- Death and Mira -
Death wasn't certain that Mira had her own echo, but it was safe to assume. Given her reaction to what he said he was able to confirm his suspicions.
'I don't appreciate the distrust, but it seems harmless. None of what's happened is worth hiding.'
Mira walked away, embarrassed that she had been found out so easily.
'He is as old as father, of course he would know I had my own echo.'
Mira called Michael and reported Lucifer's progress on the hunt. She had nothing new, regarding Death, to inform Michael about.
Michael responded, "Stay vigilant. What happens in the northern territories is more important than right now. I do not believe Lucifer will find Cytus, so be careful once you cross the border."
Mira sighed to herself. "I will be sir."
Mira having left to discuss with Michael gave Death time to make a call to Purgatory.
- Death -
"Everything ok, sir?" Mary answered the call.
Death looked around quickly. "Unfortunately we have a problem near the border. Cytus was spotted in Hydern."
Death summarized the events to Mary.
Mary started writing on paper. "I'll let the available grim know. Do we have anything to worry about with Heaven?"
"No, they'll be dealing with the northern side of things," Death informed. "I just want to make sure this problem doesn't come back down."
"Of course, sir," Mary said.
"Call me when you know who you're sending," Death ordered.
More writing could be heard from Mary's side, mixed in with mumblings of names. "Will do. Anything else?"
"No, that's all," Death ended the call.
Death decided he should try out the bathhouse that everyone else had used. He walked into the lobby and immediately the man behind the counter flinched.
"N-no charge for you. P-please, go right ahead." The man was shaking as Death walked past him.
'I really should start wearing a mask or something.'
As Death walked into the male changing area all the other men quickly changed and ran out.
Death sighed. 'You won't die if you're in the same room as me.' As he walked into the bathing area everyone finished what they were doing in a hurry and left. As annoyed as Death was, he did enjoy the alone time.
- Lucifer and Elijah-
Lucifer had Elijah grab a weapon of his choosing from the supply cart, along with the guide. He then had Sabu and Yvere join them as they went to a nearby field.
Yvere made sure to restore Elijah's hand before they left.
Lucifer had begun explaining to Elijah that the border that separates the north and south also acted as a barrier that divided this world. Most of the fantastical gods and creatures were found in the north, with the south being considered a mix of Death, Heaven, demons, and lastly, human territory.
Lucifer was holding the guide and flipping to pages that were relevant to what he was saying. "Death and I are essentially representatives of humanity. The races in this world are often represented by the strongest of their kind, but humans are obviously a special case."
"I would assume humans are allowed in the north?" Elijah asked, expecting this mission was going to have another twist to it.
Lucifer hummed. "Allowed, yes, but welcomed is another story. Reborn are treated slightly better, but you should still expect asinine behavior," He flipped to a page that said "Human and Reborn separation."
Elijah wasn't happy to hear that he was walking into a hostile land.
"Should I be looking over my shoulder while in these territories?" Elijah asked.
Lucifer sighed. "Skepticism not paranoia. Don't look for trouble, and don't blindly trust kindness."
Lucifer turned to one of the first pages in the book and pointed at the section titled "Human Slurs." "Now I know for reborn a lot of these words have less meaning because you didn't grow up with them."
Elijah scanned the page noting certain interesting terms such as "Fallen, cancer, and meat."
The sound of a body loudly hitting the floor could be heard.
Elijah looked over and saw Yvere on the ground. "You okay?"
Elijah was shocked that Sabu was capable of throwing her to the ground.
"I'm fine," Yvere said, flipping herself back up.
Elijah had learned recently that Yvere is half-vampire, which gave her more strength than an average human.
'I guess it's good to know that technique still somewhat matters.'
"Alright," Lucifer said closing the guide, "you can study this later, for now, I want you practicing weaponry with Sabu."
Elijah pulled out the dagger he had picked from the supplies and held it in his left hand. He knew that in traditional combat a sword would be more effective, but due to his lightning affinity, Lucifer assured him a dagger was an acceptable choice of weapon.
Elijah was more comfortable with the dagger because of past life's training. He felt like he understood the proper ways to use it more than he would a sword or spear. The only worry he had was that this wasn't a practice knife. Whatever kind of sparring he would be doing with Sabu would involve real damage.
"Until you cut Sabu with that dagger you will continue using it over a practice knife," Lucifer said.
Elijah looked at the dagger and then at Sabu. He realized Sabu was unarmed, and that this would most likely be another dirt-eating learning experience.
Elijah tried multiple ways of approaching Sabu. He knew how to properly hold the weapon, and where on the body to cut, but couldn't connect any attacks for the life of him. Every swipe, stab, and slash was met with a fast disarm. At one point Sabu even sprained Elijah's wrist, apologizing immediately after.
Lucifer was watching Elijah's movements closely. "You have the technique down, I think your main struggle is physical ability."
Elijah knew that his current body was younger and certainly stronger than his old one, but he felt like his reflexes were lagging behind. He assumed a mix of his dying and spending time in Hell had dulled his skill.
Lucifer tried to reassure Elijah, "Give it time. I'm sure it won't take too many training sessions for you to have an actual match with Sabu."
"Unlikely," Sabu said, knocking the dagger out of Elijah's hand.
Elijah was annoyed by the comment, but he acknowledged the truth behind it.
'He's probably old enough to be my grandfather. I can imagine how easy fighting me must feel for him.'
Unfortunately for Elijah, there wasn't much for Lucifer to teach him about this. It was a slow process to recover one's physical capabilities. Sabu disarmed Elijah again and again.
Eventually, seeking a reprieve for his wrist, Elijah asked about Peter. "Is Peter going to be okay? I know he channeled his life force, but I don't know what the consequences of that are except for what I've seen."
Lucifer frowned. "What you've seen is the last of it. Normally one dies after tapping into their life force because that technique is usually used on battlefields by desperate soldiers. Only drawing out some of the power has left Peter how you see. If he ever taps into it again he will die."
The sunset came and Elijah had barely managed a few cuts on Sabu.
Yvere healed the injuries sustained during the training and apologized to Elijah. "Sorry for not fully healing your hand immediately."
Elijah rubbed his wrist. "It's fine. The hand is healed now and that's all that matters."
Elijah wasn't sure how he felt knowing Yvere drank blood but didn't question her ability as a healer.
The recovery time in Hydern had finally passed. Elijah was well informed of what to expect after crossing the border. Everyone's mana was back to full, and Cytus remained missing.
- Everyone -
Death got onto his uništi and waited while Lucifer and his team got ready. Death had been thankfully bored the last few days and was ready to travel past the border once again.
"I wonder how things have changed?" Death said sarcastically.
"Oh, I'm sure things are very different," Lucifer responded in an equally sarcastic tone.
The two's joking was unnerving to Elijah, who had spent a long amount of time reading about the troubles he was going to face. A lack of a need to sleep had given him far more time to think than he wanted.
Death, Lao, and Yvere rode their uništi away from Hydern, with Mira flying above them.
The border didn't have gigantic walls like Hell or New Death City. Instead, there were various buildings along the border's line guarded by different beings.
The one the group arrived at sat in a large grassy plain with a faded wooden sign that said "passage coins" on it. Leaning against the building was two large oni. They had blue skin with horns sticking out of the middle of their head. Both were asleep.
"Hey!" Death shouted, waking the two guards.
The two woke up angry, curious as to who would dare wake them up. The guards were both seven feet tall. One of them had thick white hair that went down to their thighs, while the other had red hair that hung all around his head in thin strands down to his chest. Both had two large fangs coming out from the top and bottom of their mouth and both were only wearing partial clothing around their waist.
The red hair one had long limbs and a gut, while the white-haired one was bulky with muscles. They both had claws on their hands and feet, and yellowed-out eyes with small black irises and pupils.
"Who the fuck woke me?!" Said the white hair one in a deep, rumbling voice.
The red hair one spoke in a slightly higher voice, "I swear to Ama and Tsuki if it's another human I'm rippin' them apa-" The red-haired one didn't finish, realizing it was Death who woke them.
Death made a wide smile. "Hello, Fusafa and Suto. Please continue with what you were saying."
The two instantly froze feeling as though their lives were about to be ended.
"Y-y-y-you know I would never harm a human, Death, sir," Suto said, prostrating himself. "It was just a phrase. I threaten to kill everyone, I swear."
"We'll get your passage coins right away, sir," Fusafa said, running into the building and then back out, holding a box of coins.
"H-how many, sir," Suto asked, standing up.
"Nine please," Death's calm tone only terrified the two more.
Fusafa brought the box around, letting the various members take a coin. Elijah had to dig his nails into his leg to stop himself from flinching when he saw Fusafa holding the box towards him.
"Enjoy your time in the territories, sir," Fusafa bowed.
Death and the group continued on. Elijah let his curiosity get the best of him and stuck his head outside of the cart to look around at the border.
"So many different creatures," Elijah said to himself.
"They prefer the term beings," Yvere said.
Elijah sat back down. "Please hit me if I make that mistake again."