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The Dark Lord Comes

"(He took the bait!)" said Zardes when he ran outside just in time to see Ammon flew away. "(Tresi, follow Ammon. Now!)"

Itresil did not delay. The dragon quickly opened her wings and give chase. Zardes quickly returned to the house and said, "(Malkar, get everyone ready. We'll follow the two of them and get to Barbatos!)"

"(Wait a sec, I'm not done with you yet!)" said Asdal.

Zardes then pushed a button on the remote, which freed Belial and gave him back his powers.

"(I thought we need to take him like that to Barbatos, but it seems that the dark prince is not as paranoid as I thought)," said Zardes.

"(The hell are you talking about?!)"

"(It was Asmodel's idea, not his)," said Belial. "(I always know that son of a bitch is the one who's behind this)."

"(Still, I'm sorry)," said Zardes.

"(I'm not keen of being betrayed, but I'll let it slip this time)," said Belial.

The group quickly realized that, in order to follow Itresil and Ammon, they must at least have a mount. Itresil could only carry two grown hounds, which were Zardes and Malkar. They needed something to carry everyone without burdening Itresil. Both Belial and Asdal could catch on with Ammon in no time, with Zardes, Gehen, Damos, Alhen, and Malkar to keep up. Now that the soul within the ashes were gone, the two ash mages could not draw upon their magic to mass teleport the group. They could still control the ashes mixed with their own ashes, which still had souls within them.

But they were not giving up that easily, and neither did Itresil. She quickly told them to climb on her back as she continued her pursuit of Ammon. As Zardes expected, Itresil could not carry all five of them and started slowing down behind Ammon. But, unlike her usual self, she pushed on. Even after she had landed due to the strain on her wings, she kept going.

Zardes, seeing this, clearly did not expect Itresil to be a stubborn demon dragon he had known since youth. As Itresil ran, Zardes asked, "I've never seen you like this before. Why now?"

"Because he's a friend," said Itresil with a strain in her voice. "And I will save him. What more do you want?"

Zardes smiled. "Nothing more than trusting you, my friend. Just...don't push yourself."

"I know my body better than you, so hold on tight."

Itresil could claim that. She had all the reasons to say that, given that she was a demon, after all. But Zardes also knew the limit of her body, even if she was deliberately faking it. He could see that Itresil was exhausted more than usual, and while the strain was not apparent, Zardes could see it from her eyes. He knew that Itresil was trying her best to contribute to the team, and she had done it well.

Before long, Ammon stopped flying, but it wasn't because he landed. Instead, he crash-landed, almost deliberately. It was then the group witnessed a most peculiar sight. Ammon was shouting to someone, then proceeded to throw himself away towards a direction. He kicked the air while trying to fly, and he even froze himself with the ice powers.

For someone who did not know what happened, they would think that Ammon had finally lost his mind, but Zardes knew better. Ammon was fighting against Barbatos for control of his body, which happened in his mind. After a struggle and a display of rage, Ammon could finally pull Barbatos's mind out of total control and within a 'mentalscape', where they shared their control over Ammon's body. As they shared bodies, Barbatos manifested as Ammon's dark twin, with the only difference being that Barbatos was more sinister-looking. Here, Barbatos's power was limited by Ammon's capabilities, which Ammon took advantage of. However, the demon bat did not consider the fact that Barbatos made him, and despite the limitations, knew his creation as well as his creation did, causing the fight to reach a stalemate.

"(Just give up, Vessel)," said Barbatos while putting Ammon in a chokehold with his wing (inside Ammon's mind). This came out in the real world with Ammon choking himself. "(I know your body well. I made it so that it can absorb the other Vessel's experience and knowledge, including the obscure language of the Fourth Circle only I know!)"

"(You may know how my body work, but I know how it works, including where it hurts!)"

Ammon raised his head and hit Barbatos's chin, which released him from a chokehold. The demon bat quickly ran towards Barbatos and opened his wings, doing a somersault that targeted Barbatos's chin once more. He finished it with an attempted dive-kick, something that Barbatos had anticipated. He grabbed the flying demon bat's leg and slammed him against the mentalscape's ashen land.

Out in the real world, Ammon flew up, but he quickly, and apparently deliberately, slammed himself to the land. It looked so clumsy and cheesy, but no one cared (well, except Belial, who winced seeing Ammon hurting himself despite of knowing that he was fighting against someone else in his mind).

That's when he turned to one of them and said, "(He's bringing the fight to us! Be careful!)"

Inside Ammon's mind, after he said that, Barbatos did a roundhouse kick that threw Ammon's manifestation and his real-life body quite a distance. Right after that, Barbatos slowly vanished. He said, "(You're one persistent Vessel, you know that? I guess I've lingered in your mind long enough)."

"(I know you're exhausted)," said Ammon, letting out a smile. "(Even if the fight comes, Belial is still your main obstacle. That goat's a killing machine!)"

"(Even then, can he defeat me? I am the dark lord of the Fifth Circle! Unless you know how to punch a shadow and cause it harm, your efforts mean nothing)."

Right at that moment, Ammon regained full control of his body. Yet, still wary of Barbatos's control, he stopped Belial, who tried to help him. "(No. I can't risk causing you harm)," he said.

"(So, Barbatos is coming here?)" said Belial.

"(Yeah, but we have a problem. When he fought me in my mind, our minds were linked for a moment. He already has a body, and with it, an amplified and focused power. We must find a way to subdue him)."

"(How? Do you know anything more?)"

"(Does anyone here know how to manipulate shadows? Or do something to shadows?)"

"(You don't fight shadows, batty)," said a familiar voice. They all turned to see Asmodel, who quickly incited rage from both Zardes and Belial.

"I told you to stay out of our way," said Zardes while pointing his knife to Asmodel.

Asmodel then threw something to the group. Zardes looked at it and said, "What?"

"A proof, to show you who's in charge," said Asmodel.

Belial was the first to notice the blood soaking the pouch and was also the first to walk towards it and pull open the pouch bag, revealing the heads of various Circle demons. The sight of it did not surprise Belial, but for the others, it unnerved them, simply because they knew what kinds of demons the heads belonged to. Asmodel made a short work at them. The group, who felt they wanted Asmodel to know that he had gone too far, realized that even they underestimated Asmodel's drive for his own desire, and the things he would do to achieve them.

"Getting your hands dirty won't change the fact that you almost cause a strive in our group, Asmodel," said Belial.

"Except this time, you need my help. Do not argue. Just follow what I'm going to do," said Asmodel. "Oh, and keep the trophies, in case you need a little decorating."

Belial snapped his fingers and hellfire burned the pouch full of decapitated demon heads. Asmodel sighed and said, "Yeah. I suppose that's how you'll act. Anyway, good job in deducing that you need a magic to subdue a shadow, though you're only half-right. Barbatos is not just a shadow, or a darkness. He's a manifestation of darkness possessing the body of a Fuzandre, and once he's out of his vessel, what do you think he'll look like?"

Everyone then felt a cold sensation and turned towards the sensation. They saw what Asmodel meant, along with the body of a white-skinned furless demon bat walking towards them, being flanked by darkness that manifested as nightmarish creatures. It was also the first time the group saw that Barbatos, inside his new body, had red eyes instead of black, much like a demon.

The darkness filled the bluish 'sky' of the Ashen Lands, turning it into a dark, starless night, and also dropping the temperature to the point of freezing. From the Crossing Gates, demons and hellhounds still under his control walked out to meet the group.

It felt like a hopeless end for the group, for they were clearly outnumbered.