All the hairs on Mine's body stood on end as he saw the sword rise in slow motion, aiming precisely for his heart. As soon as the blade lowered, Mine felt his legs move on their own, but it was the push the Consort gave that made him fall a few meters away. The Consort parried Agarath's blow with his spear, deflecting the attack with a secondary spin and forcing Agarath to retreat a few steps.

"Are you okay?" The Consort asked Mine, shielding him but not looking at him.

Mine used his elbows to steady his body and nodded, feeling the new scrapes burning. The Consort spun his spear and pointed it towards Agarath, whose eyes were unfocused by madness, colored with heinous but electric colors. The demon growled, sprouting horns on his forehead and a long, dark-scaled tail dragging behind him on the floor. His fangs were out, and his claws were ready to be used as secondary weaponry.

The Consort was unmoved at the sight, only the trinkets of the clothing beneath the cloak sounding in the oppressive atmosphere. Mine quickly stood up and clenched his hands into fists, both hands with the diamond shape on the back. His pose was firm despite how fast his heart beat, and his knees trembled. The Consort glanced at the group in the background and spotted someone quickly approaching them after mercilessly tearing nearby puppets with bare hands. However, the Consort had bigger issues to pay attention to, and the problem had just violently thrust their sword.

Mine tossed a sigil on the Consort, which glued itself on the entity's cloak, providing temporary defense increasing. Agarath's moves were far too much for Mine to deal with. He was just a teacher, after all. He wasn't a combatant like the Consort, who mercilessly sparred and counterattacked the demon's furious attacks. 

If Mine had to face Agarath the way the Consort was sparring, he'd surely lose. That would not only be an unfair duel but also an execution.

The person the Consort spotted earlier yanked Mine from the clashing duo's range by grabbing him by the waist and jumping a few meters away from them. Mine barely had time to use a sigil on the person. Instead, the hidden papers in his sleeves flew away from him the moment the man, and he almost flew in the air to another place. 

When they landed, Mine slumped on the floor, his legs weak from too much emotion and his head spinning as he heard the clinking metal sounds from the Consort's spear clashing against Agarath's sword. But his legs recovered after the person crouched. Mine rolled away and quickly recovered his pose from earlier – clenched fists and tense knees. He had two sigils in each hand, ready to be tossed to whoever was next to him. But it wasn't needed as the person in front of him raised his both hands when Mine recognized him, immediately frowning.

"Addai! You almost killed me!" Mine angrily snapped, tossing one of the sigils in Addai's direction.

Addai dodged the sigil and cold sweated when it hit the nearest tree, burning it. "You almost killed me too! We're even!"

Mine rubbed his eyebrows and hid the spare sigil back into his sleeves. He took a deep breath and sighed, still hearing the increasing clashing in the background. When he looked at his hand after rubbing his eyebrows, Mine noticed how much it was still trembling. Agarath's earlier expression was glued to his mind. His sickening speech was looping in his head, ringing his ears as he heard the demon's mad laughter among the metal noises.

Addai placed a hand on Mine's shoulder and took the trembling hand with the other. His hand was warm and was also trembling like Mine's.

"Let's go," Addai said, holding Mine's hand like he did earlier. "We need to be far from them. God knows what would happen if you stayed there," he said, worry creeping into his voice.

Mine nodded and tightened the grip on Addai's hand. "Don't let me go again."

"I'd say the same," Addai replied, tightening the grip as well when his eyes looked at the horizon. "There are puppets ahead. They're slower but still doing damage."

Mine took a sigil from his sleeve and affixed it on Addai's arm. The sigil slowly faded and tattooed its pattern on his skin. Addai looked at Mine confused, but all Mine did was huff, satisfied at the results.

"It's a temporary invisibility spell," Mine said, half proud, half excited. "Cool, isn't it?" He asked, his eyes brightening in the middle of the chaos.

Addai's tense expression soothed a bit at the sight, and he faintly smiled. "It indeed is. Now… is it really working for both of us?"

"Yes!" Mine beamed, exhibiting the same pattern on the other arm. "I glued it on me first, hehe."

"As expected from the Golden Teacher," Addai chuckled at Mine's sudden annoyed expression. "The rest of the group is going to Mr. Zophiel's feather location, by the way. So, stay close to me."

"How gentleman-ish," Mine grinned teasingly, staying close to Addai as they walked.

The path ahead wasn't much different from what the rest of the group faced. The devastated forest added a plus to the oppressive atmosphere with the miasma particles in the air. It didn't take long, and they found the first puppets lurking around like slow zombies.

Mine and Addai passed in narrow spaces between the puppets, who growled, snapped, or bit the air when they heard noises from the crunchy leaves next to the trees or the wind's blowing. Mine was about to take a step forward, and a tall puppet blocked their way, leaving the duo to take the path with the crunchy leaves. No harm in that once the puppets' attack was triggered by light, not sounds, right? However, those puppets were different. At the slight sound, their head quirked at the sound's source. No wonder they were thriving on the battlefield even though the miasma fog hindered the vision.

Addai grabbed a rock and tossed it on a tree. Immediately, all puppets turned to the sound the rock made and growled in that direction. The tall puppet also heavily moved, crawling towards the rock's spot, whose trees around it were mercilessly torn like paper. Mine quickened his steps, still holding Addai's hand.

The duo dashed on the soft soil, wet from God-knows-what. Fortunately, no loud sounds were made because the once crunchy leaves were now moist. The path ahead was much like the rest of the forest: nothing could be seen except slow zombie-puppets or dead trees. All paths were the same, and even the background clashing between Agarath and the Consort hadn't changed its volume, which meant they were running in circles.

Mine stopped and looked at Addai. "We're two dumbheads running in circles," he grumbled.

Addai wiped the sweat from his forehead and grumbled as well. "I knew something was wrong. I saw the big puppet about three times. I even memorized its stitches pattern."

"All right, we need to stop and use our heads," Mine rubbed his nose bridge. "Mr. Zophiel's feather… we need to find a place to cast the spell to track it. The spell's light will gather the puppets' attention."

"Indeed," Addai acknowledged. "When Mephistopheles used the spell, the puppets turned ten times more vicious. If it wasn't for Azazel and Eden's fast counterattacks… I fear they wouldn't have escaped in time."

Mine scratched his chin and gazed at the horizon, where the same zombie puppets were still lurking around. "I fear going anywhere would lead into a looping area, so we can't just dash in the woods."

"To think we almost did that…" Addai muttered, almost like a self-reminder of a mistake they shouldn't repeat.

"Yeah, yeah," Mine waved his hand, thinking the same. "We needed to let the adrenaline flow. Besides, maybe luck is on our side because we blindly ran through the woods, and here we are, back to the same spot."

"Or we're extremely unlucky, and we already fell into a looping area, and we're stuck here," Addai sighed.

"Be a little bit more optimistic," Mine grumbled. "And don't jinx it! We're in enough trouble."

"Okay, okay, I'll just shut my mouth," Addai complained as a response.

Mine fell silent for a few minutes, thinking of a new plan. There wasn't a safe place to hide and do the spell that, unfortunately, gathered enough attention. Why would it gather attention? To cast the spell, once Zophiel's essence was Heavenly type, the spell tended to glow according to the essence's vibration. Angelic essences were pure light, in a matter of fact. So, it wasn't weird for the spell to glow at the energy, attracting unwanted attention from those zombie puppets.

Nowhere was safe. There were no hiding spots, and Agarath's clashing against the Consort was turning a bit too much once the combatants' energies were starting to fill the bloodied air.

Without a warning, Addai suddenly covered Mine's mouth and quickly dragged him to hide behind a dead tree whose trunk was thick enough. Mine looked at Addai, whose eyes were crimson. Next to them, two gargoyles passed carrying their spears. Mine's eyes widened at their sight. They were the scarred gargoyle and its friend, the friendly-looking gargoyle from earlier!!

However, their luck seemed depleting because the gargoyles looked in their direction. They halted, and Addai's body tensed up. Mine saw Addai's fangs showing as he charged a growling, but before he could do so, the gargoyles dropped their spears.

The scarred gargoyle bowed at Addai. "Your Grace, we're here to assist under the Consort's directions."

Addai's guard hadn't dropped. He was still intensely darting at the gargoyles as he kept Mine close. "The command sigil," he only ordered with a growling.

"I told you to show it before speaking…" The friendly-looking gargoyle sighed and showed its right arm.

On its grayish skin, a glowing pattern resembling a Seraph's Tear flower was displayed. The scarred gargoyle showed its arm as well, and the same pattern was there.

"The Consort's sigil cannot be forged," the friendly-looking gargoyle explained. "His commands are law, and we, mere gargoyles, follow our master's laws."

"Your Grace can attest to the sigil's integrity," the scarred gargoyle said, its head lowered.

"Can we trust you two?" Mine asked, taking Addai's hand away from his mouth.

"We can't-" Addai hissed, and Mine pinched his lips, shutting him. Before Addai could protest, Mine shot a glance at him, and Addai grunted, almost like protesting but accepting it. Once Addai settled down, Mine released his lips and crossed his arms, looking at the gargoyles as he frowned.

"Let us attest it then, once you two seem confident enough," Mine said. "If the sigil is counterfeit... I'll let this guy do whatever he wants with you two," he continued and Addai leaned, placing a hand on Mine's waist. Both gargoyles couldn't help but glance at Addai's sickening eyes, glancing away right after the dreadful sight. "Do we have a deal?"

"Y-Yes," both gargoyles bowed twice.