Scythe, Sword And Steel

After a long night in the air, Gusion woke up, on his sleeping bag. He took some jerky from his bag, as he was seeing a vast desert below him. The winds were strong and the sun was about to rise. He saw Commander Yi standing on the bow of the airship.

"Morning Commander!" Gusion said.

"Morning Paxley. The view is quite nice isn't it?"

"It's amazing. Are we still in the Wastelands?"

"No, we're in the Emerald Road already. I think we will reach the Maze of Minos after a few hours."

"This is the Emerald City? But we're in the middle of nowhere. How are you supposed to know?"

"Gusion, I have something to show you." Claude said, who just appeared behind him.

Claude pointed out into a giant green crystal in the west part of the desert. Gusion was amazed by seeing the size of the crystal.

"So, what's that thing?"

"It's a giant chunk of Jade. This is the Jade Path. Once a great city of rich traders and merchants, and it disappeared."

"So, why it disappered? How?"

"It didn't really disappear. The people in the cities in the Jade Path were greedy. When they saw Jade crystals growing all around the city, they became obsessed and began to kill each other. Wealth, power and money. That's what they always wanted, until one day, the gods above the Land of Dawn brought havoc into these cities. No one and nothing survived, except for the Maze of Minos, which was still standing until now."

"So why did they call it the Jade Path instead of the Jade City Claude?" Yi asked.

"Because there's no more city. It's only a long path going to the Maze of Minos. If I'm correct, we reach the Pearl City if we pass through a river, then the Gold City was built near a mountain."

The strong winds began to grow weaker, and the sun rose higher. The sky was starting to become brighter and brighter and some of the heroes woke up as well. Ruby ran over to Gusion and hugged his arm tight.

"Onee-chan!!!" Ruby shouted.

"You again..."

Gusion put his hand on Ruby's head, as he was staring into the desert. He looked at the Twilight Orb resting in it's tiny shape in his pocket.

"Minotaur, I'll give back what's yours."

His hair went back to brown, and his sword began to turn white again. The glow in his blade faded away, as the moon disappeared from the sky.

"Hey, what happened to your hair?" Ruby asked.

"The Moonlight effect faded. It'll go back when it's night again." he replied.

"They're going to think you're a Moon Elf Paxley. Hahaha! They get the same powers right?" Yi asked.

"Elves have long ears while we humans don't. It's easy to distinguish the difference betweeen them."

"I hate that moon elf!" Ruby grunted.

"Come on Ruby, don't think about Alucard."

"Yeah you're right. I have you!"

"The two of you seem to become even closer than ever. Do you have a special relationship with each other?" Yi asked.

"Uhm, she just likes to..."

"He's my big brother!" Ruby smiled, as she grabbed Gusion's arm tighter.

"A perfect combination of Lolicon and Cat lover." Claude said.

"Hey! What did you..."

"I'm sorry! It was Alucard who thought of that!"

"Look guys..."

They saw a giant river flowing across a tall rocky mountain. Below them, they saw a thin bridge built above the river.

"We're in Pearl City now. Tell the others to get ready. We'll reach the Maze of Minos in an hour."