Noet perked up as the space in front of him darkened. The darkness grew bigger and bigger until it was wide enough for someone to pass through. Which someone did.

Harvy barely raised his head to acknowledge the newcomer.

“So, who is coming with me?” Raven immediately went to business.

“Me” Noet spoke, “Noet” Aileen and Harvy chorused at the same time.

If Raven was surprised, he didn’t show it. He just nodded and gestured for the human boy to follow after him.

Noet climbed down from his bed and walked to Marshall. Noet felt himself grabbed by the collar all of a sudden and then couldn’t see anything anymore.

It was total darkness. He felt Marshall place something in his hand. It felt like a piece of cloth but he wasn’t exactly sure what Marshall wanted him to do with it.

It would seem the man grew impatient and grabbed the piece of clothing from him and wrapped it around his eyes.

Oh, Noet exclaimed inwardly, a blindfold

He was led by Marshall but they moved quite slowly. The Ki restraining cuffs were quite heavy after all. 

 They walked and Noet tried his best to memorize the turns and turns they made but he soon felt confused. It was like they were in a maze.

He grit his teeth in frustration. They were onto him.

Marshall didn’t seem to notice his distress, still leading him to only the gods know where.

Suddenly they stopped and Marshall took off his blindfold. He opened his eyes and winced at the influx of light. Blinking his eyes to adjust, he stared blankly at the sight in front of him.

The demon was sleeping.

Or did it just look like that? If it was any other color and didn’t have that vile aura, he’d have thought it was a resting beast.

Marshall grinned at his expression. This was exactly why they kept it alive. It was an opportunity to study demons like never before.

“Try your best” he patted the boy and left the room, locking Noet inside.

Noet stared at the demons imposing visage and couldn’t help but gulp a bit. He took a deep breath to calm himself and walked forward towards the cage in front of him.

The demon moved a little and he paused.

Then he stepped forward more and its eyes shot open and its yellow orbs stared at him. He finally understood why it was so bright in the room. The memory in his mind was definitely enhanced by the situation that day.

Agnes didn’t look as terrifying bathed in white light. She looked at most as a black beast. Maybe it was because of how calm she was?

Noet had seen demons and he would never equate them to something as mediocre as a beast. But it was a fact that demons were never calm. But half-demons were, apparently.

He realized his thoughts were about to start wandering and focused himself. He took another step and Agnes growled so he moved a step back and sat on the ground.

She didn’t seem to care much about him, laying back down in her previous position. She looked asleep again.

“Agnes” he called. It made no movement to acknowledge him.

“Agnes, I know you can hear me”

There was no reaction.

“Agnes”

Noet tried in this manner to get a response out of the demon but nothing. He kept trying for minutes which then turned into hours.

1 hour.

2 hours.

5 hours.

1 day.

Marshall never came to remove him from the room or stop him.

Suddenly Noet stopped calling her name and glanced at the door. He was betting that Marshall was no longer listening in and had finally left. More like hoping though.

He turned to face Agnes and stretched, “Ow, my back”

He had been in the same posture for hours so he was stiff. When he finished his stretching he lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling in silence. Then he spoke, “Raena”

The reaction from the demon was instantaneous. Its eyes shot open and it stood, fixing its stare at him.

“Like I thought” Noet glanced at her, “You’d react to that”

It took a few steps forward and Noet immediately backed off with a laugh.

“Don’t get mad. Once you get mad, it’s going to be difficult to regain control again”

It froze mid-step.

“You are in control!” Noet screamed in surprise, “I expected this but this is… do you know what this means?!”

The demon narrowed its eyes in response.

Noet gave a fake cough, “Sorry. I got a bit excited”

It didn’t react to that.

“They brought me here to make you go back to your elven-demon form but I’ll suggest you don’t do that. Yet.”

His words were greeted with a ferocious roar and the demon charged at the cage, obviously enraged. It swiped at thin air as Noet was already quite far

Noet wasn’t surprised, “Ok, I would be an idiot if I didn’t guess you were an elven-demon… wait, is it demon-elf?”

He looked to it for confirmation. He got none.

Noet scratched his head, “I feel like I’m talking to air. Can you talk in that form?”

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It was still obviously angry, growling and huffing.

“I told you not to get angry. Demons are fueled by anger itself. You cannot get angry” Noet said.

It actually got angrier, clawing and banging against the cage.

“We’ll talk later then” Noet sighed, “I don’t know when Marshall is coming back. He cannot hear what I want to talk about”

Noet leaned on the door and the angry roars of the demon lulled him to sleep.

Noet woke up with a start glancing around. He went into high alert then realized his bearing and calmed down. He was surprised at the fact that he slept so deeply.

He looked up to find the demon looking right at him. Usually he could tell what people thought through their eyes but he’d never trained to read a demon’s expressions.

It did unnerve him as he wasn’t sure how long it’d been staring at him.

“I see you’ve calm down” he spoke.

It sat down on its hind limbs in response to that.

“Ok I’m guessing you can’t talk in that form so let’s go with nods and head shakes ok?”

It did nothing at first then slowly moved its head up and down then left and right. It seemed to just be getting the hang of its body.

“Alright. I’m not used to having a one sided discussion but there’s a first time for everything, right?”

It moved its head up and down.

“No… you didn’t have to reply to that”

It shook its head.

“Are you still testing your responses?”

It nodded and shook. This cycle continued for a while till the movement actually seemed fluid. Then it faced Noet squarely.

Noet smiled, “Ok, that’s new. Well, everything about this is new. First of all, you’re probably wondering why I’m not scared or wanting to take your head”

It nodded.

“And you’re also wondering why I called you Raena”

It nodded.

“And why I knew you were in control… albeit barely”

It paused. Then nodded.

“Ok, I’ll answer all of them in that order. First of all, I’m not going to deny it. I hate demons”

He locked eyes with the demonic being in front of him, “With a passion”

It moved backwards suddenly, trying to find its way back to its sleeping posture. It lay down, looking just like it had when Noet came in.

Noet was stunned then he realized something and quickly said “Agnes”

“Ok, Agnes I’ve been trying this for a whole day now, would you please listen!” Noet’s voice sounded really frustrated.

The door to the room opened and Marshall walked in.

“You’re doing well” he said sarcastically.

Noet glared at him, “She’s just being strong headed, she’ll talk to me”

“Right…” Marshall drawled, “You have less than a day left. I didn’t expect much anyways”

Noet clicked his tongue and threw a glare at the demon.

Marshall walked out and Noet continued his charade.

An hour or so later, the demon moved, steeping closer and sitting on its hind again. 

Noet laughed, “How was my acting skills?”

The demon said nothing.

“Anyways, like I was saying, I hate demons. You are no exception. But I like Agnes. Not like that but I am fond of Agnes Marlston. And you just happen to be Agnes Marlston”

The room went quiet for a while.

“You know I was a bit surprised when I figured out I actually didn’t want to kill you. Seems you made a pretty good impression on me but I’m not so sure about Aileen and Harvy”

It perked up at those names.

“I’m not saying anything about them” Noet said immediately dousing her expectations with cold water.

“Moving on. And the second question was… um… why I called you Raena, right?”

It nodded.

“It was honestly a process of elimination. You told Aileen your middle name so I figured if you didn’t answer Agnes, you’d answer Raena”

Noet was beginning to pick up her reactions and judging by the way her tense shoulders relaxed, he’d said the right thing,

“I can guess there is some hidden reason for you answering Raena?” Noet asked then sighed, “I forgot you can’t talk”

It just stared at him.

“And finally, why I knew you were in control. I mean, it’s obvious.  But judging from the chaos you caused in the colosseum, it’s quite hard to reign in your demon… side?”

 It tilted its head to the right, as though in thought and then nodded.

“OK. Demon side. You had trouble stopping yourself, there were signs here and there that made me come to that conclusion”

The demon nodded.

Noet grinned, “Now we are on the same page, I’ll tell you why I’m here. First of all, I need to get out of here. Aileen, Harvy and I have been taken prisoners and I don’t know about them but I don’t want to be here. And I’m guessing you don’t want to either”

It nodded.

“And most likely, when they feel like they don’t need us anymore, we will all be killed.  I don’t want to live with an invisible blade over my head. At least in the colosseum I had some… although mediocre control over my life.

I have been planning an escape from the colosseum for years and you have made me push my plans up so it’s not like this is something I’m bringing up on a whim, ok?”

It nodded. 

“Alright, first of all, I need the layout of this place. For that I need you. I could do this myself but they have already picked up on the fact that I’m trying to get the layout. As to how you’ll do that, I’ll get to that.

Secondly, I need a distraction. I have that covered” Noet gave a cheeky grin.

“Thirdly, it’s obvious we are still in the vicinity of the colosseum because Harvy and Aileen are still alive. I have been able to wipe my brand off,” he showed his wrist which still had a colosseum-like brand on it, “This is fake”

The demon suddenly moved its claws to check the back of its hand.

“If I’m not wrong, your brand should be gone. The way this brand works is it ties itself to your mana or your Ki. If you have both, it should brand your mana. Meaning when you transformed and your mana became demonic, you lost the brand, right?”

Indeed, it wasn’t there.

“The problem is Aileen and Harvy”

The demon stared and its eyes looked a bit odd but Noet could discern what it was trying to say.

“That’s just rude,” he declared, “Do you really think I’d abandon them? I’m not that selfish”

The demon still had the same odd look.

“Ok, I would usually abandon them but they have some use in this escape plan. Namely man power. I can’t do this alone. That I know that very well. Honestly, the colosseum was one of the most guarded places in this Kingdom. As to why, you don’t need to know”

The demon shook its head.

“I’m not telling you”, Noet smirked, “So despite what you might think, simply wiping the brand off wasn’t going to free you. But from what I can discern, the other colosseum slaves should be wiped out”

“Thanks to you” Noet didn’t forget to add, “And that gives us a chance”

The demon just gave a low growl in response.

“We have one shot. Once the disturbance you made settles down, we’re screwed. I’ve been plotting for years because I needed something really big but you’ve done just that”

The demon nodded and then gave an odd look.

“I am not going to thank you. I don’t think you deserve it” Noet retorted.

It nodded again, giving the same odd look.

“No” Noet rolled his eyes, “If anything, my life was at risk back there”

The demon gave a huff and turn away.

Noet chuckled, “Ok whatever. Now, this is what you are going to do….”

***

“How was she?” Aileen immediately asked as Noet arrived back into the room. Marshall dropped the boy off and left immediately.

Noet didn’t answer her question and began mumbling to himself, “jjj????. No, it wasn’t that. ??•????. No, that doesn’t sound right”

“Is that the language of the Gods?” Aileen asked.

“Yes” Noet sighed frustrated, “I can’t use mana so I never got blessed to understand it”

“Well, that’s stupid” Aileen couldn’t help but say, “I mean how would you know what spell your opponent is casting, if you don’t know it?”

“It seems I didn’t word that well. The colosseum didn’t bless Ki users to understand God’s language” Noet snarled.

“Oh. Don’t get mad, I just thought---” Aileen didn’t finish her words and changed the subject, “Want me to interpret what you said earlier?”

Noet’s eyes lit up, “You could?”

“Well, the first thing you said isn’t even a word. The second thing was ‘Open a tummy fall’ which is stupid so I’m guessing you didn’t mean to say that”

“I’m trying to say the password Marshall said” Noet told her.

“Oh!” Aileen exclaimed, “But Marshall has no mana so that has to be a keyword”

“I know. But what I don’t get is why he’d allow me to over hear it”

“Well, you don’t understand the language of the gods” Aileen pointed out.

“But I can replicate it” Noet objected.

“I’m pretty sure ‘open a tummy fall’ is not the keyword here” Aileen argued.

“True” Noet relented, “But he was most likely telling me that the keyword changes”

“What?” Aileen was confused.

“That even if I hear the keyword, I can’t do anything with it because it will change” Noet explained.

Aileen raised a brow, “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“Can someone get some sleep in this place?!” Harvy screamed barging into their conversation.

“I thought you were awake and acting as though you were asleep so I didn’t give a fuck. Sorry” Aileen retorted insincerely.

“Since you’re both awake” Noet said not bothering to answer Aileen’s question, “Shall we talk? On how to get out of here?”

The two fixed their gazes on him in unison.

Then Harvy burst out laughing, “I know you want to but I didn’t think you were actually serious”

Noet narrowed his eyes at him.

“Our colosseum brand. Did you forget about that?”

“Oh” Noet smiled. It was understandable they’d worry about that, “I can take care of it when we leave here”

“You sound so confident that we can leave” Aileen noticed.

Noet grinned, “Because I am”

Harvy raised a brow at that, “Alright, I’m listening”