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The deep cut in Arago's back leaked out mist. Arago turned around to face the man who had cut him, struggling, as he knew his time in the mortal world had been cut short by the warrior with the white hair. Arago tried to raise his sword, but his arm would not obey him. He said, in a strained voice, "I want to know your name."

The warrior, with his hand on the white tiger who accompanied him, said, "I do not have a name which you shall speak."

Arago fell to the ground, face first, saying with his last breath, "I shall return to this world and have my revenge with the power of my armor!"

The warrior plunged his sword into Arago's body. The mist that was Arago's soul fled quickly, opening the gates of the netherworld, taking the red-haired horse that was Arago's steed with it. The warrior gazed down at the corpse that had been left behind. The armor. Something had to be done about it.

****

Rekka, Kourin, Suiko, Tenku, Kongo, Hebidoku, Akuma, Kumo and Kurohyou.

The nine armors. The last four, Snake, Demon, Spider and Panther, respectively, were the ones that the warrior, now a monk, transformed by his own will, worried about. He had patterned the four armors after the characteristics of animals, and wondered, now that the deed was done, if the armor-bearers wouldn't become animalistic themselves. The question had grown large in his mind as he sat cross-legged before the armors and meditated about what he should do with them. If he left them all in one place, and if Arago found his way back, it would be all too easy for Arago to claim the armors once again. The monk thought the best thing to do was to give the armors to the humans, but the humans only wanted to spill each other's blood. The armors, in their hands, would be a tool for massacre.

The monk, for the first time, had no idea what to do.

"Yeah, and why should we take these armors, or whatever you say they are? Power like unto the gods? And you're giving it away?" Shiten Doji grimaced at the white-haired monk. He sat on the side of the trail, still feeling drunk. He knew he wasn't completely out of it yet. He was at that point where all drunks reach where they tell the truth and do it in the most annoying fashion possible. "You're trying to poison us with demon spirits, or some thing, I swear. No more of your lies, monk."

"This is not poison I am offering you, Shiten-san," The monk said, turning up his straw hat to look at something in the distance. "You may do with this power as you wish. It is yours to command, for good or ill. I only request that you take up the armor and use it as you would any other weapon."

"What need have we of weapons, old man?" Blue-haired Anubis, standing beside Shiten, slurred out his words slowly. He kept shifting his feet, as if he had to urinate. "We are warriors, fair and strong. We've never lost a battle, and our lord Kazusagi-sama will not lead his own astray."

"Nor will I lead you astray, great warrior of repute," The monk replied. "However, a time is coming when all of us shall need weapons greater than those we currently possess." The monk turned away, and walked towards the horizon he had looked at beneath his hat. "If you should reconsider, follow the path you are on to its end. There shall you find fulfillment of the promise I have given you."

Shiten said to himself, "This is the path of demons, doesn't he know that..."

The Path of Demons- the trail that led into the Netherworld. Kaos knew it well, for he had traveled it quite often of late. There was no reason for him to walk up and down the road really; there was no one else on it, and he had effectively sealed Arago away in from the mortal world. Yet he felt sure that someday, perhaps soon, Arago would be able to find his way back into the realms of men and continue his plan of conquest.

Kaos had started by dividing Arago's armor into nine parts. This, Kaos reasoned, would make it harder for Arago to come back. If the armor was left whole, it could serve as a beacon, a tool to summon back the spirit of the Netherworld's master. Then, on the off chance that the armors would come together, as Kaos thought they would, being the pieces of one whole, he imbued them with human virtues. Arago had no virtue that Kaos knew of, so the armors would naturally rebel against Arago if ever tried to place them under his control. Even if Arago was able to convince the armor-bearers (of whom there were currently none) that the Netherworld's way was the best way, Arago's flaws of character would reveal the truth to the armor-bearers, and they would fight against their master. Other than Badamon, Kaos did not know of any servant of Arago's who would serve the Netherworld no matter would should event occurred.

There was, however, the troublesome aspect of the humans who bore none of the nine armors and wished for greater power so that they might have lands and subjects, so that they could call themselves kings and emperors. Such men might seek out the armors of their own will; others would no doubt be swayed by Arago's influence. Kaos was sure that he had dispatched Arago himself, but he did not know what else came through the gate. He did not know, for instance, if Arago by himself meant that there were other forces of the Netherworld at work in the human realm right now, having been able to slip under Kaos' sight because the greatest demon had made himself so obviously known. Kaos thought that it was very likely. It did, after all, make more sense for the Netherworld to attack on two fronts, rather than just one. Kaos could imagine how Arago would want to conquer the human realm quickly, and the Netherworld's master, attacking by himself, seemed a very slow type of conquest. The more Kaos thought about it, the more likely it seemed. There would be another battle to fight. For that battle, Kaos needed humans to wear the armors; he needed the natural resistance against Arago's evil in the fight. Otherwise, it would just be Kaos himself against an unknown number of Netherworld soldiers. Though they had not made themselves known, Kaos suspected they would in time. One way Arago could return would be to capture human beings and use their misery at being captured to fuel the Netherspirits, who would in turn use their power to strengthen Arago himself, make Arago's spirit stronger. If that were to happen, Kaos could do little to stand up against the coming evil, after he had transformed his sword into a staff while splitting Arago's armor.

The refusal of the two human soldiers, though...it nagged at him. There was something about those two. Some quality he could not put his finger on. He was sure they would be instrumental in the fight to come.