"You know," Hex remarked, her voice whisperlike as ever while she used a magical towel to dry herself off, "I wonder when Chihiro and Cynder will get back. It seems like it's taking them a while to arrive."

Ghost Roaster shrugged and toyed with his ball and chain. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but the moment he spoke, his words drowned out underneath the sound of rushing water!

"Ugh," Cynder groaned as she popped out of the whirlpool and shook herself off, "next time, I'm just flying."

"There you are, Cynder!" Ghost Roaster exclaimed as he trudged over to Cynder. "What took you?"

"Chihiro trying to solve a lock puzzle." Cynder shook the last of the water off her body and groaned. "She said she'd finish it in a split-second… About a half-hour ago."

Ghost Roaster sighed and looked back to the still-standing gate. "Think she's gonna figure it out?"

"I doubt it—"

Before Cynder could finish, however, a mighty CRASH rumbled through the area as the gate smashed open and crumbled to bits! The sheer volume of the impact set a hefty dust cloud over the area, and not only make everyone break into hacking fits, but completely clouded their vision as well! However, beyond those massive dust clouds, one could just barely make out a cyan glow from the dusty fog…

"Heh, sorry about that, guys!" Chihiro chuckled as the dust faded and unveiled her as she stood tall, a giant magical fist close by her side. "I, well, I got a little impatient." Chihiro frowned, cast her gaze ahead and placed both hands on her hips. "And I don't know about you guys, but that doesn't really look like a box goblin swamp to me, or any kind of swamp, really."

Chihiro's observation was quite right. There before them lied not the trademark murky waters and greenery of a swamp, but the cold, metallic halls of a walkway filled with swinging axes that hacked away till eternity! Despite the rusty patches on them, the axes still seemed incredibly sharp and perfectly capable of cleaving things right in half; guess they weren't walking, then.

It was a good thing they had other means of travel! With a tap of her heels, Chihiro's boots sprouted wings right as she leaped off the ground. Her leap took her on top of one of the swinging axes, and she sighed as she sat down and looked over the path before them.

"Now, if I jump over that one," Chihiro whispered as she pointed a finger towards the next one across, "and that one, then that one, and, and… And… That…" Chihiro groaned as she held her head. "Can't these axes swing a little less fast? I'm trying to plan here!"

The axes ignored her pleas and continued swinging at the same rhythm they did for what was surely the past few centuries. Worse yet, it made Chihiro dizzy; Chihiro groaned and laid her back down against the ax as her stomach churned like the ocean. The cold of its surface did make her feel a little better, but not by much. Maybe she should hurry up and get going. Chihiro nudged herself over as she tried to stand up, but the moment she did, she lost her balance and collapsed on the floor instead!

"OOF!"

Chihiro shook her head as she lifted her face off the cold, dusty, but thankfully motionless stone floors. Guess she wasn't as clearheaded as she thought she was.

"Dang, talk about lucky!" Chihiro remarked as she lifted up her head. "If I was any second later, I'd be chopped—" Chihiro yelped and ducked under as another ax just narrowly swung over her head "—NEVERMIND!"

So, Chihiro pressed her belly flat against the cold floors and crawled her way along, all while the hallway's sound of clashing axes rang in her ears, and served as a reminder of what awaited her should she lift her head. Ugh, but on the other hand, all this crawling gave her a nasty crick in the neck! The axes were giving her a headache, too. Who designed this place, anyways? She was gonna have a word with them if she could!

Chihiro grunted as she planted her face against the floor, then just poked her head up just slightly as the sound of flapping echoed above. Was that? Sure enough, Cynder flew overhead with not a care in the wall! A levitating Hex and Ghost Roaster, who charged along in his giant skull form, quickly followed by.

Wait, what was Chihiro doing, just standing around here and watching them go? She'd get left behind at this rate! Chihiro rubbed her hands as they glowed a bright blue, smiled as she rolled over, and pressed her hands against her chest. With her destination set clear in her mind, Chihiro directed her magic throughout her body and bathed in a bright blue glow!

Chihiro disappeared with the light, and popped out at what she presumed was the end of the hallway. All around her, the cold gray stone of the halls traded off for a room make of stark, colder blue stone covered in cobwebs and those odd knight statues, and the sheer cold of the entire room sent chills down her spine… Wait, knight statues? Chihiro winced, crept up to one and tapped it on the helmet. The tension was thick as she watched as it stood there and did absolutely nothing!

"Phew! Guess these are just normal old knights!" Chihiro sighed as she turned around and looked down the halls. "Guess all I've gotta do now is wait for—" Chihiro frowned as a soft, buzzing noise rang in her ears "—Huh?"

Chihiro winced, and bit her lip as she turned her gaze back to the knight statues behind her. Wait, something was wrong here. Those knight statues, she was sure they weren't shaking before, and they definitely weren't glowing bright purple!

"Wait, when did they start—"

Before Chihiro could finish, however, an intense shock rumbled her entire body! Chihiro jittered, shook down her frazzled hair, and grimaced as the sound of clanking metal approached her. She had a bad feeling she knew what that was. Chihiro gulped, and reluctantly turned around right as the knight statue she tapped rushed towards her with sword in hand!

"Ugh, delayed responses," Chihiro groaned. "My least favorite thing in a fight!"

Chihiro snarled as she summoned a magical flame and got ready to shoot, but released her flame and tensed, because something felt off here! Just above her, the ceiling panels shuddered while weird, squeaky noises echoed from the few cracks in the stone—but why? Chihiro looked up, screamed and jumped away as a crashing waterfall of spiders poured down below! The spiders twitched and made angry spider noises as they turned to Chihiro, their eyes even beadier and angrier than normal spider eyes!

"Hey, I didn't do this!" Chihiro exclaimed as she gestured towards the knight. "It was that dude!"

The spiders didn't want to listen! Instead, they all flung themselves at Chihiro with wide mouths and very sharp teeth that Chihiro was half-certain spiders definitely shouldn't have!

"So that's how you wanna play, huh?" Chihiro scoffed as she surrounded her fists with large hand cannons. "Just warning you, I've got a couple tricks up my sleeve too!"

Chihiro punched the air, and her hand cannons sent magic spheres shooting all across the room! These magic spheres were quick to blast the spiders away, but unfortunately, those were only maybe a hundred or so of what seemed like several thousand spiders! Chihiro jumped back and punched more, then gasped and swept away as the knight swung at her.

The knight, however, wasn't one to give up! Instead, it turned back to her and kept swinging! But, Chihiro probably wouldn't be alive right now if she wasn't fighting back, either! So, she kept ducking and dodging every blow it swung from its mighty sword. Left, right, up, down, spider—hey, wait a second! Chihiro hissed, blasted away the spiders that lunged at her, and shrieked as she narrowly dodged yet another slash from the knight.

"Geez, keeping track of so many enemies is tough!"

Chihiro grunted as she tried to move forward, but for some reason, her feet completely stuck to the ground! Chihiro winced as she struggled against her bonds, looked down and hissed; apparently, the spiders used their silk to stick her to the ground in her brief moment of hesitation! Her boots were completely bound with sticky spider silk! Chihiro grimaced as she struggled and stretched forward in some attempt to break free, but she was completely stuck! No matter what she did, she couldn't move her feet from that position.

The knight realized this at well, worse yet! It crept back up to her, all while Chihiro could only watch with wide, transfixed eyes. That is, until she shook her head and got ready to teleport! Chihiro clasped her hands against her chest as they charged with magic, but by the time she started, it was too late! The knight raised its sword and got ready to slash…

And before it could, some purplish, shadowy streak rammed into it and barreled it down! Wait, Chihiro knew that purplish, shadowy streak!

"Cynder!" Chihiro called as the shadow manifested back into Cynder's physical form.

Cynder, however, just urged out some ghosts from under her wing and nudged them towards where Chihiro stood! The ghosts made some friendly chirps, flew around Chihiro's boots and slowly unraveled the spider silk like it was nothing more than a thin thread.

The knight grabbed its sword off the ground, shook a few spiders off of it, and lurched towards Cynder with full intentions of striking…

"COMING THROUGH!"

… Well, it would've, if a certain ghastly green skull didn't force it back on the ground! As Ghost Roaster returned back to his original form in a flash of green flames, Hex teleported right behind him and readied a skull orb.

"I'll teach you why you should fear the dark," Hex hissed as her orb grew larger and its inner skull grew more detailed, all fancy markings and shining eyes and all; whatever attack came from it would surely be a doozy!

The knight must have realized this, for it immediately snatched its sword and slammed its blade against the ground! The sword resounded with a gong-like clang that seemingly did nothing a first other than stun everyone around, until the ceiling opened up and dropped several more knight statues and some skeletal archers as well!

The newly-arrived knights gripped their swords tight as they rushed towards Cynder, Hex, Ghost Roaster, and Chihiro at incredibly fast speeds for such bulky suits of armor, but Cynder was quick to match their pace! Cynder dashed forward and spun several of the knights around, and while they reeled, she opened her mouth and shot them down with a blast of black lightning! She flapped her wings and got ready to strike as the knights shook and shuddered, but froze and swooped away as a rain of skeletal arrows rained down behind her!

It seemed like now the archers wanted to play, too! They loaded their arrows in an instant and shot them off just as quickly, like a rain of judgment from above.

Hex gasped and dodged this way and that as the arrows rained down, and floated back as a conglomerate of spiders formed and pounced at her! Before the spiders could collect and strike again, Hex shot them down with blasts of eldritch orbs, froze and teleported away as more arrows rained down! Unfortunately, her teleport led her right into the grasp of another knight! Hex floated away as the knight tried to slash her down, but before she teleported away from it, the knight itself got mowed down by Ghost Roaster! While the knight fell to the floor, Ghost Roaster chomped it in half, spat its upper half out, and grimaced as he returned back to normal and pulled metal bits from his bony fangs.

"Ugh, I never liked the taste of metal," Ghost Roaster groaned as he yanked out a particularly large chunk of metal. "So sour…"

However, while he was busy cleaning his teeth, he failed to notice an archer fix its burning eyes on him and shoot an arrow directly at his head!

"YOWCH!" Ghost Roaster exclaimed as the arrow bounced off his head. He snarled as he turned around and lifted the arrow from the floor, and his snarl only grew wider as the archer snickered. "Hey, watch where you're shooting those things, you numbskull!"

Ghost Roaster shook a skeletal fist at the archer, but in response, the archer only rolled their eyes and shot more arrows straight at him!

As Ghost Roaster ducked and covered, Chihiro jumped out the way of the arrow blast, turned around and teleported away as more arrows shot towards her! Even that wasn't enough to get sanctum, as soon after, she fell down and rolled under another wave of arrows! It was like wherever she turned, those stupid arrows were soon to follow!

"That's it," Chihiro proclaimed as she jumped to her feet and snarled then held her hands high. "I've had enough!"

The shimmer of magic that glowed around her hands soon morphed into a magical bow and arrow set—or rather, bow and sword set, for the ammunition was none other than sharp swords! Chihiro held her bow high, and with a quick slip of her fingers, her sword arrows shot like rockets!

"Have a taste of your own medicine for once!"

Unfortunately, it was in that moment that Chihiro Hatsuki realized her aim absolutely sucked, for instead of hitting the archers, those arrows ricocheted around the area like bullets! Cynder and Hex dove for cover behind several of the knights as Chihiro's swords plunged into the knights' armor bodies, but Ghost Roaster wasn't so lucky! Before he could escape, the blunt side of a sword's blade slapped him in the back and knocked him down!

"Sorry guys!" Chihiro exclaimed as she watched everyone duck for cover. "I—YIKES!" Chihiro slid out the way of one particularly large sword and breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't really work with bows all that—"

Chihiro cut short as she ducked yet another one of her own swords. Her eyes drifted back to the archers, who completely forwent any sort of combat in favor of taking cover; she had an opening! Chihiro smiled, teleported behind two of the archers, and conked their heads together! While they fell unconscious, Chihiro did the same to the other pair that laid down, grabbed them all by the collar bones and winked.

"I'll take care'a these guys!" was the last thing she said before she teleported away!

In a shimmer of light, Chihiro arrived on top of the swinging axes, leaped forward and teleported away! She grunted as her teleport landed her on another ax, ducked as a third ax swung from the heavens, and leaped again and teleported back to the beginning of the halls.

As her eyes hit the whirlpool, a mischievous grin formed on Chihiro's face while she strode over and stuffed all the archers inside! The archers swirled further and further in as the whirlpool made a sound akin to the of a clogged drain, but it still didn't feel like enough. So, Chihiro summoned a gigantic, magical cork and stuffed it into the whirlpool!

"Have a nice swim!" Chihiro chirped as the whirlpool's waters stilled. She frowned and turned her attention back to the ruined wall she had busted out of. "Just to be sure they don't come back…"

Chihiro snapped her fingers as the ruined bits of the wall flew up and stuck themselves back inside! Once they were all solidified, she snapped her fingers once again and magically sealed the various cracks in the wall. It was almost good as new! With those archers taken care of, Chihiro's job here was done.

So, she teleported back to the ax-filled halls, and teleported from ax to ax until she returned back to the sight of their battlefield. While she was gone, the fighting resumed; and this time, Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster had the upper hand! The spiders fled the scene as Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster wiped out the knights one by one, and the knights' hollow screams were the only thing heard as they all fell to the floor. Well, save for one knight who ran around in a panicked circle, completely oblivious to the battle around.

Chihiro chuckled a very mischievous chuckle as she enveloped in blue. Looks like she could have a little fun! In a flash, she cocooned herself in light and teleported away!

"BOO!" Chihiro exclaimed as she reappeared right in front of the knight.

The knight screamed a shrill, very unknightly scream, stumbled back and fainted onto the floor! The loud clatter of its armor echoed around the room, but after that, silence. Seemed as though this was their cue to move on!

With a wave of Chihiro's hand, a sphere of aqua light bounced from her palm and zoomed down the halls ahead. Chihiro just giggled and ducked under a spiderweb as she made chase; even though the halls were dark and kind of eerie with all their spiderwebs and broken portraits, she hardly noticed as she pursued her sphere towards a light at the end of the tunnel… Er, hall, but that hardly mattered.

Soon enough, even that eerie darkness made way for stark, cold light as she finally bounded through the hallway!

"Yeah, that's definitely a swamp!" Chihiro proclaimed as she left the halls.

Sure enough, as the gate closed behind them, Chihiro found herself in what could only be a swamp with all its murky, muddy waters and rotting greenery! But suspiciously, there was a stunning lack of box goblins. At least, she thought there was. Chihiro didn't exactly know what a box goblin was, but she was sure she'd recognize it if she saw it.

"There's something strange about this swamp," Hex remarked as she floated out of the hall's exit and looked around. "Where are all the box goblins?"

"Maybe they all died?" Cynder suggested with a shrug as she pulled cobwebs off of her head. "I mean, it has been a while."

"Box goblins don't just die, Cynder!" Ghost Roaster retorted as he flicked a spider from his skull. "Those things are as stubborn as weeds!

Chihiro shrugged and blocked out their conversation as she waltzed down the hallway, but jumped back and screamed as some gigantic, green box with wide eyes and a creepily wide smile popped out of nowhere in seconds and resided just as quickly.

"Huh?" Chihiro uttered. Did she just imagine it?

Chihiro frowned, and peered down to find a stone, round switch underneath her foot. Chihiro raised an eyebrow as she pressed the switch, and looked up to find those weird green boxes disappeared again! She lifted her foot from the switch, and once again, they reappeared from the depths. She did a third time, a fourth and fifth just to be sure, but finally she made a sagely nod and crossed her arms.

"I see," Chihiro said as she held her hands out and made a weight out of magic, "so these guys just have a switch!"

So, Chihiro dropped the weight onto the switch as those green boxes receded, and raced along the maze. The watery mud below her feet splashed against the rotten flora as Chihiro dashed through the maze, and judging by the shout of surprise she heard behind her, plants weren't the only thing it splashed!

"Watch where you're splashing around, Chihiro!" Cynder snarled as she flew up behind Chihiro and wiped mud off of her face. "Some of us are flying here!"

Chihiro turned around and giggled as she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry about that, Cyn!" Chihiro chuckled as she raised a finger and walked backwards, "but hey, I hear that mud masks are really good for your skin! Er, I guess scales in your caseeeEEEEEEEEE!"

Chihiro's foot slipped out underneath her, and before she even knew it, she slipped backwards and collapsed right into the mud with a large splash! As muddy water rained down all around her, Chihiro groaned and staggered up as she looked down at her clothes, which were now drenched in gross, wet mud. Ugh, she hated the feeling of wet clothes, so overwhelming and gross…

Cynder seemed to find it a little funny as she placed her front paws over her muzzle and tried her hardest to stifle a chuckle—though it wasn't exactly working, given that Chihiro could hear her just fine. So, Chihiro just knelt down and splashed the mud right back at Cynder! Not much, just a little splash to get her attention, but it seemed that either way, Cynder wasn't entirely pleased as the mud splashed her face! Her blue ice eyes went tiny the mud hit her cheek, and they narrowed as she turned around and dropped down to the muddy floors!

"Alright, if that's how you want to play," Cynder cried as she whipped her tail around and shot a wave of mud back at Chihiro, "take this!"

Chihiro gasped, spun back around and dodged the mud right before it could slap her! As the mud swam by her, Chihiro kicked up a mud wave of her own with a stomp and tossed it at Cynder with a magic blow! However, Cynder jumped out of the way just in time, and instead of slamming into her… It slammed into Ghost Roaster instead! He came up so suddenly thathe didn't even get a chance to react before it completely drenched him!

Chihiro gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as the mud poured down Ghost Roaster, and even Cynder, cold as she was, was shocked speechless as she stepped back.

Ghost Roaster, meanwhile, growled as he wiped the mud from his very tired face. His mouth drew into a snarl and his eyes narrowed to match, and he swung his chain aside as he submerged them in a tidal wave of muddy water!

"Try that for size!" Ghost Roaster cried.

The muddy water drenched Chihiro to the bone so quickly that she could only stand there and blink, but despite being soaked, Chihiro didn't feel bad at all! In fact, all she could do was laugh as she knelt down, swept the mud from the ground and balled it up!

"How about you have a taste of your own medicine?" Chihiro cried as she slung her mudballs at Ghost Roaster, "or should I say… Mudicine?"

The mudball slapped Ghost Roaster right in the face, but he just shook it off and smirked. "I don't know what's worse, the mud or your wordplay!"

Chihiro cackled and she and Ghost Roaster slung mud back and forth at each other, and even Cynder jumped into the fray once more as she slapped them both with tidal waves of muddy water! For a moment, Chihiro completely forgot about her cares, and all she had to worry about was winning this battle!

"My, my, I suppose you two aren't as above it all as you act."

That is, until Hex floated up and raised an eyebrow as she examined the battle.

Ghost Roaster and Cynder both gasped, eyes wide like they were caught stealing something, and they both huffed as they looked away.

"You saw nothing!" Ghost Roaster insisted as he crossed his bony arms.

Cynder was too flustered to say anything beyond a couple of indistinct murmurs and grumbles, but the way she glared back at Hex showed that she carried Ghost Roaster's sentiment. Hex, however, just sighed and shook her head in a bit more lighthearted a fashion than she usually did; with a snap of her fingers, everyone was clean and dry once more!

Chihiro grinned as her clothes went from cold and muddy, to soft and warm like they just came out of the dryer. She paused for a moment as she buried her face in her warm, fuzzy sleeve. Just the feeling was so good, she could linger on it forever!

"Now come along, we still have an Eternal Source to find," Hex said as she passed by Chihiro.

Chihiro sighed, shook her head, and bit her lip as she followed Hex around the corner. Though her little mud fight lightened the burden in her heart some, it crashed back as the thought of the Eternal Undead Source and… Kaos entered her mind once more. The very thought of potentially seeing his face once again sent chills down her spine and quivered her legs as she followed Hex around the corner. Was she really ready for this?

Well, not that she had to worry that much—if Kaos or his minions hadn't shown his ugly mug anywhere before now, surely he hadn't even arrived yet! She didn't have to worry. Well, that was what Chihiro told herself, but even that felt like an empty reassurance. Her stomach still twisted itself in knots just from thinking about being here and getting the Eternal Undead Source, so she shook her head and turned to her front.

Just ahead, the muddy swamps and rotted nature morphed into a stone gateway that led into fancy, but dusty and old-looking marble halls that seemingly lacked any decoration save for the fancy purple curtains of the doorways at the end of their hall. Guess this was their next stop.

So, Chihiro shook her head and hopped onto the stairs, hung her head as she trailed into the halls…

"Mua ha ha!"

Wait, was that Kaos's voice she heard just now? Chihiro whipped around, but she didn't see him behind her at all; all she saw was Cynder and Ghost Roaster as they gave her weird looks.

"Something up, Chihiro?" Cynder asked as she raised an eyebrow at Chihiro. "You're looking at us weird."

Chihiro, however, just bit her lip as she shook her head. "No, it, it's nothing," Chihiro whispered as she hung her head and trudged into the halls. "Don, don't worry about me."

As she trailed into the hallway, Chihiro clenched her teeth and vest tight. Just when she thought she forgot about Kaos, he wormed his way back into her mind and freaked her out again! No matter what, she couldn't let any of them know she was worried about Kaos. After all, she was sure that he lurked somewhere around here, ready to strike at the worst possible moment and take them all down! If even she wasn't sure she'd be able to protect them from Kaos's powers in spite of everything she trained for till now, in spite if everything she did for this very moment... Who could?