“Ahuuu!” Tieran babbled, pointing to the woman in Belial’s arms.

“Mrs. Blanche!” Mine gasped.

Tripping over his own feet, Mine stumbled towards Blanche – even a little dizzy after passing through the portal – but he didn't expect that Belial would make it so difficult for him to approach her that he would receive a punch in his face.

This would definitely leave some purple.

What he least expected was to see that Addai's eyes glowed in the dark, and his pupils were as thin as a cat's, something Mine hadn't seen happen for a long time. Tieran started to get agitated, trying to catch Addai's face, who didn't take his eyes off Belial, who also didn't take his eyes off him – looking like feral cats about to enter a (not very pretty) duel in the middle of the street.

Poor Lydia didn't know what to do, between trying to break up the imminent fight or monitoring their surroundings, she was torn between both things and more: she kept an eye on Tieran so that if the fight really happened, she could catch him before things got worse.

“Enough,” Mine touched Addai’s shoulders, but the man was still tense and glaring at Belial.

Belial spat on Mine’s face and laughed, mocking. “Go ahead, calm your dog. He's damn vicious," she chuckled.

Oh…

Mine knew they were in trouble the moment Addai's necklace gem started glowing. Tieran started squirming and sniffling, so Mine took him in his arms instead and cuddled his back before handing him to Lydia.

“You're injured,” Mine crouched in front of Belial and between her and Addai, to break their intense glaring. "I can help, and Mrs. Blanche called me,” he strummed his fingers in the air, and a glowing sigil formed on the back of his hand.

Belial’s once stern and dark expression turned way softer, but her guard was still up as her scaled tail aimed in Mine's direction. "You… are the…?" she asked.

“Yes,” Mine nodded. “And I may ask you to not infuriate my friend, please,” he explained, holding one of Addai's cold hands.

He didn't need more trouble.

He needed solutions.

“…” Belial looked at Blanche, then looked at Addai. “You really got tamed, huh?” Belial mocked Addai, and Addai's expression wasn’t one of the best.

That was far from a solution. Actually, things were turning in a way Mine’s senses started sharpening, especially at how uncooperative and skittish Belial was.

Mine still needed cooperation and to check Blanche's vitals, so he sneackly reached for Blanche's forehead, but…

The entity grabbed Mine's wrist, partially blocking the blood circulation. "Don't touch her. I don't even know if you're really the 'Mine' she told me!" she growled, almost breaking Mine's wrist, but he didn't seem moved nor bothered.

“I am the being she called, and I bet she also called baby Tieran to help me,” Mine explained, but Belial wasn’t focusing her eyes. “You… what did they do to you?” he worried, but suddenly Belial used her tail to attack him, bruising his arm and spraining his wrist.

Mine barely had time to pay attention to his own bruises, and he saw Addai grabbing Belial's jaw, pressing it as if he wanted to rip her wicked smile and break that insanity.

"No! Release her!" Mine fretted, trying to pull Addai from his shirt, but it was useless once his wrist hurt as hell and his friend was as still as a mountain.

Oh no.

Poor Lydia was stressing her soul out in the background, looking for ways to take Blanche and keep Tieran safe from that chaotic trio. Also, she prepared the formula to put on Mine’s bruises as soon as he made his way to separate the troublemakers.

“Baby Tieran, my dear cutie, we need to act fast,” Lydia talked to Tieran, who looked at her. “Auntie Lydia might use some vines so I can drag Blanche away from that mess… yeah, that could work, but…" she started pondering while Tieran looked at something far from them.

The room they were was impossible to say where the walls were or where corridors or even doors were, so, first things first, Lydia scattered a few seeds on the floor from her belt bags and, soon, many buds started running around them and placing small mana traces so she could gather the information on a mana screen she opened for Tieran to be distracted with.

Lydia glanced at the trio and wondered if that dog- I mean, Addai, was really going to bite, and her stress level increased a little bit more.

"Hurry Lydia…" she muttered to herself, placing Tieran on her coat she placed on the floor so he wouldn't get dirty from that mysterious… "Dirt!" she perked up.

She quickly took the small yellow bag from her belt and threw the seeds on the floor. Soon, what once were tiny leaves turned into a thick, vibrant vine - guided by her with a spell.

The commotion epicenter turned messy, and she needed to act once Addai really threw fists with that entity that had no shame and maybe was delirious and too ill to be afraid of that man who didn't do enough damage because Mine held his hands before he hit her.

"Right! We got you, Blanche!" Lydia cheered up, and Tieran clapped hands, almost glancing at the chaotic trio but Lydia turned his head to her, and she distracted him once again.

One of the vines slowly wrapped Blanche safely in a leaf cocoon, carefully dragging her closer to them. Meanwhile, the woman named Belial wasn’t tired of teasing and mocking the dangerous dog- I mean Addai.

"Oh, buddy…" Lydia took Blanche-in-the-cocoon closer and examined her condition with the mana screen. "Right… I'll leave a few of these here… and these, look, Tieran."

Lydia showed a bag full of dry flowers to the baby, who cooed happily at the sight of those crunchy things. Their vibe was very contrasting to the beef in the background.

“ENOUGH!” Mine grabbed Addai's face, whose eyes didn't unlock from Belial's sight. "She's mad! She's out of her mind because they drugged her! Get your shit together, and help me! Or I'll black you out!" he fumed, with his hair already turning crimson colored.

Addai's dark expression slowly lightened again - not enough, but acceptable for the moment.

“…” Addai was silent but released Belial's shirt, and she slumped on the floor.

Mine panted and released the grip on his friend's face. "Good," and his hair turned back to the usual ashy green.

"…" Addai looked away, cleaning his bruised fists on his own shirt before touching the bruises on Mine’s arms and wrist, which he took very gently – contrasting to what he did earlier to Belial.

"I'll be fine. Don't make things difficult for us,” Mine sterned, and the back of his hands glowed a foreign symbol.

Addai’s expression was way better than a few seconds ago, and it was good.

Still, Mine’s wrist started to swell. His Chronos powers were incomplete due to the recent incident, so he couldn't use a quick heal spell.

He needed to act fast.

“I’ll condense her energy, then I can treat her wounds better,” Mine pondered.

He approached Belial and gently wiped the blood stains from her face and noticed her skin started healing itself, which was a good sign. Properly placing her on the floor, he could redirect her energies into a mana ball he made with her fluids on the flooring. With a touch on her nose with his glowing hands, Belial turned into a somewhat glass ball – the size of a soccer ball.

A perfect spell, at least.

“Hey guys, finished ya beef? Come here," Lydia called, and they approached her. "I found the exit with this little cutie," and she pinched Tieran's cheek, who clapped his hands and waved his fluffy tail.

“How’s Blanche?” Mine asked.

“… she’s ill and malnourished. It’s a miracle she still has some vitamins... we need to hurry," Lydia stressed, taking Tieran in her arms after planting some walking buds to carry Blanche’s cocoon. “Hey, Addai, spread this on Mine’s wrist and cover with this,” she handed a bag of leaves to Addai.

“Hm,” and he took the bag, already doing what he was told to do while Mine whined and whimpered.

Damn, it stung.

It felt like when you throw rubbing alcohol in a very gruesome cut and let it simmer. After the torturous brief sensations, the instant relief came when Addai placed the bandages made of a thick vine.

That could do the trick for now.

“Thank you,” Mine smiled.

“Such a good boy,” Lydia praised, but forgot Addai was pissed and immediately chewed her words.

But he only grumbled and did the same frowning face from earlier.

Tieran beamed at him, and he cuddled the baby’s hair.

“Lead us, Lydia,” Mine said.

“Follow me, still, some buds died along the way so… we might not be as safe as we’re thinking,” she worried and let the mana screen floating in front of her with some kind of map on it. “It’s like the Satan’s Will illusions, but… I don’t know, there’s something wrong. Anyway, let’s go.”

Their surroundings were still unclear, but Mine was as alert as Addai on their back. Tieran was also very wary, and his senses were way sharper than a common baby’s.

The “exit” was still far.

“What?” Lydia gasped and interrupted her walk.

Her mapper plants came back to her. All of them were as frightened as a red Pikmin in water. They screeched, and their little leafy arms were in the air, panicking. All of them hid behind her legs and around the group, trembling and whimpering.

A lot of noises started coming close to them, all at the same time. Voices, metal noises, grinding teeth, the sound of wings, and much more. It was as if it were an avalanche of sound information poured out all at once.

Lydia's map was full of red dots, and the mana screen began to scream as did the little mapping plants, which jumped into and under Blanche's cocoon.

Tieran began to growl, and his once fluffy tail became completely hardened and seemed to glow with an electric glow. The phenomenon on his gums also returned, and two fangs appeared while he was still growling in front of them.

“Oh God bless us...” Lydia prayed, holding Tieran tighter in her arms.

“Lydia,” Mine called and covered them with a mana shield, “protect Tieran and Blanche. Leave the work for me and Addai,” he shouted, and Lydia nodded.

Mine started glowing, not his usual, but that could do some work. Activating the Chronos marks hurt as his core was still healing. Still, he conjured a few energy orbs to float around him and Addai. He was turning paler and paler, the cold sweat taking over his face and forehead.

When he was about to conjure the Chronos mask, Addai held his good hand.

"Go," Addai led him to the rest of the group.

“What?! No! Stop acting like a superhero, you idiot!" Mine fumed.

When he tried stepping forward, Addai pushed him backward - while poor Lydia prayed for every God she knew.

“Go,” Addai insisted, stunning Mine's body with a spell.

Mine and Lydia didn’t know what kind of spell that was, but Addai ripped the air, and a portal was opened right there. Did it seem shady? Of course. Did it look very… suspicious? Hell yes. But Addai pushed them all inside it without telling a thing, as simple as that.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Mine shouted, grabbing Addai's necklace and stopping his pushing with a feet on the corner of the portal.

Addai's hands were dark, Mine could see that among the darkness, and his nails were quite sharp. His neck had marks and also dark spots that some could say he had a huge irregular blackout tattoo. And his eyes... oh, those eyes... Mine had never seen them like that. 

His friend aimed the nail on the necklace string and ripped it, causing Mine to fall backward in the portal, right into the void.

Everything was slowing down. Mine had to use his Chronos cheating method, but Addai pushed Mine even further into that void, nullifying the time-stop spell range. Although he was fierce, his hands were gentle and careful.

Mine barely had time to grab one of Addai's hands, still holding the necklace, and Addai smiled, contrasting to the thick voice he emitted.

“I just need to chill,” he said. "I'll be home soon," and the portal closed, followed by gruesome noises.