"The Blood Moon, Jarath's Ring… Is that…" Akane turned her head towards Amon with slit pupils as narrow as her eyes were wide. "What you found?"

For a moment, no one spoke.

Rita felt a shiver go down her spine, while Syl frowned momentarily.

The two exchanged a glance, remembering that Akane had recognized the name Jarath and recognized him as a previous Demon King.

"What do you know about it?" Amon asked.

"Is it what you found?" Akane repeated, turning to face him completely.

He stared for a moment before shaking his head.

"No," Amon answered. "Found the Scythe."

"I see." Akane turned back towards the engravings.

The five remained in the underground chamber for a while longer, but not much more information was gained.

The engravings gave no information about the locations of the other weapons, which made sense to Amon.

'Even the people to made these probably don't know where the other weapons are. They knew their energy could corrupt, and one is already difficult to handle enough.' His gaze temporarily moved towards his shadow. 'Well, for them, I guess.'

They climbed back up one by one. Rita needed to be princess carried by Amon again.

To jump back up, Syl needed help as well.

"Sorry…" She muttered as Amon carried her.

"My pleasure," He said with a smile.

By the time that everyone was out of the underground chamber,

"We can stay here for a bit, but Vulkan will start moving soon." Levia sighed.

"How much time do we have?" Amon asked, gently putting down Syl.

"You should know, since you've been in contact with him and his Demons."

"Hm…" Rita stretched lazily, "Vulkan didn't strike me as the type to give things a lot of thought. Still, cutting communications and me disappearing is bound to make him think something is wrong, though he might assume you were just in some kind of trouble and needed my help."

"I asked him about the Hobgoblins about a day before calling you."

"..." Rita pursed lips. "That changes things." She took a seat on the ground, thinking silently for a bit. "Fikos might have already been sent to the Hobgoblins then. It should take him two days to get there, maybe one if he hurries up."

"One day?" Syl echoed with a raised eyebrow. "The demons can't be that close to the village."

"Yeah." The Succubus nodded. "Fikos isn't particularly strong, but there is a reason why this type of work is left to him. His magic will allow him to get there in a day, or two if he takes breaks."

"So it would still take two to four days for him to make it to the village and back." Amon said. "Plus the time spent at the Hobgoblin village." He turned towards the female Hobgoblin. "Had everything gone perfectly, how much time would it have taken you to get back to your village?"

Syl blinked. 'Things did go perfectly for me though.' She scratched her head, Syl knew what he meant. "With the wolves alive and without needing to drag that cage, probably a week or so."

"We still have time." Amon spoke with a hand on his chin. "In that case, it depends on whether Fikos will remain at the Hobgoblin village and wait for your arrival, or go directly to the Goblin village hoping to meet you halfway."

"Fikos isn't leaving the Hobgoblins," Rita said with a raised hand. "I've heard him brag multiple times about how nicely they treat him. If the opportunity to hang around presents itself, he will. Plus, he wouldn't want to do extra work."

"How long will he wait for, though?" Syl asked. "No one is going back there."

"If you were supposed to make it there within a week, then he might wait ten days or so before heading back to Vulkan. Except if he fears coming back empty-handed and takes it upon himself to come after."

Syl felt a sudden chill. The fear of coming back empty-handed had gotten rope around her wrists and ankles. 'Plus…'

"Let him." Amon said coldly. "It would be much better for us if he came after us instead of warning Vulkan."

"That's true." Levia nodded.

"All things considered, I agree." Rita shrugged. "Though this all depends on Fikos."

"Regardless of the time we have left," Akane's tone was emotioneless. "Where would we go?"

Amon glanced at her, slightly surprised.

That was the one thing they had been avoiding since becoming a team.

Akane avoided the subject so that there wouldn't be a split between them, while Amon avoided it because he was new to this world and unfamiliar with the territories.

Levia and Rita exchanged a glance, and they could tell each agreed with the other.

"The Human Kingdoms." They said at once.

While Syl and Amon raised an eyebrow, Akane's eyes narrowed.

"The place we're in is what Humans commonly refer to as the wilderness," Levia explained. "To them, it's a sort of natural border."

"Because it's filled with Monsters, Beasts, and Demons… As well as Black Church Followers." Rita added. "The two Human Kingdoms, one North and one South, have been forced to remain peaceful with one another. Any wars that previously broke out between them were to neither's advantage because Monsters, Beasts, and Demons end up butting in, increasing casualties on both sides, and keeping either army from making any progress."

"Still," Syl raised a hand slightly. "How's that supposed to work?"

"Human Kingdoms deal with non-Humans differently. Some are more accepting than others." Levia said. "The closest Human Kingdoms both detest non-Humans, though."

With a Fox, a Beastly Hobgoblin, and a Hobgoblin accompanying them, this seemed like a pretty bad plan.

"Demons stay clear of Human Kingdoms." Rita nodded. "If we can infiltrate them, Vulkan would have a lot more trouble finding us."

"That's not the issue," Akane said with narrow eyes.

Levia and Rita looked at one another with mischievous smiles.

"Don't worry, we have some ideas to make sure you're not found out-"

"That's not the point!" Akane suddenly interrupted. "I'm not going to any Human Kingdom!"

"I'm sure you must have your issues with Humans, but it's our safest bet." Rita explained. "I myself have contacts there. It would be safe and easy for us to get lost in the crowd."

"I've sent many of my remaining Followers to the Human Kingdom's borders." Levia added. "They can still prove useful-"

"I'm not going." Akane said definitively.

She turned towards Amon and Syl.

"I'm going back to my village." Akane admitted. "I need to go back."

Amon remained momentarily silent while Syl thought about it.

'Yes, that makes sense.' She sighed internally. 'The fear of coming back empty-handed… While war with the Werebeast village was never an option before, it definitely is now. The Chief is bound to fear letting down Vulkan.' Syl rubbed her arm nervously. 'The Demons might go looking for Levia, but the Hobgoblins will likely go to the Werebeast village. Either thinking that they betrayed them and took back Akane, or just to collect more offerings to appease the Demons they have let down. No matter how it goes, Akane's village is in trouble.'

Meanwhile, Amon was thinking about something completely different.

Previously, he had no idea where he wanted to go, so he simply went with the flow, following Akane and Syl.

It was different now.

'The Black Churches are what I want.' Amon thought. 'Collecting Jarath's weapons and Azaroth's body parts. That's the fastest way for me to grow stronger. Black Churches are in the wilderness, between Human Kingdoms. Holy Churches that haven't been corrupted are within the Human Kingdoms, so those would be a lot harder to destroy and loot. Still, it's likely that the most powerful of Azaroth's body parts and Jarath's weapons remain sealed in Holy Churches, strategically sealed in churches at the center of the Kingdoms.' He crossed his arms with a nod. 'I need to remain in the wilderness for now and check the surrounding Black Churches, even if it means staying within Vulkan's reach.'

Because he had crossed his arms and nodded, everyone was given the impression that Amon had reached a conclusion and would decide in which direction the group would travel.

Akane was especially anxious to hear it. After all, she had just declared that she wouldn't go to the Human Kingdoms, which means that, if Amon decided that the Human Kingdoms were the best bet, the group would split, and Akane would be left alone.

Still, it couldn't be helped.

She couldn't leave Lina and Dina, girls she had known since they were toddlers, to fend for themselves.

In the first place, the Werebeast Chief had used Lina and Dina to emotionally manipulate Akane and force her to give herself to the Hobgoblins.

Now, they were truly in danger.

"I guess this all leaves your village in a bit of trouble." Amon said, scratching his head. "I'm not sure how we can help them, but…"

His words trailed off as a teary-eyed Akane leapt and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you…!" She muttered with a shaking voice.

Levia and Rita looked at one another and shrugged.

As she hugged Amon, Akane turned her gaze towards Syl.

'Sorry,' Her mouth worded.

The Fox shook her head with a slight smile, understanding that it wasn't her fault.

'Now,' Rita thought with a sigh. 'You would have been justified to run away, Rika.'

Amon tapped Akane's back as she hugged him.

"So..." He pulled back a bit. "Y'all got cat girls?"

"...?" Akane raised an eyebrow.

"It's an offensive term used by Humans to refer to those with feline characteristics," Rita explained.

"Oh, Um... Sure," Akane answered with a suspicious nod. "Why?"

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