Oh! And just one thing I forgot to mention in the previous chapter. I specifically made it so that Drago used heat vision to showcase that he has that ability. While he's never used that power in the show, I believe he has the ability since when he gave some Chi to Chow, Chow gained heat vision abilities. Therefore, Drago would have to have heat vision.

"And just as quickly as they appeared, the mysterious ice pillars that spawned all over the world shattered into pieces. Scientists report that climate temperatures are returning to normal. But how and where these ice pillars came from, we may never know," said the reporter on the news.

"Well, I guess that settles that," Liam said, switching off the TV. "When we banished Dong Xin, the spell of his ice pillars wore off."

"Yeah, but now there's the aftermath to deal with," said Tim.

"What do you mean?" asked Mavis.

"Every other time we've dealt with a magical bad guy, they've been isolated incidents whereas this one's had public exposure written all across it!"

"Tim's got a point. The public may not know it's magic, but they at least know there's something not normal going on," Remy added. "We'll have to be more careful now."

"What do you mean? Dong Xin was the last Demon Sorcerer on our list!" Mavis exclaimed, leaning back on the couch before putting her hands behind her neck in a relaxing position.

"Hm, I dunno. Things always seem to start happening the minute we think we're done with a crisis," Mala pointed out.

"Shit, you're right Mala! What do you think will happen next? I can't wait!" Mavis squealed in joy.

"Uh, can it wait until I'm fully healed over here?" Liam asked.

"Fine…Until then, we can admire our trophy!" Mavis exclaimed, holding up Dong Xin's staff.

"You're not seriously going to keep that, are you?" Drago asked.

"Oh come on, why not? And before you ask, no, it does not work anymore. I tried."

"Tried on what exactly?" Remy asked.

"Uh, not important!"

"I wonder why is doesn't work anymore though," Mala wondered, taking the staff in her hands to examine.

"Well, if it works the same way as other demonic weaponry, they lose their power once they're separated from their wielders," Liam explained.

"Oh like your dad's sword, right?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, just like that."

"But then if the staff lost it's power after we took it, how was it enhancing Dong Xin's abilities?" Mala asked.

"Maybe it wasn't the staff?" Drago suggested.

"No it had to be. It wasn't until after I took it when my sonic scream finally had an effect on him and his ice," Liam pointed out.

"Well whatever it was, it's just a useless stick now. Laaaaame," Mavis sang, waving the staff around. She accidentally whacked the side table with the staff, causing something circular and tan-colored to fall out the head of the staff.

"Hey! Careful!" Remy scolded, moving everything Mavis had knocked over back into place.

"Hehe, sorry," Mavis replied meekly.

"Hey, something fell off the staff," Drago said, bending over to pick up the artifact.

"What is it?" Tim asked as everyone crowded around Drago to see what was in his hand.

"Huh… two fish," Mavis said, noticing the light purple sigil of two fish on the face of the artifact. "Not very ice themed."

"Hang on, it looks like there some writing along the edge," Liam noted, pointing his finger at the inscriptions.

"It's not any language I know," Mala said.

"Same," Remy added.

"Hang on, I think this is Greek," Tim said.

"Can you read it?" Drago asked.

"No."

"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one," Mavis exclaimed.

"Hey, I am smart! But I didn't exactly get my PhD in reading Greek!" Tim barked back.

"Maybe this was what was giving Dong Xin all that extra power, what let him make ice constructs that moved," Liam suggested.

"I think you might be on to something," Mala said.

"But then the question is, where did Dong Xin get this and are there any more like it? And what exactly is it?" Tim asked.

"It's Pisces," Mavis said, standing opposite to all five of them as they still crowded around Drago.

"How could you possibly know that?" Tim asked.

"Cuz there's a little curvy H on the back," she said, pointing to the rear face of the artifact. Drago flipped it over and sure enough she saw a symbol resembling a slightly curved in H, the astrological sign for Pisces.

"How'd we miss that?" Tim asked.

"Because you smart people always overthink things," Mavis said, plopping back on the couch. "But you know what this means right?"

"What?" they all asked.

"We, my friends, have ourselves another adventure!" Mavis declared.

"No, no, no! Can't we just have some quiet normalcy for once? Don't get me wrong, saving the world from bad guys is great, but I'd like it if we just had some peace and quiet!" Mala wailed.

"No, Mala, we can't. There, there," Mavis said, patting Mala's back.

"What makes you say we have another adventure?" Liam asked.

"Duh! If that one is Pisces, that means there's got to be eleven more out there for the other signs!"

"That is a reasonable conclusion," Tim noted.

"See? I can be smart!"

Deep in the Netherworld, pieces of broken crystal were scattered along the ground of one of the many floating piece of earth. The crystals suddenly broke apart, shattering even further until there was nothing left but dust that was carried away by a gust of wind. Swirling shadows suddenly seeped through from the ground where the crystals lay before coming together to form one large mass of swirling shadows. A pair of large, bright red eyes opened within the shadows. The shadowy mass scanned the area before noticing a pair of beastly head-shaped shoulder armor. The shadow flew over to the two pieces and spoke, "Hei Gou, An Gou, rise!"

At his command, the pair of shoulder pads suddenly turned completely black before morphing into two large brown dog-like beasts with bright red eyes. The first, Hei Gou, was built much larger with broader shoulders while the second, An Gou, was slimmer and sleeker. Both had two pairs of dark brown horns, six legs, thick armor scales along their bodies and long spiky tails. The two hounds turned to address their master as he spoke again, "Bring me my Legion! There is much work to be done."

Well, there you go! Arc 2 is officially done! I'm honestly surprised that we got this far! I won't lie, we've come a looooong way.

Anyway, I can't say exactly when arc 3 will be posted since I might take this opportunity to take a break and revisit that Shadow Strikers AU story I brought up a while back. I know some of you are itching to see that come to fruition ;)

But until then, I really hope you guys enjoyed the story. Let me know your thoughts about story: what you liked, didn't like, were confused about, what you'd like to see in the future! Let me know! It's your feedback that helps me create a better experience for you guys :)