The wizard walked into the kitchen with the murderous demon in tow. With each step they took, Rudy contemplated the idea of simply stabbing Manuel in the back, but that thought simply didn't feel satisfying enough. He wanted to show off what he devised during all those years he spent sealed away.

"Here," Manuel picked up a skewer from the dining table. "Grilled meat!" he proclaimed victoriously as if he had just hunted it down. "Have some. It's delicious!"

Rudy eyed the food with a sour grimace. "It's poisoned isn't it?"

Manuel frowned as a loud groan left his mouth. "Ugh! Come on, really? I am the most powerful wizard in the world! I could kill you in a million different ways and you think I'd go for something as lame as poison?" He looked down at the different meat slices sitting on the skewer and quickly ate one. "See? Not poisoned."

The wizard sat down at the table and gestured at the demon to do the same. A million reasons why not popped into Rudy's mind, but he still did as Manuel asked. He did not need to eat, but that wouldn't mean he couldn't enjoy the activity. Centuries without anything to taste made his mouth water even at the slightest hint of good food. His eye twitched as he desperately tried not to devour it all at once.

"Tasty?" Manuel asked, his grin mocking the demon.

Rudy did not reply. He simply growled in response and continued to chew his way through the plate full of meat. Manuel sat there, quietly waiting for the demon to have enough.

"What are you up to, prick?" Rudy growled as he wiped his mouth on the tablecloth, much to Manuel's dislike. "What is the point of this food?"

"Well, I'm simply trying to butter you up a bit." Manuel smiled as he stuffed his own face with the food. "Oh, that is really good. I'm actually really terrible at cooking, you know? So I hired a little fairy to do the cooking for me. The best thing I've done in years! I should've just gotten a personal chef decades ago!"

"Manuel! Speak!" the demon hissed out impatiently.

"Right, right," he muttered and ate the last slice off the skewer. "Why I wanted to serve you food? Simple, really. I wanted to be the nice guy and serve you your last meal."

The demon yelped out in pain as he soon found the sharp utensil rammed into his hand. His eyes met with Manuel's. This was for the first time in ages he didn't see him smiling.

"I kinda like those kids, you know? Their friendship reminds me of the childhood I wanted to have. And here you go hurting them. What made you think I'd let it slide?"

Rudy grinned through the pain. "Haha, I knew it! You ready to throw hands now?"

"Nah, of course not!" He pulled out the skewer and leaned back in his chair, smiling as before. "I did let it slide, you see. After all, I can hardly blame you for it. It was my idea after all."

Rudy stood up, knocking the chair over, and backed away, ready to defend himself should the wizard try any more dirty tricks. "Your idea? What are you talking about?"

"Oh dear, what could I be talking about, yeah? Hmm... I wonder. Have you ever examined the seal on your sword?"

"I wouldn't be free if I didn't."

"Excellent! So, let me ask you this," he leaned forward, resting his head against the interlocking fingers of his arms. "You never found it strange that I would trap someone like you with such a measly seal that would break after making a contract with four common people?"

Rudy's hands trembled momentarily. "Carelessness," he explained it.

"Nu-uh. Wrong answer. Careful preparation. Back then, I knew you would be useful to me one day. Why seal you away permanently? That would take away all the potential fun?"

"You knew I would be free one day? Why? What was the point? Did you desire a rematch?"

"No, nothing so superficial." He leaned back once more and crossed one leg over the other. "When I sealed you, it was just for kicks. But then, I noticed an opportunity. Tell me, have you ever wondered why the kids found you? I mean, they walked right into a storeroom full of dangerous and sharp weapons. You really think I'd just leave that place unlocked? With minors around?"

Rudy clenched his fist. "No..."

"Oh yes. You see, I knew they would find you. Didn't know they would break you. Gotta admit that was hilarious. I literally had to hold my laughter in and then get it all out once you left."

"Why?" the demon yelled out. "I thought you cared about your apprentices!"

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"And I do! So much so that I want to make them happy, but you see, that is really hard!" He stood up from his chair, prancing around and gesturing like he was an actor on stage. "Poor Jin. He wants to be a wizard so bad but he can't feel magic. Neither of them can. I don't know what that's like. I've always felt it, so I had no idea how to actually help them. But then I remembered all those wizards who awakened their potential in battle. You see, in the presence of powerful magic, your body has no choice but to actually feel it. After all, you would feel if you were hit with a powerful spell, right? So, I found them the perfect place to visit."

"You sent them there on purpose," Rudy gasped.

"Correct!" Manuel exclaimed and gave the demon a wink. "What, did you think that a random miner could just like that afford a super expensive piece of equipment while his coworkers used simple pickaxes? Nonsense! He received a general donation and a little offer of a free delivery."

Jin and his friends lay on the ground of the mines. The rock felt both freezing cold and scalding hot. Though their bodies refused to move, their minds operated at full speed. They gritted their teeth, their minds refusing to think about anything but Rudy's betrayal.

"That's cruel. Even for your standards," the demon growled. "Sure, they might feel magic after this, but that doesn't mean they'll be able to control it. You'll still have to teach them."

"Yeah, I thought about that, you know? I really, really, really despise teaching. Seriously, my top three most hated things are snakes, seaweed, and teaching."

"Then what is the point of all this?"

"Well, I might be a terrible teacher, but that just means I need to find someone better!"

"Elsie."

"No, you, idiot! You!"

Rudy's eyes widened. "Me?" he scoffed. "Have you lost it already? I ain't teaching them anything!"

"No? But you already did, did you?"

Jin's fingers twitched. There was a burning desire inside his body to get up, find the demon, and punch it in the face. That was a wish they all shared. Such desires turned into magnets, pulling in the force that was squeezing them from all sides.

"When pushed into a corner, people often react impulsively. They stop thinking and are willing to try anything their instincts tell them to do," Manuel monologued.

Jin felt something moving around his body. A feeling of relief, as if the pressure was suddenly subsiding.

"And those four had the perfect role model. It's hard to learn magic when you don't know what it feels like to use it. Something like having an aura to protect them would therefore be a wonderful helping hand."

Ink-like splashes danced around the four children, culminating around their bodies.

"You used me..." Rudy muttered.

"Yes. The pressure of the mines was to teach them to feel magic. Otherwise, I'd have to hit them with a spell and trust me, that would not end well. Your protective aura was a template I knew they would instinctively follow. And of course you would protect them because that was the easiest way of forging a pact with all four of them."

Colours began glowing faintly around the children as their mobility returned. They could roll to the side, or even try pushing themselves up onto their knees.

Rudy swept the entire dining table aside, prompting Manuel to roll his eyes at the idea that he would have to clean it up.

"You bastard!" the demon yelled out.

"Come on! Why such harsh words? Let's sit down at another table, okay? I have plenty. Exotic wood too. Hand carved. Marvellous works of carpentry. I can bring us some alcohol and we'll have a little celebratory drink, huh?"

"Drink??" Rudy growled, his eyes red with fury.

"Of course!" Manuel stood up and spread his hands out. "We have a really special day today!"

The kids leaned against each other as they struggled to their feet. The colours of their auras mixed and bounced against each other, but remained intact.

"We're about to witness the birth of four young wizards! On the same day! And I was the one who created them!" He yelled out as if calling to the heavens themselves.

The four slowly shuffled their way towards the elevator, from which a rescue squad was already approaching them. Each step the kids took seemed to take more and more weight off their backs. The pressure of the surrounding magic disappeared as their own grew stronger.

Rudy struck again. A massive cut travelled along the entire kitchen, tearing the tables and chairs apart. Manuel disappeared in a flash of light. Suddenly, he was standing behind the demon, completely unscathed.

"I told you, don't wreck my tower!" The wizard's hand grabbed the demon's head and pushed it forward. In a flash, Rudy found himself smacked against the stone wall, then against a tree in the nearby woods, and finally once more time against the dirt outside.

He quickly picked himself up from the ground. A blade shot out of his back, aiming to cut the wizard, who simply blinked away once more. The demon looked up into the sky. Manuel was floating on a cloud of aura a few metres away from him, laughing and talking to himself.

"What a marvellous achievement this is! I gave magic to someone who could barely use it! Suck it, nature! Suck it, god! You have no power over me! I am the one who rules this world!"

Rudy frowned in disgust. Every word the wizard said was painful to listen to. It was nothing but layers upon layers of arrogance that had been growing unchecked and wild for several centuries now.

Another crimson blade shot out towards the wizard, who, once more, disappeared in a flash of light before the attack could even hit him. A second later, he was staring Rudy in the eyes from such a close distance the demon could feel his breath hit him in the face. To his surprise, it smelled of mint.

"Rude," Manuel growled and snapped his fingers. An invisible force pushed Rudy away. As he flew through the air, something pierced his skin and burrowed deep into his body. Three projectiles. They were fired so quickly that he barely had time to put up his aura. Fortunately, the attack was beyond simple to heal.

"We can't get started yet! I know you're really eager for us to educate our students, but I'm gonna need you to be patient. They aren't back yet. First, we need to wait for them to arrive and only then can we proceed with the class."

Rudy dusted himself off and slowly strode around the wizard. While the demon's guard was suddenly up like never before and anxiety ravaged his mind, Manuel leaned back against his aura like it was a couch and hovered above the ground, grinning from ear to ear. The ecstasy he got from achieving his goals reminded him why he started studying magic in the first place all those years ago.

"Hehe," he giggled a little after a while. "This is incredible. I haven't been this excited in a long while." He reached out to the sky with his right hand, closing it like he was trying to grab the massive ley line that sustained this world. "I really feel like I could do anything right now."