Bryce

“Take it slow,” I warned as I helped Ithnaa sit up. She was in a miserable state; covered in barely healed scars, and pale from blood loss. “We can’t wait around here, but we’re both fucked if you pass out now.”

“I’ll be fine. Just give me a moment, please.” She spun around to dangle her legs off the table, then took a few deep breaths, seemingly to center herself. “Alright, where am I? What’s the situation?”

“Mother contracted with a demon prince to keep me from Tess,” I explained, then continued with a confused frown. “I was told that she wasn’t happy about the contract she had to sign in order to make that happen. So, I have no idea why you’re here instead of in Mother’s own dungeon.”

“It’s because I’m disposable,” she said matter-of-factly, as if that were just the natural order of things. “If I had to guess, she wanted to try the facilities before she signed anything, or maybe just wanted something to do nearby until you got here. Which could explain why I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Well, we’ll just have to show Mother what happens when she underestimates you.” I smiled at her, but she just stared back at me expressionlessly. “Anyway, did you need longer to recover? Or are you ready to head out?”

“I don’t know.” She lowered herself off the table and took a cautious step forward. “I think I’m okay to walk, but not quickly. I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright,” I assured Ithnaa as I took her arm and moved to support her. “We can take it slow, but we have to keep moving. Hopefully, if we can find you some food, then your nanites will kick in.”

“Nanites don’t work well with my biology. Mana might help though, if you can spare some. It wouldn’t take much for me to be able to walk on my own.”

I paused after hearing her explanation. Djinn biology was one of the things I had spent a significant amount of time reading about while in Tess’s afterlife, and as far as I knew, nanites shouldn’t have any issues with it. That, combined with the uncharacteristic meekness, had me questioning things.

“I’m sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself. I’m Bryce.” I prepared to defend myself as I waited for her to respond.

“I know who you are, Captain Virra,” she admitted, still in Ithnaa’s voice. “Mistress Suhali told me about your plan and then died trying to protect me when it failed.”

“For what little it’s worth, I’m sorry for my part in that,” I apologized, but didn’t relax. It sounded like she blamed me for Suhali’s death. Which was entirely fair, since I did, too.

“Please, captain, I’m not going to attack you. I loved my mistress, but she knew what she was doing when she chose to help with your plan,” she explained with a weak chuckle. “Besides, it’s not like I have the energy to hate you right now.”

“Well, maybe we can fix that.” There was still a chance that she could betray me, but I wasn’t about to leave her to die, and besides, I could use all the help I could find. So, I pushed a decent amount of mana into the girl, and she immediately moved her weight off my arm as she stood taller. “Feel better?”

“Much. Thank you.” Her body shimmered, and the next thing I knew, the devil who had been teleported away just moments ago was standing in front of me. “I mean no disrespect to Lord Ithnaa, but this form seems like it could be more useful. Oh, I’m Marcel, by the way. A changeling, if that wasn’t clear.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marcel.” I smiled at her, and would’ve offered to shake her hand, if not for how much I knew it would hurt. “Now, what do you say we get out of here?”

“I don’t mean to overstep.” Marcel hesitated, so I urged her to continue. “Your aura is going to make sneaking around difficult. Is there anything you can do about it before we go?”

“Aura? What do you—shit,” I cursed as I realized what she meant. The damn mantle was back, and I hadn’t even realized it. To make matters worse, the only real thing of note that I’d done since getting resurrected was shatter and consume a devil’s soul. There was no way that this was going to end well for me. “I’ll need to cast a concealment spell. That means I need time to modify it to work with my new mana.”

“How much time?” Marcel asked. She looked nervous, which was completely reasonable considering the circumstances.

“Maybe fifteen or twenty minutes to modify it, then another few to cast it?” I guessed. “It’s a complicated spell, but one that I’ve had a lot of practice with recently.”

She seemed to think for a moment, then nodded to herself. “If I may make a suggestion?”

“Marcel, you and I are in this together and I’m beyond out of my depth here. If you have any suggestions, then you don’t need to ask before making them.”

“Um, alright. I was thinking that you could wait here while I go find a safe place for you to modify your spell. Then we can leave together after you’ve finished.”

“Okay, sure, but please be fast, and most importantly, be careful. I don’t want to hang around here for longer than strictly necessary, but if you end up dead, then my chances of survival drop drastically.”

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“I’ll try,” she promised before cracking open the door to peer around the corner, then stepping out into the hall.

I didn’t think she was going to be gone long enough for me to actually make a dent in modifying my concealment spell, and I didn’t want to start only to be interrupted. So, instead, I used the time to focus on a different spell. My mana blade.

Not only was the syntax much simpler, but the very concept fit perfectly with my new talent. Honestly, there was a very real chance that I’d be able to create a similar effect without even casting, and I wanted to try that before modifying the original spell. So, I concentrated mana into the palm of my hand, then visualized the saber exactly as I remembered it. The end result was… disappointing.

“Impressive,” an unknown feminine voice startled me out of my head, and I looked up to see an androgynous demon standing in the room with me. They were wearing tight-fitting armor that moved like it was made of living shadows. They definitely didn’t look like they worked for the prince, which meant they had to be with either Lilith or Mother. Thankfully, Lilith seemed far more likely, but I mentally prepared to defend myself regardless.

“I’d hardly call it impressive,” I admitted as I dismissed the bright green saber. “The edge was duller than I would’ve liked. The blade was too brittle, and the entire thing was much too light. I take it that you’re not one of the prince's agents?”

“Well, it’s impressive none-the-less, and no, I’m not with Prince Al’kais. Your goddess asked me to retrieve you. So, here I am retrieving you.”

That was definitely better than them working for Mother, albeit not by much. I obviously didn’t want to return to Tess’s afterlife if I didn’t have to, but that didn’t necessarily mean I couldn’t use this demon’s help.

“Does that mean you have a way to get me out of here?” I asked, and they reluctantly nodded.

“I do, but I’m afraid you might not like it.”

I chuckled grimly as I realized what they meant. “You’re planning on killing me, aren’t you?”

“I am, but first I need to make sure you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be.” They gave me a pointed look. “Do you know if Prince Al’kais put any precautions in place to prevent that?”

“He did,” I answered honestly. “And undoing them would be well beyond the ability of most practitioners.”

“You already undid them, didn't you?” they asked with a raised eyebrow, and when I hesitated, they switched to a scowl. “Please don’t lie to me. This job has already been far more complicated than I usually like, and if you’re not willing to cooperate, then it’s going to get very unpleasant for you.”

“I removed them,” I admitted.

“Thank you for your honesty.” They materialized a thin jet-black blade as they strutted towards me. “I promise you won’t feel a thing.”

They disappeared an arms-length away, and I rolled forward to avoid the attack as they reappeared behind me. It hadn’t exactly been the best tactical move, since I was now on the ground looking up at the demon, but I was still alive, which was probably a victory. If only a short-lived one.

“This doesn’t exactly feel like cooperating,” they astutely pointed out as they glared down at me.

“Yeah, well, I don’t exactly feel like dying.” I inched backwards until I felt the wall and used it to help myself stand while keeping the demon in my line of sight. “Is there any chance I could convince you to just walk away?”

“Not likely,” they responded as they circled around to my left to stand in front of the door. “No offense, but you’re somewhat less intimidating than Tess.”

“Are you sure?” I summoned my mana blade back, and was pleasantly surprised when it was nearly as sharp as my original. The weight was still off, and it was probably still too brittle, but progress was progress. “I devoured the soul of a fairly powerful devil in order to escape, and that wasn’t the first time I’ve done something like that. What’s the worst Tess is going to do? Kill you?”

“Okay, I’ll admit that's a little intimidating.” The demon hesitated, so I took a half-step towards them, but they held their ground while maintaining eye-contact. “Of course, that only matters if you’re alive long enough to do it.”

They still didn’t make a move towards me, which felt off. So, I pushed mana into my eyes and saw through the illusion. I quickly looked to my right, but then dodged to the left as I saw the blade swing for my head. I countered, stabbing through where the demon’s torso should be. My blade passed through their armor up to my wrist, and my hand was covered in a thin layer of ice when I pulled it out. Meanwhile, they were completely unharmed.

“That’s a neat trick.” I switched my sword to my right hand while I flexed my dominant one. The ice broke off easily enough, but it was still numb. Thankfully, arcane casting had made me mostly ambidextrous, but nearly all of the practice I had done with my sword had been left-handed. Which was going to make this even more difficult.

“First time seeing void cloth?” they asked, still mostly invisible. “I wouldn’t recommend touching it.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” I muttered as I pushed more mana into my eyes to bring the demon into focus. “Now that I can see you, would you perhaps be willing to reconsider walking away? I promise to tell Tess that you tried.”

They grinned back at me. “I don’t think so. You’re already down a hand, and no offense, but your footwork is a bit lacking.”

“And if I promise to shatter your soul after I kill you?” I threatened, not entirely sure if it was a bluff or not.

“In that case, I better make sure I kill you first.” They darted forward, thrusting towards my shoulder. I swatted their blade aside with my own while stepping away from the attack. They twisted their body in an impossible way to slam a dagger into my thigh. I cried out in pain, and they followed up by slashing a bloody line across my back.

I pulled the dagger out of my thigh and tossed it across the room. The wound was bleeding heavily, but my nanites would stop the flow quickly enough. At least, that’s what I hoped as I squared off with the demon again.

“Okay, maybe killing you won’t be as easy as I thought,” I admitted as I saw the door quietly open behind the demon. I continued, praying that they wouldn’t notice. “How about we call this a draw, and we both go our separate ways?”

“You’re persistent, I’ll give—”

I stepped into them, swinging my sword with all of my might directly at theirs. My blade shattered, proving to be exactly as brittle as I worried it was, so I dismissed it to grab the demon’s wrist where their armor ended.

Their eyes went wide with fear as I pushed my mana into them to cancel their invisibility spell. They conjured a blade in their free hand, but Marcel caught it before they could stab me again. She then pushed the dagger I had thrown across the room into the side of the demon’s neck. I let go of their wrist to summon a new mana blade, then used it to remove their head in a single swiping motion. They fell to the ground, and I turned to the changeling, still panting.

“Thanks for the assistance.”

“Of course.” She looked down at the dead demon. “Um, who was that, exactly?”