Mr. Riker guided us toward someplace safe. Not that it mattered." He spat on the ground.

"We got attacked again. And again. And we started… losing people… when the attacks…" He started sniffing, tears collecting in his eyes.

"We understand, look this isn't easy for you all, but you're still alive and haven't lost it like the others so that's good. Alex and I have been traveling…" Sol pauses briefly, trying to understand how to say this part properly.

"Technically down is up and up is down here. So, we've been heading up in this place despite physically heading downwards. I know it doesn't make sense, believe me, my head hurts just thinking about it."

"Don't confuse them too much." Alex muttered toward Sol, before turning towards the Goth boy.

"Look… What's your name? I can't keep thinking of you as Gothboy in my head, it's getting kinda silly." Alex appeared vaguely embarrassed about his question, but he didn't know what else to do.

The goth sniffled, before answering. "Name's Kurt."

"Okay. Look, Kurt. I'm not going to tell you where we are, because I'm not sure myself. I'm gonna give you a couple of pieces of information, though: First, I'm sure that whoever or whatever brought us here didn't have our best interests in mind. Second, I'm sure that the discounted version of a power at the statue - you'll see if and/or when you reach another one, trust me - are not to be trusted. Third, the monsters that have been attacking your group can be defeated and even killed. We would know." He smiled thinly. "We've done it."

"Many times." Sol affirmed before placing several items on the table. It was his gun, hand axe, and knife. "You guys need better weapons. Now the handgun cost me 1,000 orbs, and the dagger and hand axe are 250 each. Now, following up on what Alex said, any item or power except the Vitality Stars that have an 'L' prefix next to them should be avoided at all costs. In regards to the vitality star, that's just a denotation of size. I used a Large variant on Mr. Riker."

"Does that mean that you're going to be weaker at the start? Yes." Alex raised a hand before the inevitable protests started. "Listen. Do you remember what the Voice said at the start? The power that's inside you right now is something that has been lent to you. It's not yours. Whatever entity has given it to you, they can most probably recall it back whenever they want."

Sol nodded and followed Alex's train of thought, "So the trick is to cultivate your own power without using those discounted boosts. Buy weapons, blue orbs, and save up for the non-discounted physical and magical power boosts. Also if you see a red portal thing by a statue, use it. That's a way to a place called Gates of Hell. Before you say anything, I know what it sounds like, but it's a bar that doubles as a better place to get weapons."

Alex held Calcabrina in his hands and unsheathed the sword. "Very, very good weapons." He smirked, before closing it back again.

"Any questions? Yes, you all of you inside, too. I can hear your breathing. You lot aren't as silent as you think, especially in your numbers."

Sol gave a look to Alex. He hadn't… oh... right.

A voice called out from the restaurant, "What did you mean about Red Eyes?"

Alex winced. "Yeah, okay, so. There are at least two more groups of people that have been summoned. Probably more. We only know that a group of six people have red eyes and like slaughtering others. Nothing more. So, pay attention and try to stay safe. DON'T try to fight them: their last handiwork was… what, around thirty people, more or less." Again, Alex winced, before shrugging sheepishly.

Sol responded in a shaky voice "Yeah, I'd say about thirty people. They were a, uh mix sports teams maybe not all that much older than you guys. Made their own group and seemed pretty stable. Alex and I were checking out a building in a city square not all that far from here when it happened. Didn't even hear it, next thing we knew, we're walking outside and there were just… bodies everywhere. So if you do see them, hide and hide well. Not telling if they're human or demon, but they're a danger either way."

Silence greeted that answer before the sounds of someone walking away could be heard. Several someones. Alex looked pretty contrite but didn't say anything.

Prep boy looked green, while Kurt had to take a couple - well, more than a couple - of deep breaths before he could continue speaking.

"Thanks… for the information. Is There… there anything else that we should know?" His voice was still a bit shaky. Information overload and fear, probably.

Sol nodded before continuing, "Watch out for the two business groups that started out with us. Their leaders are definitely not all there in the head anymore. I don't know if they'll try to kill you or pressure you into their service, so just stay well clear of them."

Finished, Sol looked around before asking, "You mentioned divinity statues earlier. Is there any in the place? We've been looking into resupplying and well there seems to be a pretty good chance of one being here."

It was the prep boy that answered that question. He sounded a bit like he was a singer. "The… uh, the Gamestop on the other side of the mall. I saw it there when we were running." He was sweating nervously.

Alex nodded. "Thanks. Look, we're going there. If we see any big demon or a big group, we'll try and see if we can take care of it. Either way, we're going to come back and tell you what happened, okay? You try to keep safe and, more importantly, healthy. Eat something, if one of you can cook. And don't leave the gas open. An explosion is going to be dangerous, especially now."

With that, he turned and started walking down the hallway, near the railings.

As Sol began to follow after Alex, Kurt called out. "What did he mean about demons?"

Sol turned, lifting up his visor to give them a serious look. "These are demons, no other explanation for them. Hell, that power-up we told you to avoid is called 'Demonic Strengthening.' Just be careful from here on and take those weapons with you. They're not the strongest, but they're useful and the pistol doesn't need to be reloaded." Sol finished before catching up with Alex.

"Okay, so they didn't know that these were demons and they kinda asked me about that. Kinda generalized an answer but what can you do, right?"

"Yeah. It was a lapsus, I didn't want to say that. But it slipped out." Alex nodded at Sol, before looking forward, towards the other side of the mall. "A statue. You should have a lot of Orbs to spend, no? Any plans on what to buy?"

"A replacement pistol for starters. Then I want to head to Gates of Hell and use the component parts, get better weapons if possible, and then some better abilities for them. You?" Sol asked.

"Eh, I have only a little remaining, but I think I want the next level of both magic skills and something for Calcabrina. Maybe the Mystical Enhancement, too. Who knows." Alex shrugged, before twirling the umbrella like a baton. "I was always horrible with money."

"Well... I'm still sorry you didn't have more to work with, I'll try to get you as much as you need." Sol said quietly before they two came upon Gamestop.

"Dude, just stop. You saved my life, you help continuously, you don't have anything to do to repay me. We'll probably end up saving each other a few more times before the end of whatever this is." Alex shook his head, before looking at the Gamestop with a small smile.

"You know what? Fuck it. After the shit we've been through and will go through, I'd say the bastard who sent us here owes us another we 100% discount, no?" Sol asked.

"Oh, definitely. Now, if I remember correctly, most of the new games are in the back. But first…" And he went to the hanger where the cards for the online stores were before taking them all.

"So, I'm going to split these two in half. I'm going for Playstation and Nintendo, you?" Alex continued.

"PSN mainly. I jumped off the Xbox train when Bloodborne was coming out. Not repeating the same mistake as I did with Demon's Souls. Now, I wonder if they have anything that I was putting off for wish list purposes." Sol responded while looking at various shelves.

"I have NO idea. But I'm going to take a couple of things I wanted and never got. The Final Fantasy with Zack as the protagonist, the new TWEWY, probably a couple more. I wanna browse before choosing anything. Oh, and maybe a new console or two, if there are any."

While he talked, he had split the bounty in two. The PSN ones were split in half, and so were the Nintendo ones. "Here we go, half and half. Maybe look if there's a new Switch for you, too. It has some great games." Alex said as he waved his hands towards him, before pocketing - in the inventory - his part of the loot till now. He handed the other half towards Sol. Then, Alex blinked.

"Ohhh, check if there are games that are only in this… dimension or whatever. I'm gonna assume that they won't have Devil May Cry and Bayonetta here."

Taking his share, Sol sighed. "Didn't even think of that. It really would be too easy for us to get more of an inside track than what we already have." Sol said somewhat bitterly. "Still, thanks for thinking about that."

"You know, I'm happy to have known you. Even with the whole.. thing. You're kinda great, as a person and as a friend." Alex said after a few minutes had passed.

Sol responded, "You too man, thank you for having my back for all this time." A note of genuine happiness in his voice.

"Always. There are a few things that can create a strong friendship, but facing a Demon Boss together definitely counts." Alex was smirking, clearly proud of having done… something.

"Damn straight, let's keep the good times rolling on that and we'll be able to enjoy all this, cause I don't know about you, but I'll take these as a consolation prize." Sol said.

"Still better than a t-shirt." Alex chuckled, before looking around. "Did you see the statue? This place is bigger than the one near my home, so I'm not sure where the counter is."

He started looking on the shelves for interesting games while walking, stopping a couple of times to check a couple of things that looked interesting, and found that the statue was in the back, between the shelves of boxes that were still packed up.

"Well, we found the unopened stuff and the Divinity Statue, you think a Gates of Hell is around here too?" Sol asked.

"I mean, it could?" Alex had several games in his hands when he answered, blinking owlishly. "The other time we found them, they were near a Statue. It looks like a pattern, so it's worth a try, no?" His question made sense.

"But first, use the statue, maybe?" He nodded his head towards the lion-headed woman.

"Alright," Sol stated before touching the statue. The white void greeted him and he addressed the statue briefly, scrolling through the weapons menu until he came across the option of Enchanted Pistol. Watching his Red Orb count drop by 1,000 points, he bid the statue goodbye and reality returned to normal.

"I'm saving up for what sort of abilities I might get when we meet back with Rodin." Sol stated simply.

Alex raised his hands in the gesture of surrender. "Your money, your choices." Alex said as he started walking towards the statue, before stopping and turning his head towards the doors.

"Something's coming. Let's go and see who."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The final checking of the chapter fought me like you wouldn't believe. I had thought, that I had completed the final checks and revisions a few days ago. Buuuuut as I went through it this evening, it turns out that that wasn't the case. Due to the lateness of this chapter, the next one will be up on either this coming Saturday or Sunday.

Now, to discuss THE big event of this chapter. All that I really plan on saying at this moment in time, is that Alex is not an exception in this Mimicry-Hell. He's another rule. One that has its fair share of consequences.