Back at Britatona, Shokei's party is going through the mine tunnel, searching for a way out. The party is going through the maze as it was taking the party a few hours in finding the exit. Navigating through the mines was getting tedious for Marie as she is getting tired of walking.

  "Seriously though, are we there yet?" Marie asked.

  "For the st time Marie, NO!" Rei said to her with a pissed look.

  "You already asked this same question for the millionth time." Saeko said to her. "Get over it."

  "Not just that, I'm tired of your compining!" Tamiko tells her.

  "Aww geez! I really, really want to know if we're that close to the exit..." Marie whined.

  "Marie, say that one more time I'll..."

  "Wait! Look!"

  Mizuki gets her party a head up as they look directly ahead to see light at the end of the tunnel.

  "W-what the?!" Rei asked, blinking her eyes. "Are you serious?!"

  "Hu-hurry!! We're free!!" Marie said with excitement.

  "Now...you're happy." Sadako said with a sigh.

  "All right, let's get out of here!" Rei said to everyone.

  The party continues ahead until they finally exited out of the mines. Stepping outside, the party can see that they are now in a different section of the forest. The section appears to be deeper with more trees and there were some rays of light visible to help illuminate the forest.

  "Strange...this isn't Britatona." Marie said.

  "Sounds like we are coming out of a cave." Tamiko said.

  "I don't know if that town is nearby...but we probably won't find our way back from here." Rei said.

  "At least we got rid of that curse." Kichiro said.

  "True that." Rei said. "It looks like we need to find our way back to Britatona if we travel from here."

  "But wait a minute! What about Shokei?" Marie asked in a reminder of someone important.

  "Oh right! We also need to find that book the Necromutant has on her." Rei said.

  "How in the world are we ever going to get that book the vile being has on her?" Tamiko asked. "Then again, I hope Shokei is all right from being trapped in that book."

  "I wonder what she's doing in that book?" Beatrice asked. "Is there a world where she's trying to find a way out of there?"

  "Oooh, I have a bad, bad feeling about this." Marie said with a worried look. "What if..."

  "We'll just have to find the book and save her." Rei said to the party. "Maybe the enemy have discarded that book somewhere in this forest."

  "You think so?" Kichiro asked.

  "I'm guessing." Rei said. "But hey, who knows what the Necromutant has done with that book anyway? I doubt she would hold on to that book forever."

  "That's a guess on your behalf." Saeko said."Let's go." Rei said. "If we're lucky enough, we can retrieve the book that Shokei has been imprisoned inside."

  As Shokei's party travels into the forest, a figure watches above as it looks down to see the group adventuring into the forest. Hauntmystic can see that Shokei's party members have escaped the mines.

  "They are leaving out of those mines alive, eh?" Hauntmystic said to herself. "It seems that Hazon has failed to drain the lifeforms of that town as he thought he would. It seems that I'll have to take matters in my hands to defeat the Emissary's party as best as possible."

  "Talking to yourself, huh Hauntmystic?" A voice called out to her.

  "Hmm..." The Necromutant hears a voice that she recognized. She turns to confront her ally. "Kukofoges. What are you doing here?"

  "I came by to see if you have taken care of the Emissary and her allies." He said to her.

  "I did..." Hauntmystic tells him. "She has been 'booked' and is nowhere to be found around this forest. I discarded that book so that neither of these fools will find it."

  "Oh, really?" The head Necromutant asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Believe me. I have taken care of the nuisance as she is trapped in a novel that she will never find herself out of there." Hauntmystic said.

  "Just as long as you managed to take care of the Emissary, our pns will not be interfered." Kukofoges said. "While we're at it, we can cause terrorization on her allies."

  "How will we do that?" Hauntmystic asked him.

  "Combining our powers, we will cause a reign of terror on the Emissary's party and summon out monstrous forces that will get rid of them instantly."

  "Hmm, hmm. That sounds like a great pn indeed." Hauntmystic said in agreement. But then thought it over and said, "I still say that Bck Death is among Shokei's allies. She might get caught in our pn."

  "She'll have to py along with the party, despite the situation." Kukofoges said. "But let's not worry about her. I'm sure that she'll live through our summons. Now, get in position."

  The Necromutants generated their powers as they look up in the skies. Simir to what Kukofoges did previously in the Maple Forest, he puts his ritual in effect.

  Spirits of the Dark Gaxies! Bring forth the dark minions and cause devastation among those whose hearts are pure!

  With the summon ritual in effect, this made the clouds form into darkness. Kukofoges and Hauntmystic can see that their summon is being put to work as they watch to see monsters emerging out of the clouds as they make their way down to the forest.

  Meanwhile, Rei and her party are continuing their trail. The group appears to be lost as they have no idea on where they are walking.

  "Are you sure that this is the way back to Britatona?" Saeko asked Rei.

  "I'm not sure..." Rei tells her, scratching her head. "I have no idea where the hell are we. We're stuck in these woods and there doesn't seem to be any town nearby."

  "I guess we're that far away from the town..." Marie said.

  As the party continues to walk ahead, Tamiko takes notice that the clouds are blocking the sun. She looks to see that the forest is becoming dark. Saeko takes notice on what Tamiko is staring and she too can see that the clouds are becoming darker.

  "Say, it's getting dark." Saeko said to the party.

  "Seriously?" Rei said as she looks around.

  "Wh-what? What the hell?" Marie said as she feels a sense of panic when she sees the forest going dark.

  "It looks like it's going to rain." Naoko said.

  "No...this isn't right." Mizuki said. "I can feel that there is a swarm of dark forces around this forest."

  The party looks around. There, they see that the forest of Euna is covered in darkness. Most of the sections in the forest is now pitch bck. Also, the party became more alert as they hear growling noises as the presence of monsters are occurring. More sounds coming from monsters are making the party stay close to each other as they prepare for what lies ahead. Just then, the string sounds of a bow being fired as Kichiro hears the sounds of arrows being aimed directly at the party.

  "Oh no! Look out!!"

  Everyone can see what Kichiro was looking at. The party became quick enough to duck in time as they avoided the swarm of arrows. Rei looks up to see that the arrows are flying by as they struck on a group of trees, missing their targets. Once all the arrows have been aimed, the party gets up on their feet. Rei can see that the monsters are close by. She sees that their appearance is in a form of strange crimson eyes. The monsters appear to be in various sizes as they are heading towards the party.

  "They're here! C'mon!!" Rei tells her party.

  Shokei's party runs into the woods as they are running for their lives. Rei looks to see that there is an angry mob of monsters coming after them. She can see that the figures of these monsters appears to be dark shaded as they consists of demonic humanoid wolves and ogres all coming after them. The ferocious monsters warcry as they are rushing after the party with their weapons in hand. Rei looks up to see flying monsters in the air as there are Wyverns all around.

  "The hell is this? A pgue?!" Rei asked...

  "There's too many of these freaks!!" Marie cried out as she continues to run.

  "This has to be the work of the Necromutants." Mizuki said.

  "Yeah, but how the hell they are sending out these wild things at us?!" Rei asked. "Are they giving us a challenge?!"

  "All we need to do is to survive as best as possible." Mizuki said. "There's no way we can fight in a situation like this. We need to find out way out of here."

  "Fine! I'll just attack anything that would stand in my way!" Rei said.

  The party continues running as the wave of monsters are coming after them. Rei looks to see that there was one demonic wolf emerging out of nowhere and she delivers a hard punch to the monster's face and continues onward into the forest.

  Back in the trapped story, Shokei and her party are navigating through the garden maze. The maze was proven to be big as the size of the area is wide for the party to get through. Shokei and Young are traveling into the maze together. They continue their way as they are searching for the lever that is located somewhere in the garden. As they continue their way into the maze, Shokei comes across statues that are in this garden. The statues appear to be dark elves in a knight outfit. Shokei examines one statue as she looks carefully to be sure that it was not a trap. The statues are made out of bronze.

  "That's odd..." Young said. "What are these statues doing here?"

  "Beats me." Shokei said. "I have no clue."

  "But this garden never had statues like these." Young said, examining the statue carefully. "In fact, there were no statues in pce around here."

  "Maybe someone put these statues here as decoration." Shokei said.

  "No. I doubt that someone would pce these statues in this maze." Young said. "Whatever this is, that someone has really undertaken this garden."

  "Which is why we need to get to that castle." Shokei said, turning to a direction. "Come on."

  Shokei and Young continued to get through the maze. Soon, they came to an opening field. There, the girls can see two levers already in front of them. The levers are at the center of the field.

  "Well, what do you know? We found the levers." Shokei said.

  "Hmm?"

  Young looks to see that Mariko and Egoh are walking out on the opposite side as they appeared to reach the same destination.

  "Huh?" Egoh looks to see Shokei and Young have arrived at the same spot.

  "Looks like we all made it to where the levers are." Shokei said.

  "Heh, and I thought we wouldn't bump into each other on the other side." Mariko said.

  "Anyways, now that we are here, I guess that these levers should be operated together." Egoh said.

  "You're right." Shokei said. "But...how can you tell if these are the levers that will close the gap?"

  "Trust me." Egoh said. "By pulling these levers, we should seal the gaps so that the path to the entrance is avaible for us."

  "All right. Then let's do this." Shokei said, putting her hand on the lever.

  "Ok." Egoh said, gripping the other lever and looks at Shokei. "At the same time...one, two, three."

  Shokei and Egoh pulls the levers back as the handle was smooth to transit to the opposite. Both levers were pulled back as it locks in pce.

  "That should do it." Shokei said.

  "Does this mean that the gaps are now covered?" Mariko asked.

  "It should be." Egoh replied. "You won't hear it since these levers are located here. We should head back to the main entrance to see if those gaps have been sealed."

  "Right..." Mariko said. Then, she turns to see something ahead. "Huh?"

  Mariko looks to see that the immovable statue of dark elves stand there as it is blocking the way. The statue appears to have moved from its spot and Shokei looks behind to see that the statue that she just bypassed also appeared at the archway.

  "Hey! Those statues...did they just..."

  "Came alive?" Shokei finished Mariko's sentence.

  The Dark Elf statues move aside as the party can see that more are coming out of hiding pces. Some of the statues walk through the bushes as they emerged out of their hiding pces. The eyes of the elves glow red as they reveal that they are alive. The statues have their swords drawn out as this alerted the party.

  "Uh-uo..." Mariko said, feeling scared for a bit.

  "Looks like we're not welcomed here." Shokei said.

  "We're going to need a pn of action to escape." Egoh said and asked. "Any ideas?"

  "I don't know but..." Young reached an item in her pocket and takes out an orb. "With this, we should be able to flee from these statues."

  "What does that do?" Mariko asked.

  "A smoke bomb." Young said to her. "Hold your breath everyone."

  Young throws the smoke bomb to the ground. The orb breaks as the spread of smog surrounded the area. With the thickness of the smog, the party manages to escape as they ran from the dark elves statues. Quickly, the party follows Shokei's lead as she goes bypass the statues. Once through, the party navigates their way into the maze whereas the statues go in pursuit.

  Shokei and her party are running into the maze as they are trying to run from the statues. Shokei makes a turn to the left and another on the right as she leads the party into escaping from the maze. As she runs down another passageway, a dark elf statue emerged from the bushes as it blocks her way. The party comes to a halt as Shokei saw the statue in front of her.

  "Dammit!" Shokei said.

  "Oh no! What do we do?!" Mariko asked.

  "Eh?" Young looks behind and sees that two of the dark elves statues are coming from behind. "This is not good! No, not so good at all."

  "Cshing at them will be a problem." Shokei said.

  Thinking about this, Egoh decided and then he made a move.

  "Dimensional Void!"

  Egoh cast out his magic and then the statue in front of Shokei fell into a vortex. Using his spell, Egoh did the same as he has sent the two statues behind Young down the same vortex, eliminating them.

  "Woah." Mariko said with a surprised look. "I'm impressed."

  "Heh, thanks..." Egoh said. Then, he looks and then noticed his hand disappearing. "Huh?! What the?!"

  "Wait! What's happening?!" Mariko asked as she sees Egoh fading away.

  "Egoh!!"

  Egoh said nothing as he feels his body fading and then he disappeared on the spot, leaving the party surprised.

  "Oh no." Young said, saddened to see one of her own allies have disappeared. "Egoh..."

  "T-this...does this maze forbid the use of magic?" Mariko asked.

  "...looks like it." Shokei said. "But...Egoh not only saved us, but also sacrificed for us."

  "Y-you...you don't think that he's..." Mariko started to feel worried.

  "No, let's not think that!" Young interrupted her. "I'm sure that there is a catch to this."

  You pathetic idiots! A voice speaks out to the party. Don't you know that magic is forbidden here?!

  "Huh?" Mariko looks around and asked. "W-who's there?!"

  I am the maze-zar that patrols this maze... The voice speaks. I made sure that neither of you use magic here.

  "Hey! You sure fooled us!" Mariko said out loud.

  "What happened to Egoh?" Shokei asked the voice. "Is he dead?"

  Ohhhhh him! Let's just say he did not follow the rules around here... The voice replied.

  "So, he's alive." Young said.

  Of course, he is! The voice speaks out. He's held in my castle...come by to rescue him...if you can outwit my statues that is...

  "Then we cannot idle here longer." Shokei said. "We need to escape this maze and head for that castle."

  "Right!" Mariko nodded.

  The party continues their way through the maze. The dark elven statues are in pursuit as the party can hear the sound of their footsteps as they are on their trail.

  From going through the maze, Shokei and her party made their way back to the entrance of the maze. However, the dark statues appeared to be blocking the exit as they are trapped.

  "No good! We cannot escape!" Mariko said.

  "Dammit!" Shokei said as she stopped in her tracks.

  "Eh?" Young looks and sees that more of the dark statues are surrounding the party.

  "Oh no! We're cornered!" Mariko said.

  "Hmm?" Shokei looks to see that the gaps leading to the castle did make a pathway. "The path is open for us; we need to make it over there."

  "B-but how?!" Mariko asked. "We're surrounded!"

  The Dark Elven statues trapped the party as they have their weapons drawn out. Not knowing what to do, Shokei has her sword out as she is about to defend herself. As the statues are moving in, Young can see the figures are about to attack and then she made an unexpected move.

  "Mystic Fog!!"

  Young cast out a spell as her fog spell was put to work. The party is surrounded by the thick mist that instantly made the area all foggy.

  "Shokei! Mariko! Now's your chance!!" Young shouted at them.

  Seeing that there was a chance to escape, Shokei quickly takes Mariko by the hand, and she ran up to the castle. The thickness of the fog distracted the statues as they could not see where the party is. Shokei and Mariko rushed up to the castle and they finally made it in. Once inside, the gate to the castle closes immediately. The pair takes a breath as they have made it through the tight situation.

  "Oh man! That was close!" Mariko said, taking a breath.

  "I'm gd that we got out there..." Shokei said, looking at the closed gate. "But...Young..."

  "I know..." Mariko said. "S-she sacrificed for us..."

  "Not just that...I did not know she was capable of using magic..." Shokei said.

  Foolish beings...why won't you learn to obey my rules? The voice said in disappointment.

  "Hey! At least our lives were about to be mincemeat by those statues." Mariko said.

  That's ok. At least you didn't use magic here anyway. The voice said.

  "We made in inside..." Shokei said. "Now, what happened to our friends?"

  Ohhh them! Since you two survived, why down you come on down here and find out! The voice said.

  Shokei looks to see that there is an entrance leading to downstairs. Together, she and Mariko head down the stairs. The stairs that they are walking down on is spiral as they continue to go deeper. There, Shokei sees an opening. Walking through the entrance, she now sees that there is an underground arena, that looks like a medieval tennis court. The court is wide by length as it was a full court, but it is surrounded by a square size gap. Mariko looks down to see that their appears to be a pit of spikes below. She blinks as it creeps her out.

  "W-what is this pce?" Mariko asked.

  "This isn't just a castle..." Shokei said. "This looks..."

  "Here they are!"

  "Shokei! We're up here!"

  Shokei and Mariko looks above. The two can see that Egoh and Young are imprisoned in a cage suspended in midair.

  "There you are!" Mariko said. "We thought you guys went nonexistent."

  "Luckily we aren't." Egoh said. "I vanished and was brought here in this cage."

  "Same here." Young said. "It looks like the power of evil has trapped us."

  "We'll get you out of there!" Mariko said. "I mean...we'll find some way..."

  "Don't bet on it!!" A voice called out in the arena.

  "Hang on a minute." Shokei said, getting Mariko her attention.

  Suddenly, Shokei sees that there was someone making an appearance on the ground floor of the tennis court. The figure appears to be wearing a Conjurer's outfit and looks identical to Chae the Pyromancer. The halfling smiles and ughs evilly as she comes face to those that are in her presence.

  "W-who are you?" Mariko asked.

  "The name's Hian the Magician!" the Halfling greets herself. "I am one half of the Three Little Evils that patrol this pce. I take that you have survived through my cursed maze as I have watched you from the skies above."

  "Really?" Shokei asked. "No wonder we could not tell where your voice was."

  "And I am gd I didn't have to use magic at all to get here." Mariko said.

  "I'm not capable of using magic period." Shokei said. "I'm gd that I was never born with magic."

  "Except me that is..." Mariko said.

  "Even for a magician like yourself, I bet you were daring to use magic to evade from my toys I had you all to py with." Hian said. "But I have learned that you killed my sister back in Marsh Woods, and I'll never forgive you for that."

  "Enough talk!" Shokei said to her. "Our purpose is to find a missing fragment here and I can tell that you have one in your possession."

  "Indeed, I do human." Hian said and then raised a finger. "But! You'll have to earn it through me."

  "How do we do that?" Shokei asked her.

  "Simply put, I want to py a game with you two." Hian said. "Here you stand on a pyfield, which is a tennis court. If you two can defeat me in a game of tennis by seven points, I will give up my fragment and your captured allies will be yours. However..."

  Hian points her attention to the wide gaps behind Shokei and Mariko.

  "If I win, I'll send both of you down in the depths to your graves...and I'll keep the fragment to myself." Hian continued. "Better yet, your allies will become my sves!"

  "Uhh..." Egoh said as he felt worried.

  "Don't let that happen you two! You must defeat this witch at once!" Young called out to them.

  Shokei looks back at the gap and then she looks back at the enemy.

  "Fine...I'll accept your challenge." Shokei said.

  "Superb!" Hian smiled.

  The half of the Three Little Evils snaps her fingers and made a Dark Elven statue appear in front. The statue appeared as it has a club in its hand. Hian then generates magic to make a tennis racket appear in her hand. The racket appears to be fused with dark energy.

  "I...I, uh...never pyed this thing you called tennis..." Mariko said, feeling concerned.

  "You just hit the ball back and forth until it touches your opponent's ground." Shokei tells her. "Just keep an eye on the ball while you can."

  "Ooh boy..." Mariko said. "And I don't have anything to defend myself except this wand of mines."

  "Really?" Hian said and then she snaps her fingers to allow a tennis racket to appear in front of Mariko.

  "Huh?" Mariko blinked as she sees the racket in her hand.

  "Heh! You should thank me for allowing you to partake in this." Hian said. "And you'll have to adapt through me because I won't go easy on you. I hope that I can make your deaths quick and easy."

  "We'll see about that." Shokei said as she grips her sword. "Bring it on!"

  Hian nodded and then she generates a dark energy ball in her hand. Already in position, she is ready to py.

  "Serves up!" Hian said as she swings her racket with an overhead serve and thus the deadly game started.