The group stood in front of the huge mountain that was covered by a thick and large forest. The road in front of them split to three others, each leading towards one of the three summits of the mountain. The very high summits were covered with snow, and they were almost impossible to spot due to the thick clouds around them.
Sendou: " we should find the keys in this huge thing!? That's impossible!"
Asuka: " can you stop making people feel down!"
Sendou: " should I tell you again it's a hobby."
Asuka: " couldn't you find a better one?"
Sendou: " as long as this one annoys you I think it's the best one I could ever have."
Asuka: " why you..."
She rolled up her sleeve ready to get into a fight but quickly stepped back when a certain purple card was thrown on the ground near her foot. Sendou made a step backwards too, knowing full well what that card meant.
Kiyoka: " one other word and I will make sure to separate you both in my own way."
Sendou and Asuka swallowed in fear at that, for some reason they had the feeling that Kiyoka will carry on her threat.
Ban walked next to the younger women and thanked her before facing everyone.
Ban: " now that we're at the Gagurashi mountain, we have to split to find the Parasite Keys."
Hiro: " then we will have to form three groups, but..."
Ran: " how will we move without your orders, Ban?"
Ban: " I decided to place a leader in each group. Hiro, Ran, Yuri, Yumi, Gouda, Yuki, Arata, Haruki, Hikaru, Hannah, Muraku and Wataru will form a group. You will be the leader, Hiro."
Hiro: " eh! Me!"
He pointed at himself with wide eyes. Ran gave him a slap on his back and said with a smirk.
Ran: " of course you, don't you remember you led us all back to the tavern."
Hiro: " but, Ban-san..."
Ban: " you will be just fine, Hiro."
He told him with an encouraging smile. Hiro had a confident look and held up his fist.
Hiro: " ok then, I will make sure we get the Parasite Key."
Ban nodded at him before turning to announce the names of those in the second group.
Ban: " Ken, Ruri, Tohru, Heidi, Yuuya, Sendou, Kiyoka, Asuka and Jessica, you will be together a group. Ken you're in charge."
Ken: " what?! Me!?"
The younger blunette snapped in surprise, never expecting to be called for this.
Ban: " I can't think of someone better than you."
The brunette told him briefly before turning to everyone else.
Ban: " anyway, each group will proceed towards one of the summits where one of the three Parasite Keys is laying. Try to secure the key no matter what, we have to get the three keys to restore the Under Balance. Else our known world will be erased soon."
As they knew of the responsibility that was placed on their shoulders, they didn't show any sign of fear or confusion. On the contrary, they had determined and confident looks all over their faces.
Hiro: " Ban-san, what about your group?"
Ban: " Elie, Jin, Jennifer, Ryan, Aki, kazuki, Kazu, Ami, Rina-san and me will be a group, but we still have a back up so we will wait for them here while you will go ahead."
Ken: " a back up you say?"
Ban: " an additional force."
He shifted his look towards the blunette boy who was clenching his fist tightly on his side.
Ban: " though Kazuki, since you had received a quite big damage during the last fight. I still insiste that you would consider going back."
Kazuki, who seemed pale and out of breath, clicked his tongue at Ban's remark.
Kazuki: " I've decided to join this group to fight. Don't look down on me, such wound won't stop me from fighting and doing what I have to do."
Ban sighed as he knew there was no way to convince the blunette boy the other way. He turned towards the other two groups and narrowed his eyes at them.
Ban: " be careful."
A collective nod came out as an answer before that they all turned and left.
Ryan: " you said we will be waiting for back up, but you didn't mention who they are?"
Ban: " just wait and you will see."
Jin approached him with a concerned look.
Jin: " there is something that bothers me more..."
His red eyes flashed with a purple light for a second as he shifted his look towards the blue head.
Jin: " ... Your choice of members, it kinda worries me, Ban-kun..."
Ban: " if we can't overcome the issues that we have within our members then we won't be able to get through the big issue here."
He said before fixing his look on the group that suddenly showed up withing a pink ball of light.
" Sorry for being late deyo~."
A very familiar voice spoke out as the owner stepped out from the light ball, followed by a certain group with multicolored armors and a two familiar man and woman.
Elie: " well, I can understand why you would ask for Dad and Mom's help, but why them?"
She pointed at the group of people who started doing different poses and the old man who kept shifting his eyes between the females of the group.
Ban: " we need each and every possible help we can get..."
He said before looking down in hesitation and Jin immediately knew what was going on.
Jin: " you don't think that Apollo Kaiser will be targeting your group, right?"
Ban: " I have Apollo's soul, so it's the natural thing for him to go after me."
Elie bit her lip as she started to get afraid. After what Otacross told them in Akihabara, she couldn't help but being worried a lot about it. She snapped when she felt her brother placing both his hands on her shoulders.
Ban: " are you alright? You're shaking?"
The woman shook her head and smiled sweetly.
Elie: " I'm fine, Onii-chan."
She said before heading towards her parents. Ban looked down at that.
Ban: " I wish I could leave her behind, but we need her to be close so that she can help with the God Mode. I'm sorry Jin... I know I'm not only putting her in danger, but your child too..."
Jin shook his head before walking next to his friend.
Jin: " I know that you have to do that, or else our child won't have a place to grow up in."
Ban bit his lip at that before facing Jin with a rather worried look.
Ban: " Jin, I will have to ask you to protect her no matter what. Don't let her ever near Apollo if he is to appear."
The man narrowed his eyes and nodded at the brunette who merely answered with a small smile. A broken one for Jin's surprise.
Quickly Ban's eyes glimmered with confidence again, almost making Jin doubt what he had seen, and he turned to the group.
Ban: " Yosh! It's time to get going!"
Otacross: " then I shall wish you good luck deyo~."
Ryan: " wait! Aren't you coming with us?"
Otacross: " what do you think an old man with a broken back can do deyo~? Plus, I have to bring your other ally deyo~."
Everyone blinked twice at that.
Ban: " another... Ally?"...
**********
Ran: " it will take us an eternity to reach to the summit!"
She said as she took a peek at the map in Hiro's hand.
Hiro: " don't complain, Ran. There is nothing we can do about this you know. We have to hurry and find the Parasite Key as soon as possible."
Ran: " why should they always hide these things in the most hardest place to reach?!"
Yumi: " so that bad guys won't reach them easily, Mom."
Yumi commented and Hiro held a thumb at her as she managed to silence her mother.
Yuri: " but what's the big deal about this mountain anyway? For some reason I can't relax here."
Yumi: " most likely that's your sense of danger, Onee-sama. Well I can't blame you, seeing that this mountain is haunted."
Gouda turned blue at that.
Gouda: " haunted?! You mean real ghosts!!"
Yumi: " I've read about the Gagurashi mountain before, the Gagurashi tribe that used once to live here long ago and that was famous for their thirst for blood, were somehow related to demons and did demonic ritual here, turning this whole mountain into a bridge between the demons' realm and our world. And though the gods sealed the demons away and prevented them from entering the humans' world, the couldn't prevent them from wandering around the bridge. No one came here and lived to tell the story."
Muraku: " you really know a lot about the mountain."
Yumi: " that's the natural thing for a bookworm like me."
She said with a proud smirk and she restored the balance of her glasses.
Yuri: " then what you want to say is the chance of running into a demon here is higher."
Yumi: " not only higher, it's possible to come across demons stronger than the third level."
Yuki shivered for a second at that and had an annoyed look.
Yuki: " that sounds bad..."
Muraku: " we have to be careful then."
Haruki: " it seems finding the Parasite Keys won't be easy."...
**********
Ken: " the haunted mountain huh... Seems Ryuu-sensei's lessons came to use after all. Who would though that we would come to this very mountain."
He said as he walked ahead of the group, but still would from time to time stop and look behind him to make sure everything was going well with the others.
Ruri: " we have to be careful. I can sense a massive amount of black magic."
Tohru: " black Magic? What's that?"
Sendou: " usually, magic used to serve demons or magic gained from demons when you give them a sacrifice."
Kiyoka: " it's a very dangerous type of magic that has no limit."
Asuka: " that's only making me more excited to go up there and fight!"
She said with and amused tone.
Yuuya: " calm down, Asuka-kun. Remember, we don't want to get into troubles right."
The blonde puffed her cheeks and nodded in annoyance.
Heidi walked near Ken, clearly afraid and shivering from her head to her feet.
Heidi: " they're all crying and screaming..."
She whispered to herself, but the blunette was able to hear her.
Ken: " who?"
Surprised by the question, she looked at the man next to her.
Heidi: " the plants, the animals, the earth and the elements... They are all sending tearing screams and cries that are tearing my ears."
She covered her ears and trembled more.
Heidi: " we shouldn't have come here... It's very dangerous..."
The blunette placed his hand on her back and rubbed it gently and the brunette seemed to relax a bit.
Ken: " don't worry, we will overcome everything that would show up into our faces. We will get out with the Parasite Key and go back sound and safe."
Even if they were mere words, they send tranquility through the younger woman who smiled sweetly at him and nodded...
**********
" So they started moving."
The long green haired boy said.
" We will follow them after they got a little more further into the mountain, right?"
The short black haired man asked to make sure of their plan.
" All we have to do is smash them to the ground."
The blunette woman voiced out with a wide evil smirk.
" Don't forget that our main purpose is to get the Parasite Keys."
The blonde man reminded them.
" Don't you worry, we won't go against the strict orders anyway."
The light brown haired man said with a devilish smirk as he brushed his hair back.
They all turned to the hooded figure who stood behind them, waiting for his orders. His blue shining eyes glimmered for a second before that he pointed at the mountain.
" Go! Chase after them!"...