Chapter 5. Time is running out

Santa Claus cabin, North Pole.

—Elf boss Speedwagon, elf boss Speedwagon!

A little elf ran over to where Santa's sleigh was waiting, and where a Speedwagon was busy checking things off on his list.

-What happen?

—The reconnaissance team has returned, sir.—While he was breathing heavily.

—How are they?—He responded worriedly.

—They managed to reach the entrance to Krampus's castle, and…—The elf was trying to find the right words.

-AND?

—The entrance became an impregnable labyrinth, sir. They managed to retreat, but one team could not return; although communication from inside the labyrinth was not cut off.

The elf chief walked back and forth thinking.

—Come on, put me in touch with those who stayed behind.

Krampus Castle.

—Jonathan, I'll say it for the last time, let go of my arm.

Krampus tried to put a chocolate bar in the cage, so that his prisoner would stop bothering him, which Santa Claus took advantage of to hold him there.

—Get me out of the cage, first, Diego.— He responded defiantly, with his face as close as the cage allowed him to be to the other's face.

On the ground, the basket and the sack that Krampus brought with him were moving.

—How persistent... —He looked towards Vanilla, one of his most loyal subordinates. —Vanilla, take care of those children!

-Yes sir. Don't you need help with him?—The way he said 'he' made Saint Jonathan wonder why that young man antagonized him so much.

—Have I asked you?— Krampus said with a dangerous tone.

—Excuse me. I'm leaving now, sir!

He quickly left there with his semi-human form, somewhere between a Krampus goblin and a teenager.

Santa watched him leave worried; for Vanilla and the kids in those horrible things, but deep down he knew they would be okay. Krampus wouldn't be unfair to them.

—You think our monthly meetings didn't teach me anything?— Krampus' smile grew when he found himself alone with Santa.

Santa looked at him confused, but when he moved his body closer to the cage and began to move his free hand in certain debilitating areas; Jonathan started laughing.

—Ha, ha, ha, enough, Di-Kr-rampus, ho, ho, ho!

The cage was made especially for him, so Krampus finally broke free and easily passed through the energy bars that Santa couldn't even touch.

—At what point did you discover that! —Santa looked at him frustrated.

—Ha! Just eat that thing.—He points to the fallen chocolate bar. Krampus would not even jokingly reveal to him that at each meeting they ended up drinking a lot and Krampus would find out some convenient secrets from him.

Through the window he saw his back entrance turned into a labyrinth.

—…Those useless people.—The back entrance to his castle had that type of security, that if you didn't know the key it became a labyrinth full of traps and surrounded by a fog of alcohol. Maybe he should stop drinking too much, but ever since he became Krampus he's always been cold. Even touching fire.

—Jonathan, your little friends are too stubborn, I told them I would return you before Christmas and look what they did.

With a flick of his wrist he made the magic cage approach the open window. He looked down and saw his dizzy elves pacing and dodging as best they could seemingly deadly traps.

—Let them go or I swear...

—They will be fine…I think that a few days stuck in there will serve as a lesson to them. No one can enter my castle without my permission.

For a moment he thought that maybe he should revoke Santa's permission to come see him, at least for this month, but there was no need. Even if it was his blood that had the permission, remember how Jonathan called him barbaric when he stuck his hand in the dragon head-shaped lock and it bit him blood. Thus becoming permission for him to enter.

Krampus was going to discover that his foolproof security system was, in fact, flawed. When certain young adventurers invade his property with relative ease.

Somewhere in the human world, on the road.

Josuke dreamed about the snowy cabin again. That Speedwagon elf was asking for help again, and explaining about the help he will receive from his family.

Meanwhile, Jolyne and Jotaro were talking to Giorno about a strange dream they shared the other night.

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