What permeated the grey skies on that day were a bunch of screams. The few birds flew elsewhere, while a nearby deer raised their heads at the sight.

Four figures were perching over the horizon and behind the next few mountains, plummeting from the cliffs into the green valleys. First came Atomu, who, when nearing the ground, made a very strange expression and slid into it with the Knrhum's Blade.

It made enough of an impact to rip through the dirt, propelling him towards a few bushes. After a few seconds of trying to calm himself down, he took a deep breath and landed on his back, looking up.

Then, soaring came Chyuuichi, much to his stress and shock, which forced him to immediately scour, as the scythe spun around its axis before landing exactly where he did.

Chyuuichi put his hand on a small conifer and sighed, shaking his head. "What a bunch of adrenaline! Almost hit ya, Atomu!"

"Watch out next time!"

"Next time implies we'll be doing it again, yahoo!"

"There's nothing to be happy about!" Atomu shook him around before another yell pierced the air.

Morio's smile was visible from down there, as he pointed his hand forth as if trying to speed up. At the key moment, he grasped Gloria's grip and ground his teeth.

Within the next few seconds, dust and dirt appeared a few meters in front of the two, suggesting the Morian's crash, but then again, when Atomu wanted to raise his voice, another came out.

"I'm alright, I'm alright!" Morio reassured, standing up from the bushes near the two.

"J-Jeez, Morio." The Paladian commented. "You flashed here so fast that I couldn't see you."

"...and it's only one of my many positives." he took a twig out of his hair, grinning, much to Chyuuichi's excitement. However, it seemed that the three here couldn't stand for too long. Morio instinctively ran out, hearing that annoyed wail from above.

Jyuzou tried, quite literally, flying through the air. Hands extended at the sides, flapping them around like a bird, before one moved back to the sheath, desperately trying to pull the spear out. A few seconds away, he stared desperately, as if trying to tell them something, but Morio didn't need much introduction to the problem.

He beamed again, waving Gloria in front before running forward and zapping into the airs.

At the exact point where he and Jyuzou met, the Morian's hands clasped around his body before the two speedily descended and rolled off towards a copse. Atomu and Chyuuichi immediately sprinted by, finding the two coughing and trying to get back to their senses.

"Ekhem." the glassy-eyed Morian cleared his throat, turning. "I almost pulled the spear out."

"Almost?!" Morio stood up. "...and were not you the one always telling me that almost isn't good enough?!"

"EKHEM." Jyuzou raised himself as well. "...thank you..." he muttered under his nose.

"What?" Morio stuck an ear out.

"Thank you."

"Didn't get that."

"Thank. You."

"Louder, Jyuzou!"

"THANK YOU, MORIO, DAMN IT!"

"Gahaha!" The white-haired Morian laughed, before jumping around. "Morio 283, Jyuzou still zero!"

"Zero?! Oh, no, no, no! Come right back!" Jyuzou chased him around, as the two found themselves in another pointless argument.

Atomu sighed, folding his arms, as Chyuuichi squinted.

"Dude, when did Morin learn to be this cool?" the Mirillian whispered. "Abilities and all..."

"They had their training, to say the least. I thought that we're all the stronger Demonear bunch, but I reckon we can't compare," he added. "Good for them, though."

"Don't lump me with yer inabilities! I'm as strong!"

"I thought we were on the same insecure team, Chyuuichi." Atomu cried out, before the two strutted towards the Morians, once again, since they were walking in the direction of the very thing that brought the four here in the first place.

"In fact, I have all of them written down on the parchment Mr Bancho gave me." Jyuzou insisted.

"Good thing you forgot to take that with you so it doesn't count!" the other pointed.

"Shut up, Morio!"

"Back to you, glassy idiot!"

...and all was well, in a sense. As a few more words were spouted, opposing the usual ritual of ending their quarrel, Morio's eyes eventually focused on the structure, stretching rather marvellously over the mountainous horizon.

Stairs led towards an entrance perched upon the same hill, with walls at the sides almost defending the inner palace from being seen. One thing was certain, though, and it was the very word Morio uttered back then.

The roofs stretching above the masonry resembled what Jyuzou described as a possian-type church, only seen in this part of Malikan. One thing that made them stand out was their rarity, as back then they were home to multiple religions.

They were mostly abandoned or destroyed nowadays, refurbished and repositioned into the belief of Pasto only, which was the Eran majority.

Jyuzou took a moment to ponder for a bit more, before Morio moved up the stairs, without anyone's command.

"Morio?" the Morian asked.

"No point in gawking at what we can't see, Jyuzou," he added. "Best bet someone out there will be of some help."

"What help? Don't we have everything we need for the rest of our journey?" Atomu asked.

"We did abandon the ponies because a massive orc threatened to kill-"

"Right!" Jyuzou jumped up as if snapping out of some trance. "You're completely right on the Silver, Morio Frisks!" he fixed his glasses, storming up. "I forgot to mention your DASHING idea of zipping away on that thunderbolt without ever considering the ponies we left hopeless on that hill!"

"Won't they find their way?" Chyuuichi asked.

"I'm pretty sure only Bancho's horse could do that," Atomu whispered.

"Where even is that damn thing?" the Mirillian continued, and the Paladian shrugged.

"Well, um. Aren't you glad that I'm considerate, then?" Morio smiled.

"Phew." Jyuzou breathed out. "IT'S NOT ABOUT THAT! You should've kept quiet so that I'd be the one to slowly figure that out and drown in even more stress than I had missing out on all those plants along the way! We could've died!"

"Dude, you're realizing all of that just now?!" Morio chuckled.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY! NOW WE'RE STUCK IN SOME VALLEY WITHOUT OUR TRUSTED PONIES! YOU NEVER THINK BEFORE DOING, MORIO! THINK!"

Jyuzou finally let go, taking a few steps forward and clearing his throat.

"I'm sure if there's anyone inside they'd say my yells were very reasonable," he added, adjusting his collar before glancing through the open entrance.

His brows shifted, and Morio sighed, before following suit.

He blinked a few times. It could've been expected, after all, but the state the place was left in was rather... heavy to bear. The others waited by and Jyuzou was the first to move down the steps which led inside.

Arches were broken, trees spliced in half with their other ends withering away with the weather. What resembled a fountain dried out, with its bricks laid everywhere the eye could see. Pink bushes turned into nothing, and shattered glass was present everywhere, with more mossy stairs leading up to the walls cracking down into the church.

...which was otherwise left intact. Jyuzou breathed out, before jumping down.

"Abandoned is one hell of a word to describe it." Atomu mused, looking at the others.

"Doesn't look like it was too long ago, ya know?" Chyuuichi added. "Mirillian fact of the day is that moss usually overtakes everything over a longer period!"

"Well-spotted," Jyuzou muttered. "It's as if someone tried to destroy it."

Morio wandered towards the arches, squinting. "Rather, someone fought something here."

The three turned, as the Morian pointed towards scratch marks present around the pillars and closer towards staircases leading out of the stone, beige courtyard. Soon, seemingly at the sight, more were revealed.

Jyuzou spotted ripped-out chunks of grass below his feet. Atomu raised one brick spliced in half, while Chyuuichi focused on the few glass panes, almost resembling a figure up there.

The insides of the church were as dark as the situation could've been, and it seemed that light and answers faded with the minute. In turn, the Paladian took his Glyph Vial out, shaking it around before glancing at the environment.

He made the first steps, following the purple down the same path they were treading.

Signs appeared near the obvious damage. It resembled blunt hits or figures dragged up the wrecked stairs and out of the walls, coated in cracks invisible to the eye.

The church, however? It remained spotless as if there really was no story to be told there. Such was what intrigued them the most, so without another word added, they wandered through the swung-open doors and met complete silence.

Morio felt a small ache going through his head, but the innards were completely empty. The dark and purpur tiles extended through barriers towards typical, dusty church equipment—otherwise, nothing there except for a massive shadow right where they stared.

Atomu put the Glyph Vial down, shaking his head, while Jyuzou pondered.

"It's nothing." Jyuzou's voice echoed. "We can search for more clues but that's about it. Just a destroyed, abandoned church. Probably the works of some demon."

"I never understand why people live outside the bigger settlements. It's like asking to be attacked." Atomu scratched his head.

"Then again, if they had reliable, trusty Demonears they wouldn't have to worry! Next time for sure, church guy!" Chyuuichi clenched his fist. "Right, Morio?"

Morio stood outside the church, staring around for a longer while.

"Morio?" Jyuzou asked.

"It's nothing." the Morian suddenly turned. "The pressure inside's heavy. Almost got a headache there."

"...you're right." Atomu chuckled. "I can feel the weight."

The others stepped out, but Jyuzou remained inside. He stared at Morio too, before turning to the insides, glancing down. One rule of an old religion which he couldn't exactly recall spoke of washing your feet before stepping in. Perhaps such didn't matter anymore, but something else irked him about the thought.

An item laid right betwixt his boots. He picked up a small, white and black necklace, with its thin string made of a strange material. The pendant itself, however, revealed some writing when the sun peaked from beyond the few mountains.

"See you there." Jyuzou read, quietly, before turning to the others and stuffing the item in his pocket.

***

The remainder of the day was made of a lot of things. The first concern was that the four found themselves in quite a pickle. The roads leading out from here towards the Kabun Clan conflicted with the stretch they were to originally take. They could backtrack, but then again, that came with the risk of the orc catching up and invading the haven this old church became.

Well, haven was one word, since they vowed to spend the night here, but Jyuzou swore to take things into his own hands, pony-wise.

Chyuuichi was the only one who dared to climb back up and rescue those four horses, and after an hour of convincing, Atomu joined him in the agreement that the two Morians would be nearby, patrolling the area.

At the end of the argument, all of them tried the task. Reaching the spot took a few hours of the Morians arguing and Chyuuichi trying to tell Atomu that they'll be fine, atop the plants one specific person looked out for.

Rescuing the ponies was one, strangely easy thing, but when they mused about taking the other path, another orc chased them away. Fortunately, they didn't fly off the cliff like last time, but the ponies were exhausted.

They didn't accomplish much except for making amends, but that was good enough in Chyuuichi's eyes, since the second they got back to that old, rummaged church, he crashed on the floor of the upper areas of the church and snoozed away.

In turn, Atomu sat by as the sun set over the horizon and night managed to reveal at least a few stars peeking behind those clouds. Since he couldn't get much shuteye, he wandered here and there with his vial.

The upstairs seemed to carry more than the empty answers below. Footsteps talked off conversations near the now-broken table in front of the empty glass panes. Handprints were everywhere, with a good chunk found on an empty shelf, with outlines of various items. A small bracelet, weapons and even armour that was, strangely enough, still there.

Atomu raised a rather light chain-piece into his hands, as it almost crashed into both of them. Chyuuichi probably had an answer, but for now, he quickly took off his shirt and placed it over his clothes, before searching for anything else.

As for Jyuzou and Morio, they rested on the walls separating the courtyard from the rest of Malikan, overlooking the valleys and rivers stretching where they could only have hoped for their destination to be. Except for grand views, this was also where they would sleep, with the small candle illuminating some of their conversations near a few empty, comfortable sheets.

"Tsk." Morio put his hand on his forehead.

"Still that headache?"

"Barely. Although I'd say most of it now comes from today's fiascos."

"Yeah. I get them too, especially if I have to deal with the stupid for too long," he added, smirking.

"You thought that was clever, didn't you?" Morio pointed.

"Well." Jyuzou fixed his glasses. "Mr Bancho taught me that one."

"Even him against me?!" Morio uttered. "Gah!"

"Not this time, Morio." Jyuzou shook his head, putting his knees up. "It was a story about Malikan, back then, strangely enough."

"What's it about, then? A Morian who thought of himself as highly as you did so he put his equally amazing friends down?"

"No. The first time Mr Bancho wandered through Malikan after the second war, he was guided by a few demons pretending to be human. J-Jokers, as that Tenor guy would call them."

Morio rolled his eyes but signalled him to continue.

"They thought they could outsmart Mr Bancho, but in turn, he led them to a place similar to this. The churchgoers then assumed they were the holy spirits mentioned in their prayers, and played along with his words, putting them on a pedestal before chasing them away for good as a ruse. The headache came from their stupidity."

"Gosh, I thought of the wrong story for a second there."

"What do you mean?"

"There was another, right? A rather new one too, since it was the very item I'm wearing as we're talking." he rolled his sleeve down, with the wand dropping out.

"Still carrying that piece of wood?"

"Shut up," Morio muttered, clearing his throat. "This bracelet belonged to Darius, who saved Magna back then. Mr Axel gave it to him, even though he supposedly sided with the demons from thereon."

"Axel? That guy who came to Mistwick a few times when we were younger?"

"Yup. The Axel." Morio smiled. "You remember, yeah?"