"Follow me!" Azazel grinned and waved.

Mephistopheles sighed and followed his cheerful subordinate. Mine, Addai, and Zophiel followed them as well. All the demon wished for was that Azazel knew what he was doing, tired of walking in circles and ending up in dangerous situations.

Azazel tapped on the bookshelf until he found a loose shelf. He removed it, revealing a painting behind the blank books. The painting looked very old, with yellowed paint. It was a bust of a beautiful lady in a gorgeous garden. The lady's face was so finely detailed that it was impossible to call the painting ugly.

"This painting is horrible! How could an artist draw such a generic thing?!" Azazel criticized, looking at the painting.

Before the group could look at him with judgmental glances... the painting moved! The group's eyes widened, watching the beautiful lady approach them inside the painting and pose sadly. On their flushed cheeks, tears and more tears fell, causing the painting to become increasingly stained wherever they went. The beautiful lady cried profusely, and the painting was completely worn away, revealing a textured part at the bottom of the painting.

It didn't take long until all the paint melted, and a key was revealed behind the textured part! Azazel took the key and a key-shaped lock revealed behind the painting’s melted remains!

The keychain attached to Zophiel's belt vibrated as if celebrating, and a pair of party poppers exploded next to them just like back in the casino room earlier. Inconvenient? Of course, but that was a good sign since Agarath, as cynical as he was, certainly designed the secret rooms with this type of mechanism so he could remember where the right directions were.

Ignoring the brief fright, Azazel inserted the key into the lock and turned it counterclockwise. The wall trembled, and the shelves gradually dismantled, revealing a simple, unrefined wooden door.

"Welcome to our survival hut," the demon bowed, full of himself, and turned the doorknob.

But what was inside the room was not a good sign, as a pair of orange eyes stared at them cautiously. The room was as dark as the darkest shade of black, only this pair of eyes visible.

When the creature started hissing and growling, the group froze, and Azazel despaired, quickly moving in front of everyone.

"THEY'RE NOT ILLUSIONS!! YOU'LL KILL REAL PEOPLE!!!" Azazel shouted when he heard a clicking sound coming from the creature.

"They're not illusions?" The creature asked, its voice deep and non-human.

"NO!! I FOUND THEM JUST NOW, REMEMBER? THE BLONDIE TOLD US THERE WERE REAL HUMAN- ERM, REAL BEINGS AROUND HERE!! AND I FOUND THEM," Azazel hushed his speech.

The creature closed its eyes, and the darkness slowly faded, revealing a person inside. Their silver hair was messy but seemed to be soft to the touch. Their eyes were as orange as the creature's, and his dark skin contrasted beautifully with their hair color. Their clothing was surely borrowed once it was as loose as Mine's. Maybe the person also found a lifesaver wardrobe in the middle of nowhere.

But there was something in that person that made Addai's expressions turn confused. Mine squinted his eyes and gasped. He knew that person!

"Mr. Abannak?!!" Mine gasped.

Abannak's shoulders relaxed, and he looked at Mine. His eyes were once uncertain but soon turned back to his usual gentleness. Azazel could finally breathe at ease, even though his heart was madly jumping because of the adrenaline.

A screech from afar caused the group to turn their heads towards the high-pitched, shrill noise. Then, more high-pitched screams echoed, and the floor began to shake as if a herd of elephants were approaching.

"Let's talk inside before Agarath's puppets come," Abannak hurried. "Mr. Azazel, please position the key where it should."

Azazel seemed to enjoy being called "Mister" by how his lips formed a proud smile on his face and how his mannerisms became more expressive. Mephistopheles could only sigh at seeing his subordinate so full of himself as he placed the key on the wall next to the door and led people into the room.

The room was the same size as the casino room but had less furniture, just a couple of armchairs, a sofa, a coffee table, and a lonely wardrobe. In the middle of the room, the coffee table had remnants of potions and dry leaves that made an irregular path to the solitary cabinet on the wall opposite the door.

Abannak closed the door and sealed it with an unknown spell. Upon seeing Addai, his eyebrows furrowed. He analyzed the young teacher more carefully, noticing his uniform and the remnants of magic that Agarath put into the clothes given to the VIP guests. As if the shady clothes weren't enough, Addai had his hands and forearms darkened by contact with miasma, which gave him unwanted prominence. Addai tried to hide behind Mine, but as his friend was smaller in height than him, the attempt was futile.

Abannak decided not to ask anything for now and undid his furrowed eyebrows, coughing as he looked away from Addai. "Miss Lydia, you should get out of the wardrobe. We found the people you tracked, and I bet you'll be delighted to meet them," he called.

The lone wardrobe door opened with a speed that almost broke it. A young girl with blond hair and a torn, pompous dress dashed from the wardrobe. Her pantyhose was also torn, and some scratches told them she faced difficulties, but she was brightly beaming.

"MINE!!!!" Lydia exclaimed, running towards a stunned Mine.

She ran towards him, and several leafy buddies ran after them like Pikmins chasing Olimar. Lydia grabbed Mine and wrapped him in a tight hug, causing the duo to fall to the carpet and almost knock Addai down.

"I found you!!" Lydia beamed, her eyes as teary as Mine's. "I told you I'd do fine!" she wavered in a soft, teary chuckle and stood up, supporting Mine.

Mine frowned and bit his bottom lips, trying to hold back the tears as he hugged Lydia. "You almost killed me with worry!"

Lydia hugged Mine tightly and held him upwards, carrying him with the bear hug she gave her bestie. She was so brilliant and cheerful that she didn't notice someone she knew staring at her. When her eyes met the person's, all her beaming faded, and she almost passed out while holding a tearing-up Mine.

"What are you doing here?!" Lydia shouted at Addai, who was as baffled as she was.

"I'd ask the same, but…" Addai scratched his neck and looked at her dress. Lydia flushed, covering her body with a snotty Mine. "I think this subject needs to be discussed later," he reasoned.

But another thing caught Lydia’s attention besides Addai’s presence: his dark arms and forearms. There was something off about her friend, and she knew it. Unlike Mine, she couldn't sense Addai's energies, but her intuition was sharp, and she felt Addai was off. His white shirt had blood stains, and why were his hands that way?!

When Lydia stroked Mine's hair, she gasped at how short it was. There was something off everywhere with everybody! The man Azazel called "boss" was the most suspicious of the group, not to mention the stunning being leisurely interacting with her leafy buddies, who cheered and cooed at their touch. What an odd group they formed!

"I think we should exchange information so none of us would be confused," Abannak suggested and sat on the couch. "I think Azazel summarized our situation, but there are loose ends everywhere. With that, I shall ask one of you to give a resume about what you saw and why you're here," he calmly explained, his composed posture as pristine as ever. 

Azazel looked around. He loved a good story. He was excited to hear people's speeches and rest a little before they made their next move. Some leafy buddies climbed his shoulders, and others nestled on his short hair. All of them were as curious as the demon.

Mine breathed and rubbed his puffy eyes. He told his side of the story, from the Pub to the hardships he found at the mansion and how he met Mephistopheles and Addai. The demon added more things to his description, as well as Zophiel, who cared to hide the keychain's identity but briefed them about its use.

"Now, shall you enlighten us about your side of the story, Mr. Dragon?" Zophiel asked, offering a warm smile.

Abannak nodded and looked at his three co-workers. "As we're in this dire situation, there's no use for me to hide anything, especially from you, Mine," he remarked, and Mine looked at him attentively.

Abannak has been investigating the Wishing Well with Professor Soleil, Shire, and Blanche since its first appearance at the University of Magic. One day, Blanche found a lone intriguing baby crawling next to the Wishing Well's location. He wore cute bear jumpers and a bear cap. When he saw Blanche, he started giggling and clapping his hands. But the professor wasn't as relaxed as the baby was because she saw a couple eyeless demons approaching the baby from the back. Mrs. Blanche used ice spells to freeze and break half of the demons and shoo them away back inside the Well while she held the baby in her arms, keeping him safe and giggling.

But that baby wasn't normal. As soon as the eyeless demons retreated, the baby touched Blanche's arm, and a faint white pattern formed, vanishing when he started chewing the same hand he patted Blanche's arm. The professor took him to her office and called Soleil, who almost had a heart attack when he saw the entity and had another heart attack when Abannak told him the baby was none other than Hell's Royal Prince. Before they could investigate the little one better, a white-clothed man appeared at Blanche's office.

When that man touched the handle, the time froze, and they couldn't move except for Tieran, who was excited to see that man. The young man had his face covered by the white cloth, making him resemble a white grim reaper, the only thing visible was his soft, warm smile under the veil, but he said nothing and just took Tieran before leaving the same way he appeared.

Abannak shivered, remembering the unsettling atmosphere of the room, then proceeded to speak.

When the man left, three demons were summoned to the office - almost killing Mr. Soleil for the fourth time. They presented themselves as helpers to the Wishing Well's case once Blanche was blessed with the prince's mark. The three demons determined Mrs. Blanche needed to be watched twenty-for-seven from that day on, fearing the counterattack on the eyeless demons must've activated the domain's owner tracking, which had happened. The female demon offered shelter and promised she'd be by her side. Blanche agreed to go with them and set herself as "missing" with Abannak and Soleil's permission. Meanwhile, she'd be investigating the Wishing Well with the demons and opening the way for Abannak and Soleil to join her.

However, that moment never happened. Blanche was at the hospital in a coma after Agarath's ambush. Fortunately, she left a note to Abannak, decoding the Wishing Well's entrance illusions spell. Abannak decided to go alone, but when he found the missing students, he was captured by Agarath himself, who took a liking to his constitution and trapped him in a different cage with a special "filthy human."

"'Filthy human'…" Lydia echoed in a grumble and spat. 

"Before the three demons left, their boss," Abannak glanced at Mephistopheles, "left a letter from the white-clothed reaper, telling us to not get you involved, Mine," he explained, looking at the young professor. "Without Mine in the investigation, we needed suitable people and Soleil decided to sort Mr. Addai for that but he noticed his miasma sensibility and decided to put you aside and close to Mine," he looked at Addai, whose eyebrows were furrowed.

Addai furrowed his eyebrows. "Then… all you did was in vain. Mine is here, and I'm an extra."

"Me too. I'm an extra," Lydia waved her hand.

Abannak sighed, rubbing his nose bridge. "I told Soleil to not be so mysterious… lying always leads to trouble," he sighed. "Actually, we didn't think Mine would be at the Masquerade Ball Mr. Azazel told us about."

Mine coughed multiple times, as well as Lydia's. "It's a very harsh coincidence. Let's not dwell on those sordid details," he said, his cheeks reddish.

Mephistopheles, unaware of what they were talking about, began to look back on the events he witnessed and connected them with what Abannak and Azazel told them. His puzzle had more pieces. They were well connected, but the math didn't add up.

How did they go through all that in one morning? The climax of the Masquerade Ball was around one in the morning, with Zophiel's performance. From then on, time seemed to have dragged on lazily.

The mansion, the pursuit of Agarath and Aiden, the rescue of Mine and the pilgrimage they made through the endless and tiring corridors, the puppets and their pain-in-the-ass master who loved to play cat and mouse, the countless illusions, the passage to the wishing well, the catacombs, the catacomb corridors, the eyeless demons... all of it was enough for his head to finally start to hurt. Lost in hindsight, Mephistopheles couldn't help but think that he could no longer bear to go through so much trouble on a night that seemed to have no end.

Mephistopheles paused for a while.

A night that never ended. How was it possible? They walked a lot and went through so much, but time never passed, or the sun appeared.

"Wait, sweetness," Mephistopheles interrupted Zophiel, who was talking to Lydia. "There's something that's not adding up here."

Abannak's eyes sharpened. "I knew it wasn't only me who thought that."

Mephistopheles looked at the dragon. "You noticed the time being weird too?"

"Precisely," Abannak nodded. "We're trapped in a never-ending night. Did you notice it too, Mine?"

Mine paused and furrowed his eyebrows. "I noticed that something wasn't working properly around the mansion when Aiden appeared, and things got worse at the Catacombs… miasma particles don't show in the air like that… Could it be that…" He unconsciously ran his hand on his hair, only to find its unusual shortness and recalling the way he cut it and left the strands on the floor. "Oh no."