Vesper watched with a strange internal glee as the Minotaur's favor was returned for his earlier transgression of trying to attack Mizuki from behind.. It was his turn to suffer, he could barely stand against the blows being thrown at him as he stumbled about, eventually hitting the ground, but still managing to lumber to his feet, however finally realizing his blindness he howled with range,
"My eyes!! I wont.. I wont be beaten by some scum human!" He began, slamming his fist intot he ground and throwing up a barrier of stone that cut them off from him, if only temporarily, while he retreated deeper into the fortress. Vesper writhed a little under the influence of the chains but eventually cried out again
"M-Mizuki..! Get these things off me...!"

-----------------------------------

"Seventeen minutes..?" The magician interrupted, shaking his head, "No no no.. We must prioritize speed above all else, seventeen minutes is far too much time, she has already long passed the potential threat level and is certainly sitting past the fatality marker," the young man slipped up ahead of them and held his hand out to the ground to stop them before turning to his other hand which he also stretched out, his book in hand, however it floated into the air, turning around and with several flicks of his hand the tome opened, the pages dancing by until it stopped on one.
He changed the position of his outstretched hand, the image on the page beginning to glow, it appeared to be a highly detail oriented circle, but as it glowed it began to expand exponentially until it covered the hallway itself, a flash of light as the hall behind the image disappeared and all that was left was a glowing gateway of light.
Without another worked he stepped into the light, vanishing into it as though disappearing into a wall.

Not far from the city, close to the point where the demons had been, another circle of light appeared, stretching out and becoming a solid, glowing gateway from which the magician emerged, walking out onto the autumn colored plains quietly. So long as that young woman knew where she was whens he appeared, she'd be able to lead them the right way from here..
Mild had made no hesitation at all to step through the gateway after the young wizard, the large man was secretly headstrong, considering nothing seemed to frighten him, nor confuse or amaze him, if it happened, it simply was and all that was left was to do something about it or with it. If the Magician had chosen to do this, there was obviously good enough reason to follow and do the same.

Mizuki clenched at her chest, coming down from her fevered rush. Gazing into nothing, she focused on her emotions and found confusion to be the most prominent. Why did I act like that? What happened? How did I get all that strength? Question upon questtion flew through her mind until she had to shut her eyes to try and fight the dizziness.

Suddenly, the clouds in her mind were cut through as she heard Vesper's plea. Coming to her senses, she looked at the demoness and she didn't like what she saw. She ignored the few tears on her cheeks, though, in favor of getting her down.

"I'm sorry..." She couldn't help but say after rememebering the pain her love went through.

.,^~v~^,.

Pepper quickly followed after Mild, not fearing in the least. Clay hesitated a bit, but followed Pepper. Forest stepped forward and was about to go through the portal before he suddenlygot a chill down his spine. He looked around but saw nothing unusual. I wonder what Mizuki's doing now... He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he was nearly positive that she had something to do with his unease. Shaing it off, he quickly stepped into the portal, following the others.

"Dont be sorry.." Vesper replied, stepping away from the chains and got up close to the other woman, placing her hands on either side of Mizuki's head and stared at her seriously, "Calm down.. You're going out of focus.. This is normal, you aren't used to having all this power so your mind is trying to make sense of it, you need to forget about what you could do and accept that you can do much more than you ever realized." Vesper started, brushing her fingers on the other woman's cheeks, "Mana power is a feral energy, it is affected by your emotions and can similarly affect them in reverse, this is why too much can make some get power hungry, even make them lose themselves for centuries.. You were angry and hurt that he was hurting me, so you wanted revenge, your mana offered itself up and you acted as naturally as you can imagine."

She embrace Mizuki softly, placing her hand on the others' back and patting there gently,
"Take a breath and relax." She whispered into Mizuki's ear. The wound on her arm was already closing, the blood being left cake around the void that was once a large gash, "I was once in the same position as you, in some ways, but I had no-one to teach me to relax and think.. Do you know what happened then..?"

========================

Glass stared at Pepper when she finally came through, offering her the map of the area and the location of the gateway, it wasn't like she needed the map, but at least with it on hand she'd know where she was leading them exactly taking into consideration where they were already. Mild having come through made sure to stand out of the way of the others, it was said that he'd wrestled with a dragon demon and brought it down single-handedly. It wasn't hard to believe, he was a walking monstrosity himself.

Mizuki let out a little whine and nuzzled the hand on her cheek. Listening attentively to the experienced demoness, she sniffled and wiped away a tear that had escaped. If this is normal, how am I going to get through this? She relaxed into Vesper's embrace, letting out a content sigh.

Out of the corner of her eye, though, Mizuki spotted what was once the gaping wound that the minotaur had inflicted. Smiling slightly after seeing that it had closed, she still felt a little guilt tugging at her heart. She touched a hand over it, brushing away some of the dried blood. Taking a deep breath in accordance with Vesper's suggestion, her ears almost visibly perked at the woman's last statement. She drew her head back from where she was resting it on the shoulder of her soul mate. Making eye contact, she leaned in and brushed her small nose against the other's cheek, nuzzling it. Then moving back, she brushed a hand over the same cheek. "...What happened?"

.,^~v~^,.

Pepper came through and took a moment to look around before noticing and then taking the map offered to her by Agent Glass. She took another quick glance around then one at themap. Folding it and slipping it into a jacket pocket, she turned Northwest, before looking back to see if everyone was there. Clay appearently had tripped when he had come out of the portal. He'd never been through one before, so it was understandable, but Pepper couldn't help but burst into gales of giggles. Clay growled, but mostly ignored her to take Forest's offered hand to help him up.

Calming her giggles and wiping away a tear, Pepper turned back to where she had been facing and took off, knowing that the others wouldn't be too far behind.

"I let it consume me. The feeling became addictive." Vesper smiled in an oddly sorrowful manner, "I enjoyed it, I grew to love the feeling of power so much that I entered every battle that followed with the hunger for more. My master had created me, imagining I would only last a short while, fodder like the rest of his forces, but I consumed more and more mana and filled myself with power until I was one of his most feared soldiers. He thought this an advantage, until I gathered more than he could handle and turned on him. A powerful opponent like him was bound to fill me with so much more. He underestimated his creation and was ultimately defeated, drained of all his power. I killed him, his loyalists and any who opposed my taking his throne. Then I turned on the other demons. I earned the nickname Genocide Queen.." She swallowed hard, lowering her head for a moment and shaking it,
"I turned into a monster.. Out of control and absolutely destructive.. But I realized this far too late.." She then sternly stared at Mizuki, "No matter how much you want to, never let it control you, it's not a mistake I'll let you copy, you were never meant for such an evil existence. I learned from my mistakes and created a new netherworld, crafting my own forces for the purpose of stopping such an atrocious evil as myself from ever rising again.. I want you at my side for that purpose as well.. To be my lover and my conscience. Perhaps it truly is destined, but your greater capacity for good than my own is something I would desire. And for that to happen I need you to focus and never lose yourself, for my sake as well as your own." Vesper spoke this almost as if pleading, embracing Mizuki tightly once again, lowering her head to kiss into Mizuki's neck softly.

=======================

Glass smiled a little at the momentary scene as the one called clay stumbled over his feet into the open, however put his attention after Pepper to follow int he direction she would be leading, at the same time Mild was also following hefty arms swinging at his sides as he walked, the soft earth was able to take the impact of his footsteps though he needed to be careful how he moved. He didn't want to disturb nature too much. It didn't need to be punished for his enormous size.
Glass meanwhile was checking through his tome carefully, he had to not only locate a gate into the netherworld but reopen it, so when they got there he'd need the right spells prepared.

Mizuki listened to the story silently, keeping eye contact to show she was listening. By the end of the story, she was slightly sad, but felt no pity. After all, if that hadn’t happened, would they ever have met? She mentally shook her head. I don’t want to think about that. Not to mention, it made Vesper who she was today. Strong in mind and body; a top demon.

When Vesper turned from reminiscent to stern, Mizuki blinked and focused even more on her words. She nodded slowly, understanding and blushed lightly at the mention of being at her side. She mentally knocked her head, Focus, Mizuki! Gently, Mizuki wrapped her arms around Vespers’ shoulders, running a hand through her short, silver hair.

"I am yours. Wholely and completely. Yours to use as your support and as your weapon. The only thing I ask for in return…" Mizuki paused, breathing in deeply the scent that was Vesper. "…Is you. All of you."

.,^~v~^,.

Bard stared solemnly at Agent Right. He could feel the battle that had occurred in the field, and there was no longer any doubt that Mizuki had met a demon. What happened between them was a mystery still, however. They had called in for a clean-up crew to take Right back to the base and clean the field. He looked into the forest where Agent Pepper had disappeared, saying that she could sense a portal.

"I wonder what’s taking her so long…" Just as he spoke up, a flare went up from Pepper’s direction. She had found something. “I spoke too soon.” He nodded to the others, “Let’s go.”