Nick stared wide eyed at the screaming hippogriff, a mischievous glimmer in his eye. Nick shot up and assumed a stance, growing a wand made of bone and pointing it at Buckbeak, which prompted him to make a mad dash towards the exit flailing his arms and accidently smacking Iron in the face.

“Wingardium leviosa!!! Nick shouted picking Buckbeak up in a levitation field before pulling Buckbeak towards him.

“No!! Not again!!! Noooo!!!!” Buckbeak screamed.

“Where is Sirius Black?!” Nick asked with a mad smile.

“What the buck is going on!?!” Trixie demanded. Nick only cackled as Buckbeak finally escaped his magical grasp and dashed for the exit, only for it to slam and lock before he could reach it. He clawed at the enchanted steel door in vain trying to get away from Nick. Nick talked towards him with an insane smile.

“What’s the matter mister potter?” Nick asked.

“Get away!! Get away!!!” Buckbeak said having flashbacks of bold monkeys in black robes that called themselves wizards.

“Where is sirius bla-BONK!!” Nick started only to be knocked out by a frying pan when Trixie had finally reached her limits with Nick’s randomness.

“I believe that’s enough of that.” Trixie said bouncing the frying pan in her other hand.

“The beast is dead!!!” Buckbeak said placing his hoof on Nick’s head.

“Uncle what are you doing that’s my coltfriend!!” Trixie shouted and pushed buckbeak off of him.

“Coltfriend?!” Buckbeak said looking at Trixie and back to Nick wide eyed. Iron looked on with increasing confusion.

“Was there something I missed” Iron asked trying to figure out what was going on.

“That thing is one of the bald monkeys!!” Buckbeak said tapping Nick with his hoof a few times making sure he was down.

“Did you have to hit him with that?” Silk asked sitting next to Nick and putting his head on her lap.

“Did he have to go and do that?” Trixie asked.

“Uhhh… well yeah I guess that’s a good point.” Silk said looking over the damages.

“So Nick’s kind was the what you saw in that hallucination of yours… huh.” Iron said kneeling down and looking over Nick’s injury.

“Well even if that’s the case you don’t need to worry about him, he's harmless to his friends.” Trixie said picking him up in her magic with some effort. With his body density he felt like he literally weighed a ton. His armored clothes didn’t quite help either. She set him on the coach which creaked with his wait.

“How did he know all of those things though, they were all from my bad trip!!” Buckbeak asked.

“I haven’t a clue, you’ll have to ask Nick about it later. For now I believe dad has some explaining to do.” Trixie said looking over To Iron.

“Right, Trixie, if you would take Nick and Silk out for a bit, me and Buckbeak need to speak in private.” Iron said.

“But.. I can’t lift him up there, he’s too heavy!!!” Trixie said not wanting to pull him up there.

“Fine.” Iron said and picked Nick up, “damn he is heavy!!” Iron said through gritted teeth and dropped Nick who proceeded to groan in his sleep.

“Exactly.” Trixie deadpanned.

“Well, guess so long as he is out. Go ahead and head up stairs, this won't take long.” Iron said.

“Alright, come on Silk let’s go upstairs.” Trixie said climbing the ladder.

“I’ll go make some tea.” Silk said following Trixie.

“Alright, fill me in on what's happening.” Buckbeak said glancing at Nick once again. Iron told Buckbeak about everything that had led to their arrival in omskbeak.

“Really, so you really left Kevil for good this time, never thought I would see the day.” Buckbeak said looking down at the table they had sat at.

“Aye, hate to leave the old place, but since the last of my herd pasted on Trixie was the only thing I had there other than our home, and where Nick goes she goes.” Iron said.

“So you want my help in getting to the Kirin lands? Why? Don’t you already have a Kirin teaching him?” Buckbeak asked.

“We do, but a kirin was only my secondary goal. Nick's abilities have allowed him to learn how to fight at an exponential rate, within a few more months he’ll be on par with myself. That’s why i want to have Grandmaster teach him. If he is taught by him, then even Steel hands would back off, Gaia fragment or not.” Iron said.

“Are you mad? He’ll be dead within a month!! The two of us together barely made it two months in and that's after years of sentinel training!!” Buckbeak exclaimed.

“I know, as I said he isn’t ready yet, but by the time we get to the Kirin lands Nick will have either matched or surpassed me.” Iron said looking down at the snoring Human

“Alright, but I’m teaching him as well, he is going to need all the training he can get in the meantime. I think I can pull a few strings to get us passage on a ship to eastern temple, but after that we won’t have much other than that caravan of yours, and we both know I need a bigger space than what’s on it.” Buckbeak said. He had took a look at the rooms, and the biggest one was the main one in front belonging to Nick and Trixie, the others were just a little too small for his liking.

“Meh, don’t worry about that, we can slap on another cart, but can we fit it on the ship?” Iron asked.

“It’ll have to go in the cargo hold of one of the larger ones, but I think it’s doable.” Buckbeak nodded.

“Right, now then. The fragment of Gaia. I need to find a better place for it,even with Nick’s improvements, I can feel it slipping.” Iron said.

“There isn’t much we can do about it now, until you choose a successor it’s stuck with you. I told you you shouldn’t have done this, you should have chosen a normal vessel for it like the others” Buckbeak said leaning back in his chair.

“I Know, i just felt that this would be the safest place for it, I mean look at the others, they chose their swords and look where their fragments ended up. I can’t pick Iron Will, he’s not strong enough to handle it, and by the time he could be put through sentinel training he will be to old, he’s almost thirty, any older than that and it would kill him if I gave it to him.” Iron said slumping in his chair.

“Well, there's always your son in law….” Buckbeak said looking down at the snoring human.

“Hmmmm…. Maybe. He is progressing rather fast, and if he is able to last long enough with Grandmaster than it would substitute the training.” Iron pondered. He looked at the back of his hand. A green mark appeared on it, he felt the power the fragment gave him as his eyes glowed Green before the magic show turned off.

“It may be your best option, otherwise the fragment will fade.” Buckbeak warned.

“Don’t remind me.” Iron said looking at Nick. there was no greater shame then losing a fragment to an enemy or allowing it to fade. And Nick demonstrated all the necessary traits needed. The only problem is he held no allegiance to King Golden Horn.

“Your call I can’t make this decision for you. And remember the time you have hasn’t changed, only how you can spend it. You were granted one hundred years, most minotaurs don’t get ninety naturally. You have just over a decade to choose.” Buckbeak said looking at his old friend.

“I ain’t that old yet!” Iron boasted, “just look at me!”

“You're eighty Nine years old, you just have the body of a twenty year old.” Buckbeak deadpanned.

“Yeah yeah I know.” Iron waved him off.

“What will you do?” Buckbeak asked.

“I’m not sure, but what effects will it have on Nick? He’s basically Immortal what with his weird as buck aging magic.” Iron said looking down at him.

“I’m not sure, your limit was set by King Golden Horn, Without him present who knows.” Buckbeak shrugged.

“Uuhhgg… what happened.” Nick said as he stirred.

“Trixie reeled you in after you got out of control.” Iron shrugged. Buckbeak walked over and grabbed the color of Nick’s jacket.

“SON OF A BIIIIITCH!!!!!!!” Buckbeak said and proceeded to slap Nick over and over again.

“Nice chat.” Iron said nonchalantly.

Three hours, a Human Beatdown, and one Turnip later saw Nick sitting Next to a peeved Trixie, Iron Fist sitting across from them, and Buckbeak wide eyed and shaking while trying, and failing, to drink some relaxing tea muttering “the horror…”

“So, when do we leave?” Nick asked.

“Well, after that little…. Incident, I would have to say at least a week, maybe two.” Iron deadpanned Glancing at his sacred friend.

“Well, at least we have some time to relax.” Nick said with a sheepish smile.

“The Turnip was not necessary.” Trixie Growled.

“Oh come on I said I was sorry!!” Nick said looking at Trixie.

“I’m still mad at you.” Trixie said with a harumph.

“Well, all things considered, it could be worse, Twilight could have gotten him.” Midnight said boredly.

“That reminds me, we still need to be on the lookout for her.” Iron said looking at Nick.

“Oh her? Don’t need to worry about her, We came to an arrangement.” Nick said pulling out the sealing orb out of the flesh of his palm making Trixie shiver.

“Wow that is gross.” Midnight said watching the display.

“You get used to it.” Trixie said taking a sip of her tea.

“What happened?” Iron asked.

“She came at me in a dark alley while off her rocker and accidentally hit herself with her own spell, and I transferred her into this.” Nick said forming a mouth around the orb and pretended to have it eat the orb. Silk promptly fainted.

“Or not…” Trixie muttered.

“Ima do some more shopping, had some fun out there, which reminds me, I got you all something.”Nick said snapping his fingers making a red lightning like energy come from the snapped fingers and touch the table, when it was over the gifts he bought were on the table. The cheese wheel had a massive bite mark in it as Iron pounced on it on site.

“Mine!!!” Iron said and dashed downstairs.

“Never underestimate the power of cheese.” Nick muttered darkly.

“Is that a Lunar scythe!?!” Midnight shouted.

“I guess, why?” Nick asked.

“These are super rare, where did you even get this?” Midnight asked looking over the staff.

“I found it.” Nick shrugged.

“... I’ve never wanted to hit someone and kiss someone this much at the same time before….” Midnight said while her eyebrow twitched.

“Another thing you’ll want to just get used to.” Trixie deadpanned.

“Don’t think I forgot you Trixie” Nick said floating the necklace he got her making her blush and Midnight chuckle.

“Not used to being the ‘submissive’ gender Trixie?” Midnight said o\holding a hand up to her mouth.

“Err, sorry Trixie…” Nick said rubbing the back of his neck.

“No no it’s fine, I grew up with Bulls being the same way with me, it’s just an instinctual thing you know?” Trixie said waving her hands.

“I suppose, this world can be so confusing, males of some species are dominant, while submissive in others. Back on my world it was more or less females being the submissive gender.” Nick said sitting back, “guess I’ll have to wait until Silk wakes up before I give her her present. “ Nick said picking up the bracelet, “I’ll see you guys later.” Nick waved and left.

“Well, I need a nap.” Buckbeak said climbing upstairs.

“Well, I’m going to get some target practice in.” Trixie said walking out to the caravan.

“.....Now what?” Midnight said. Silk’s leg twitched.

Market with Nick

Nick walked through the market after having dumped what was left of his last shopping spree in his and Trixie’s cart and dispelling the pocket dimension. Currently he was replenishing his supply of stone by making a pouch of water in his abdomen and repeatedly filling it with water and condensing the stone grown from it into energy and infusing it into the stone in his skeleton.

Nick wondered the streets of the market unsure of what he wanted to buy, if anything. There wasn’t much he could think of at the moment, he wouldn’t have a chance to get anything like what he could find here for a while, so he didn’t want to miss this chance. After about an hour of searching and finding nothing of interest he began to make his way to the city gates. He wondered when Zangetsu was going to reappear, it had almost been a week and he would normally appeared by now. He traveled towards the city gate, maybe some time walking through the fields could be a relaxing way to pass the time?

He had little trouble with the guards in trying to leave the gates, he hoped it would be the same with trying to get back in. he traveled down the wide dirt road with vast fields of wheat on either side of him. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. He walked until the city was barely in sight and made a turn for the river. As he made his way down towards the river the ground began to violently shake. The ground around him began to be covered in soft grass and colorful flowers. Three figures emerged in front of him. The first two he recognized as Bill and Michael the archangel. The third he didn’t know, but had a sinking suspicion of whom it might be.

“Bill?! how are you-” Nick began but was interrupted.

“Him.” Bill and Michael said pointing at the large figure.

“Yes… Mee.” The figure chuckled.

“Are you…?” Nick said shaking in the knees a little.

“Yes, I am Morgan Freemen.” The being said.

“.....” Nick stood there in silence.

“Yes I’m what you would call god.” The ancient said rolling his eyes.

“Soooo… What’s up?” Nick said.

“We're here to deliver a gift. Your little buddy Zangetsu needed a better Vessel than you this time, so we took the liberty of turning him into a Zanpakuto using Excalibur.” The ancient said casually. Nick stood there flabbergasted. The ancient pulled out the sword in its sheath and held it out to Nick. “here you are.” Nick took the sword with a dumb nod of his head. The moment he touched the sword he felt a massive rush of power and could hear Zangetsu's voice.

“Just go with it Nick, it’s a thing now.” Zangetsu sighed.

“Well, gotta run.” The ancient said snapping his fingers and vanishing with the others.

“But… I... Have... Questions…” Nick said moment too late. He pulled Zangetsu from his sheath and looked at the blade and found Zangetsu in the reflection of the blade.

“sup?”

Unknown location

Lucifer snaked through the shadows of the forest searching for a host. Without a physical body he had little to no power in this plane of existence. He needed a body with some power, the animals of the forest withered within minutes of him possessing them. He needed something stronger. He stopped when he saw the beginnings of some sort of structure in the foliage. He made his way over to it and found a wall. A big one to, it was at least twenty feet tall. He smiled as he knew what this ment, where there were walls, there were people, people that could be a suitable host.

He attempted to climb over the wall, but as soon as he touched it he felt incredible pain as a magic shock wrecked his spectral form. Magic?! How? Despite the pain he felt he couldn’t help but to cackle at the implications of this. A being with magic would be much more effective. If he had a mouth it would be watering at the thought of the power he would soon have.he snaked his way along the wall looking for some form of entry. Eventually he came across two entries, one was a griffin with yellow fur and feathers , and the other was a red scaled Kirin. Both seemed to be wear a mix of tactical and medieval guard armor.

“You ever wonder why we’re here?” the Kirin said to the griffin.

“It’s one of life's great mysteries isn’t it? Why are we here? Did the gods and goddesses create us for something? Or are we just pawns in a greater game? I don’t know man, but it keeps me up at night.” The griffin said. For almost an awkward silence sounded between them.

“.....What? I meant why are we out here, in this forest?” The Kirin said looking strangely at the minotaur.

“Oh.. I uhhh yeah.” The griffin muttered slightly embarrassed.

“What was all that stuff about the gods?” The kirin asked.

“Uuhhh… hm? Nothing.” The griffin said.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No”

“You sure?”

“Yea.”

“Seriously though, why are we here? Wouldn’t it make better sense to put a max security prison in the frozen north where they would simply freeze to death if they tried to escape?” The kirin asked.

“Well the wild animals in this forest would be a bigger threat than the snow, a strong enough magic user could simply warm themselves with magic, here they have to worry about what’s edible what’s poisonous, what creatures are lethal, getting lost and several other things, if they make one wrong turn they’ll end up in the jungle of the everfree, and not just the forest.” The minotaur explained.

“I guess, but what about an island? They would never get far without being spotted.” the Kirin countered.

“Again, magic. Should they break their magic bindings than a simple water breathing spell would be more than enough to fix the problem. The minotaur said.

“True…” The kirin said. Nether noticed the shadow listening in on their conversation. Lucifer smiled at the thought of getting a hold on one of these prisoners, who knows what they were capable of? He snaked his way over to the kirin and sunk into his shadow. He waited for hours listening to their talks, each word making his metaphysical eye twitch. He made a note to come back and torture the yellow one. Finally their shift came to an end when a pair of kirins came to relieve them, one was blue, the other cyan.

They walked in through to the prison none the wiser to the specter in the kirin’s shadow. As soon as they were inside lucifer detached himself from the kirin and made his way into an air duct before heading into the cell blocks to browse is selection. He saw some promising candidates, a massive minotaur that seemed to have thousands of pounds in metal holding him down, and he seemed like he was barely affected by them. A griffin with….. Teeth? He watched as a chunk of raw meat was tossed into his cell and watched as his wing diced it into bits before he feasted on the bloody carcass.

Another was a large black dragon, he made special note of this one, as far as he could tell there was nothing special about it, other than it being a dragon with four eyes. With each cell, which was more like a heavy containment chamber than a normal prison cell, he saw something even more dangerous than the last, a Kirin made of lighting, a weird bug like creature that’s head resembled a horse that seemed to be submerged in acid, a werewolf with bone like spikes coming out of its limbs and torso.

Finally he came to the final and deepest cell, unfortunately he had to stop using the ducts as he could not find a way to get through using them. In fact the only duct that even got close to the cell ended at it’s massive vault like door. Lucifer smiled at the site. If they went to this level of security as to give this one a separate air system, this deep in, they must be especially dangerous.

He searched for a way in doing his best to avoid being spotted by the eight guards posted at the door. The door was air tight. No matter where he looked he could not find even the tiniest crack or opening to get in. suddenly the room grew incredibly bright in an effort to stay alive he jumped at one of the guards while he wasn’t looking and possessed him. A temporary host would work just fine, soon he would have whatever was behind the door. The reasoning for the rooms sudden brightness became apparent with the bright glowing orbs attached to a large metal crate.

“Get ready boys, we may have this bastard contained, but he’s still dangerous. We cannot make any mistakes. Each of you take a glow orb and attach it to your armor.” A large horse like creature said securing one to his armor.

As they attached the orbs lucifer was testing out the powers of his current host while commanding it to do as it was told. A Kirin, sizable magical abilities, just enough to summon his favorite toy. The horse like creature walked over to the vault door and pressed his hand onto a square protruding from it. A spike pierced his hand before it turned red hot cauterizing the wound. The door slid open and the horse like creature walked over to a bowl mounted on the wall nearby and dipped his hand into a liquid that caused the flesh around the wound to twist inward until it looked like it had never been there.

“Be ready for anything, thousands have fallen to this bastards cruel claws, try not to let yourselves be his next victim.” The horse creature said and walked in followed by the crate and guards. They walked through a long corridor lit with the strange orbs, their light penetrating everything leaving no shadow. On the walls were scripts of some sort each of which gave of a blue glow. Soon they came to a room with three doors, one led into the containment cell while the others led to observation rooms.

“Open the door.” The horse creature said to a Griffin in one of the side doors. With a nod and bress of a button the door began to open. Inside was a large black box suspended by chains with the same glyphs that lined the walls and the box itself. “Remember, we need to reload the sedation drug tank, nutrient packs and water supply, do not mess with anything el-ack!!” The horse creature began only to be impaled by a black blade with a red aura.

“It’s been too long since I used you, Clarent.” Lucifer said as the Horse creature looked back at him.

“Steel Wall… why?” The horse creature said before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

“He’s gone rouge!! Take him down!!” One of the other guards shouted. As they charged him they fell one by one to his dark blade.

“Honestly, why do you even try?” Lucifer asked as he walked up to the last guard who was cowering in the corner with his legs cut off.

“Brother…. Why?” were his last words as lucifer slashed his throat.

“Now then, where was I?” Lucifer asked as the lighting suddenly went red and the door slammed shut. Lucifer walked up to large box and sliced the chains holding it up. He pierced the lock holding the vault like door closed and melted it away. When he walked in he chuckled in amusement when he found a coffin bound in chains suspended in the middle of the box with three tubes protruding from it. With a whirlwind of slashes the coffin, chains and tubes were shredded leaving a creature bound like a mummy inside.

“What do we have here?” Lucifer asked no one in particular. He had expected something…. More. hat lay below him was a lean fox like creature with six tails. From what he could tell it had crimson chest fur that darkened near it’s head and faded into it’s pitch black hair. The fur around its hands was white while the fur around it’s legs faded into black around the knees. The tails started out as Crimson but faded into black tips.

“Well, there’s a reason why you’re in here, so let’s see why.” Lucifer muttered. He pierced the blade of his sword an inch into the creature’s chest and transferred into is new body. The sword burst into a black mist that seeped into the wound losing it, and reappeared in the creature’s hand. Lucifer stood up as he looked over his new body, it was incredible, the power flowing through it was mind boggling. He began to laugh maniacally as he drooled at the thoughts of the things he could now do. His laughter was soon cut short however when he suddenly felt a tremendous pain wrack his new body.

“What’s this?” a thought rung through his head, “an arch demon? How quaint. I’ve only ever absorbed three of your kind before. Ith a fourth my power will be unmatched on the mortal plane.” The creature said gaining control.

“What?! But… how...?” Lucifer struggled to get out.

“Don’t bother asking how, you won’t exist as more than a portion of my power for much longer. And thanks for the gift by the way.” The creature said as he absorbed the incarnation of pride itself and looked over his new blade. “Now then, these lights are beginning to sting a little, time to fix that.” He said and broke all of the lights by swinging his arm outward. He walked out of the box and headed for the door. He went over the memories of his latest victim. It seemed he was after a very powerful soul, perhaps it would make a decent meal, and if what he gathered was correct, a ticket to godhood and a shortcut to getting his last three tails.

“Subject Zero, lay down on the ground and place your hands and tails flat on the ground.” A guard said through the intercom.

“That is not my name. I am the bird of hermes…. Alucard.”