'I guess she likes you. Good grief you are as dense as lead, else it could be a problem,' she said, while hissing with her tongue against his neck, making his hairs stand.

  'Since when did she have this kind of a temper?' Noah thought, not before reminding himself of a sentence he'd heard from Bel, something about him being very close to his mother. 'Oh…… Maybe it has something to do with the whole Lucifer thing…… I'll avoid pressing her on this tonight, though. Maybe when we are alone and after the whole fighting thing would be a better time.' Noah thought, as he used his fingers to pet the snake on his shoulder. 'I think you should,' he started saying, asking her to go to her usual place on his wrist, but was interrupted.

  'No, I'll stay on your neck this time,' Lilith said, while coiling herself around his neck and lowering her head, looking like a strange collar.

  "Don't you thing it'll appear a bit excessive?" he asked aloud, as he walked through the end of the hall and around the arena, reaching the waiting room of the Khan Family.

  'Why? You feel like I would embarrass you? Do you not like being seen with me?' she asked, with a voice full of annoyance.

  "Come on, you know it's not like that. Rather, I like having you around to help me with people. So, please, what should I do about what I asked you?" Noah said, opening the door and seeing everyone's eyes on him.

  'I think you should stop talking about other women to me. Rather, you should worry more about why these people look like they are about to walk to their death,' Lilith's voice made him more conscious of everyone's expression, and he quickly walked inside, closing the door behind him. Only a handful of people did not look like that, and Noah was close to most of them. "Now," he said, taking the role of leading them properly into the battle onto himself, as he felt the weight of their looks on him already. "Why the fuck do you look like you're about to enter an A Rank Fortress?" he asked, making a couple of the blessed laugh, and breaking the heavy atmosphere. "I'm serious, though. The fuck happened to the powerful people who got with me into that fortress where we almost died? What happened to the people who clapped those idiots teamed with hired B Ranks last fight?" he said, making Michael's eyes return to normal, as he looked at Noah, surprised. "Come on, what the hell?" Noah asked, staring straight at the leader and the bearded warrior, and making both feel embarassed.

  Noah lookd around, seeing their faces of dissatisfaction. In the end, he knew this was a necessary evil, but he still needed their help to defeat those of the Hyu Family.

  "But how are we supposed to fight those people who are so much stronger than we are?" After a second, Noah breathed a sigh of relief, as he heard someone saw his cue to speak without him having to push them any further.

  "Are you stronger than a C Rank Boss?" Noah asked, talking a step towards the mage who asked him that, making the man shrivel up.

  "No, but what does that matter?" he retorted back, paling as Noah walked closer to him.

  "Then how can you fight it when the time comes? Do you just lie down, cry and wait for help? Or do you fight it?" Noah's words were rispid. He knew there was a good chance he would be hated by some, but if he didn't do this, all of them would die soon. "You guys always fight monsters far stronger than each of you. What's the difference this time?" Noah looked around, until his gaze met Michael's. "Did any boss in a fortress ever show you mercy just because you were afraid? What's the difference between those monsters, stronger than you, that want to kill you, and those guys, stronger than you, that want to kill you?" He was fairly confident in his words. After all, he didn't need to change all of them, all he needed was to wake two people up, and of these two was already nodding at what he said. "How come you fight monsters far stronger than you, almost every week. Dive in fortresses where every monster is stronger than you and the boss will almost for sure kill a person if anyone makes a mistake, yet you all sulk up like chickens just because the enemy is strong." Noah's eyes met Michael's, and he curled up his fists, angry, before standing up. As Noah saw Michael's anger, he realized his work was done, and he walked back to the sofa, sitting down, where a certain person was already waiting for him with a smile on her face.

  "I'm sorry. I have failed you all," Michael started saying, making some of the people's eyes widen. "I failed as a leader, when I told you guys those things without thinking. I tried to warn you of the fight ahead, but instead just made you feel like you couldn't make it." Michael's face was red. He was embarassed, and angry. Noah was very curious, and looked forward to how Michael would correct himself, buta small voice talked to him, fairly happy.

  'What a merciless son of a bitch you are,' Lilith's voice rang in his mind, but Noah could feel she was smiling. 'To think you would force this man to humiliate himself like this. You're brutal.'

  'It was necessary. He broke their spirit for no reason, he'll fix it,' Noah kept his answer short, as he looked at Michael, curious as to what he would say next. But his resolve matched his expectations.

  "I'm sorry. I warned you because the enemy ahead of us is stronger than we are. But each of them is still weaker than all of us. Last fight, we defeated at least three such B Rank Blessed. This fight, the only difference is that they are shameless bastards, who would kill without consequence. This fight it just a little bit harder than last one, but they trully are monsters, aiming for our lives," Michael's voice failed here and there throughtout the sentence, but his fist were still tightly clenched. "However, we can still beat each and every one of them. One by one. Remember what they did. Remember the anger you felt before, don't you all still feel it?" he asked, making some people's fighting spirit return. "Remember what hey did to that girl, and to those people of the XXXX Family. Don;t you still want to avenge them?" Michael raised his voice, making the bearded warrior smile.

  "Then all you have to do is go up that arena, and beat their ass! We may be weaker than they are, but we've worked together. We've survived a B Rank Boss on a fortress. If we can do that, what are these idiots?" Noah could see the expression change in everyone's eyes. Their fighting spirit was restored, but they hadn't lost the fear yet, which was a good thing. So long as they feared the enemy, they wouldn't do anything stupid. Noah stood back up, making the female healer look at him suspiciously, but her face was plastered with a smile, as she saw what Noah did next.

  He walked up to Michael, standing in front of him, before giving the archer a hug, and saying with a loud voice, so that everyone could hear, "Welcome back, brother."

  While they could not understand Noah's intentions, they understood what this meant, and what Michael had said. This was not a battle they could survive with a halfassed attitude. Everyone needed to do their all.

  "You need to fight. If they are stronger than you, fight together, overcome them," Michael said while turning around, with a hand on Noah's shoulder. "Remember the monsters who were helping him in the fortress. We'll use them here too. With them, we have the advantage of numbers, and we have people we can sacrifice if push comes to shove. Do you guys understand?" Remembering the Imps, their spirits were returned, and a lot of the blessed stood up, excited for the upcoming fight.

  "However," Noah started speaking, complementing Michael's speech, "everything we said before is still valid. They are stronger than most of us on our own, so fight together. The imps will help you fight, but they won't correct your mistakes if you get yourself killed. This is a fight with the honor of the Khan Family on the line, you must not die!" Noah's words also served as a warning, but they raised everyone's fighting spirit back to what it was before, making some of the warriors stand and cheer, and the bearded warrior walk towards them.

  "Michael," the bearded warrior looked at his eyes and said, "there's something you must know before this fight." The bearded warrior was smirking as he said this, which made Noah curious. "Tonight, you've shown what is is to take responsibility and take the fall for your mistakes, and come back up. With this, you are no longer the proud kid I med five months ago. You can say, you graduated my teachings."

  It was not a sentence anyone other than they two could understand, but Noah expected it to have a large impact.

  He just didn't expect to see tears roll down Michael's face, "Thank you."