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After travelling on the sweet old nag that Amos was offered back the farm for an hour and a half, the merc finally reached his destination, or the relative areas of it. The poor horse that Amos had saddled on refused to take him any closer to the crossroads than she already was. With the a heavy sigh Amos patted the nag and brushed her main. "That'll do girl. You can wander around here or leave. Makes no difference to me." The merc then heaved himself of the horse and left her to her own equestrian devices.

Amos drew closer to the center of the fourway crossroads. A dirty spade over his shoulder and ready to dig. "Best get going before things get worse." The old merc said to himself as he looked in direction of the roads. Amos then planted the shovel into the soil beneath him and started to dig. Little by little, the old man made a nicely sized hole. The pit was deep enough to fit himself in. "That should do." The merc looked up to the sky to see clouds were forming and the night was moving in on the sun. Tossing his shovel out of his hole and pulling the magic rod from coat Amos, looked it all over once more. "I can't believe it. All this trouble over a stick." Amos breathed a tired sigh and stuck the rod into the turned dirt. "Might as well start."

The merc then retrieved several more items from his coat. A mixture of magical and occultish items: Black powder like substances, charms, talismans, prayer beads and more. All wards of goods. Amos even threw in a necklace of garlic before chanting several prayers and splashing holy water all along the walls and dirt inside the hole. "Ok. It might be overkill to use swastikas and the Eye of Horus, but I have no idea who this Lily person is and I can't let her get ahold of the Jingu staff."

After the filling the hole back up. Amos stuck his shovel into the freshly patted dirt and in front of the spade...waiting.

Amos sat there on the dirt road of the crossroads, waiting patiently. It was fairly ominous with sky going dark and the air remain motionless. This kind of heavy setting would driven away a lesser soul sooner than most would expect. But was not just any soul. He had seen more than most in a human being's lifetime. He had seen the inside of Hell, come toe to toe with creatures of the night and waged wars in dimensions unknown. He was a supernaturally harden being living in a world tainted by the outside.

His arms folded and his head down, Amos meditated, thinking over how everything would go down. What exactly would this Lily look like? Would she look like a typical wannabe death god, covered in grotesque tattoos and wearing macabre clothing, or was she going take the form of a deceptively innocent girl? Whatever the case, Amos found himself thinking of just how exactly he was going to combat this person. Even demigods who were looking for godhood were dangerous, but they could be dealt with. They weren't full blood immortal after all.

Suddenly, there came a voice. The old and dusty looking mercenary looked up and saw a young girl with blonde curling hair, walking along with the horse that Amos had rode on. The old man's muscles tensed as a foreboding feeling washed over him like a wave of doubt sweeping a student during a test. Who was this girl? What on earth was she doing all the way out here? She seemed to be lost, or least that's how she acted. the girl was hiding herself behind the horse so that Amos could not see her. Almost all of her body was obscured by the body of the horse. The aging man could only make out the girl's legs. "There's an inn northeast of here." Amos informed the girl, pointing to the direction he had come from. "You can take my horse if you'd like. No trouble for me."

The merc wasn't particularly worried about this young girl's safety. Though she couldn't see him, Amos' face was a change from his cool and polite demeanor. It was stern and cautious. The paranormal investigator was wary of who this girl was and what she doing out here. The odds of finding a lost girl in the middle of nowhere were too far and few to actually happen. "Might want to hurry." Amos warned, looking at his horse's face for some kind warning to betray the girl. "Night will be coming very soon."

Amos watched as the young girl went on her int the direction he had told her to go. This was a test. Any normal person couldn't possibly screw this one up...provided they had the patience and the faith to follow a stranger's directions to shelter.

In time alone, Amos felt a lone gust of wind blow a sudden cold chill his way. It was foreboding and frigid. The very breath of gust was biting on his face. Only his thick red leather duster coat was keeping him warm on that terribly melancholy night. The old man's horse whinnied loudly, echoing far and wide across the field of nothing. Amos snorted and spat a drop of bubbling saliva. The feeling he had gotten before was growing more and more. That girl. Who was she? A hitchhiker? Maybe, but not someone so young, right? Plus, she didn't look the average hitchhiker. She seemed too clean.

A long hour later, she was back. Amos looked on with a frown. His instinct was driving him crazy. It was telling him to do something. Anything to get away from this girl. She was trouble. As she drew closer this time, the merc stood up, almost towering over the girl. "Come with me." He said flatly, picking up the shovel had planted into the ground. "I have a little spot not too far from here." Amos didn't bother whistling for his horse. If his gut intuition was correct, he would want to drag the old nag into this.

As the two walked together at a distance, Amos remained stoically quiet, only responding when asked about his name. It was at this time, Amos could feel the growing presence of evil. It felt so thick and heavy, like holding a weight over one's head while being assail by a pungent smell. Amos felt it becoming nearly unbearable. It was disgusting. It was the same kind of presence the bounty hunter would feel when around bloodthirsty demons.

With the darkness growing upon the two and clouds shrouding the nighttime sky, Amos felt fear creep into his soul. He quickly rebuked as he remember his training and experience. He had faced much worse, but this somehow felt different. It felt fresh. He wasn't facing a demon overlord that sought the enslavement of a race, or anything similar. He was facing a conjurer of the dead that sought the destruction of the whole human race and she could have that very power in her hands if he failed.

Amos finally stopped. The two on dark and lonely road with no light. They were alone. "My name is Amos Dugger." The merc said turning around to face the girl. He could see clearly now. She was glowing with a thick and viscous aura of reddish purple. Even in the darkness, He could see her. "And you should have chosen the name, Daisy, because everything about you is a lie. Isn't that right, Lily Aides?" Amos stared dead into the young girl's eye with a look scorn. "Now, come clean. What is it that you want?"

In an instant, Amos felt the presence of more evil beings. Zombie his instinct told him as he swung around to cleave one's head off wit the spade in his hands. The hunter was surrounded by an ungodly stench of death and decay. The bodies people long dead were coming back to under Lily's command. All Amos had to defend himself with was the shovel in his hands and his trusty pistols. The mercenary would have to wait on using those however as he meant for those to be for necromancer among him.

Another undead monster was upon the merc. He could smell the terrible stench and hear the sound of skull crushing when he brought down his shovel upon its fragile head. "You won't get the Ruyi Jingu Bang, Aides. A being such as yourself could never be allowed to wield its power. You could never release the staff's true power with your ill heart!" Amos Sliced through another zombie as he spoke to Lily, warning her that it was useless. "Someone like you could never kill the ones you truly loved, because you're unable to love anyone!"

Amos was intent on stopping this woman. He felt a drive he hadn't felt in such a long time. Right now, The merc was actually starting to regret burying the Ruyijingubang. He could have used to either escape from Lilly or use it to end her once and for all. At the very least. It could make quick work of these zombies. When Lily began to speak and her minions slowed, Amos took the opportunity to reach into his coat and bring out a shining engraved pistol that reached to the length of someone's forearm. Just one good shot of silver should have been enough to end all of this. However, just as maiden of death finished her speech that refute Amos' claims, her zombie minions resumed their attack on the merc. And he just had Lily in his sights. It didn't stop Amos as he took the shot. The silver bullet zoomed through darkness shining like a bolt of lightning. The bullet was absorbed by the cranium of a zombie, rendering the mercenaries attempts futile.

Amos rode on top of the giant hellhound for miles until they reached the outskirts of Janhall. Even though the the whole city itself was a magical mess, the hunter could still feel the call of the Monkey King's staff calling to him. Amos almost wasn't even sure Cerberus would ride out all the way to the crossroads like he did. The beast was definitely fit for the job of guarding the gates to the underworld. It probably also helped that Amos was able to keep the big three-headed monster well fed with all the zombies along the way. Another doubt the hunter had was regarding the hellhound's stomach. Indigestion and food poisoning must not have been an issue for the beast.

Soon, the two were at the crossroads. A desolate and lonely place. Amos could still see the spot where he buried the staff. The power it yielded practically begged him to take it back and be in his possession. The hunter the became distracted by a lonely gust of wind that swept the side of his cheek. Amos hopped off the back of the hellhound and patted its side. Cerberus only reacted in the mildest of senses. He seemed to recognize the aging man as he was, but the power exuding from Amos must have confused him to some level.

"Cerberus." Amos spoke, his voice drifting quietly on the wind. His hand stretched out and pointed to the distance. There was nothing in the distance but dead grass and empty fields that went on miles. "Go. I'll call you when I need you. For now, I have to be alone." The beast seemed to understand as he went off, trudging away from the hunter that exuded the power of life and spring, while each step the hound took, left an imprint of dead and feeble grass. Amos noticed that with each step he took, vegetation grew. He meandered over to the plot of dirt he could feel the energy of the Jingu staff emanating from. The dirt beneath the white haired man's feet grew with flowers of all kinds. Brilliantly red poppies and bright orange marigolds. Stargazer lilies and tulips of all colors. Truly extraordinary considering the time and location for these flowers were completely impossible. Even the dirt underneath Amos was dry and infertile. A side effect of Persephone's powers perhaps.

"And now," The hunter said kneeling down before crisscrossing his legs. "We wait."