Leah's trembling hands grabbed onto Eliza's shoulder. A bright lance of pain ran down Eliza's arm, and Eliza flinched back.

"Are you alright?" Leah said, "Did I hurt you?" Her hands hovered uncertainly where Eliza had been, a concerned look in her eyes.

"No." Eliza said, "I just hit my shoulder hard when I got thrown to the ground; you didn't do anything." Eliza rotated her shoulder in a circular motion grimacing at the pain it caused.

Leah sighed in relief and looked off in the direction the larger Rakna had gone. "That's good, Is this your win?"

Eliza gave her a grimace, "At best, it would be considered a draw, but before that, could you give me your water pouch? My leg is kinda killing me."

"Oh right, of course." Leah started to fumble with her water bag. Eventually, she got it free and held it out to Eliza.

Eliza immediately snatched it from her and began cleaning the spit off her pant leg. She couldn't get it all out, leaving several spots of the material crusty, but she at least managed to get it to where the fabric was no longer stuck to her leg. As she did that, Leo and Demitrus finished climbing down from the roof.

Leo came and stood over her with his arms folded, "What was that?"

"A duel, what else?" Eliza grabbed her spear and, planting the butt of the spear into the ground, used it to pull herself to her feet.

"Why would a Demon challenge a human to a duel?" He said, furrowing his brows. "I've never heard of it before."

"It happens sometimes. We should go catch up." Eliza began walking down the street.

"Our objective was to attack the nest and distract them while the other team moved in." Leo said, walking alongside her, "Besides, we should be careful; that fire could've attracted anything. Going back to the topic, you're gonna have to elaborate with something more than an 'it happens."

Leah picked up a torch and followed behind with Demitrus.

Eliza sighed, "Demons duel others to assert dominance and gain power; what more is there to say?"

"None of that explains why it would challenge a human to a duel."

"Why are you pestering me so much?" Eliza said, turning her head to glare at him, "It's common knowledge that a Demon can evolve to a higher rank if it defeats and absorbs magic power from other Demons. It's not so far-fetched to say that the same can happen if a Demon defeats and absorbs magic power from a human. It rarer for a human to have magic, so it only happens sometimes."

He evenly met her glare, "But I haven't seen any magic power from you, and if you did somehow manage to hide it, you would've used it earlier to save yourself."

"To them, there's not much difference between a human who has magic and one who had magic. In some ways, Demons would even prefer me over another human with magic." Eliza looked away and continued walking down the street.

Behind her, Leo staggered to a stop." You're a forsaken?"

Eliza didn't bother looking back at his certainly shocked expression. Instead, she sped up until she had put a little distance between her and the group.

When she reached the corner turning onto the main road, She heard one of the group approach her.

She didn't know whether to be surprised or not when Demitrus sidled up until he was walking beside her.

She eyed him warily, "What do you want?"

He looked up and tilted his head. "To talk to you. What else?"

"The others?"

"Sent me ahead to scope out how you feel."

"Sounds like a horrible idea."

"Right? That I would've said if I didn't already want to talk to you."

"About what?"

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"Why, the duel, of course." He said.

He leaned forward until he was at eye level with her. An expectant gleam shone in his crystal blue eyes.

"I explained it to Leo, and you were right behind us; why would I repeat myself?" Unable to meet his eyes, Eliza looked away.

"Come now; it's not every day that you meet a forsaken, and one, who, from the sounds of it, faced against several Demons in duels as you called it. Can you tell me a bit about the Demons, more in particular, their power?"

"I'm not a forsaken; I forsook; there's a difference," Eliza said quietly.

"And that difference is?"

"It's the difference between being abandoned and leaving of your own volition."

"Seems like a minor semantic difference."

Eliza looked at him, "One that is important to me."

He no longer leaned forward but walked with a slight hunch, holding his hands in his pockets. His gaze scanned their surroundings.

"I see; you forsook your God then," He said, dropping the matter and looking back at her, "Can I ask you about Demons now?"

Eliza walked in silence for a few moments, "A question for a question, Why are you so interested in the Demons?" She asked.

He fell silent for a few moments, "Fair enough; I guess you could say that I find them fascinating."

Eliza furrowed her brows. "In what way?"

"Hold up, it's my turn now," he said, giving her a smile.

"...Fine, ask away."

"In all your time-fighting Demons, have you ever heard of a Demon making a contract with a human?"

Eliza's hand twitched, "Why would you want to know that?" she said, carefully maintaining a neutral tone. She watched his face closely from the corner of her eye.

Demitrus only smiled.

"... I've heard of a few stories," She said, "Why do you want to know?"

"Nothing much; I think it pertinent to understand those I fight. This is part of that you could say." he said with a casual shrug, "Now for my next question, What would a demon want out of a contract with a human?"

"You're asking some pretty dangerous questions for this understanding of yours."

"Your answer?"

"I can't claim to understand the minds of Demons powerful enough to make a contract, but, in the few stories that I have heard, The Demon gains power from the contracts it makes." Eliza said, "Are you aware that these types of questions are liable to get you investigated by an inquisitor for heresy?" She watched his face for any reaction.

"I am." He said, smiling brightly, "Let's make this the last question as things look pretty dicey up there."

Looking ahead, Eliza could see the Crystal Node engulfed in flames. Around it, she could see the guards and the other squad engaged with some Rakna.

"What happens to the human who made the contract?"

"I'm sure that you're aware that Demon magic twists and warps whatever it touches, corrupting and turning it into something else-"

"So, what happens?" Demitrus interrupted,

"They essentially become Demons," Eliza said.

Behind them, she heard Leah and Leo walking up. When they approached, Demitrus spoke,

"Thank you for answering my questions; it has been a most enlightening conversation." He said, giving her a dramatic little bow before turning and looking at Leah, "As you can see, she is doing fine, and I made especially sure not to be a 'halfwit' as you so eloquently requested. Was your talk with Leo fruitful?"

Leah laughed awkwardly, scratching at her cheek with a finger, "That's one way of putting it."

Leo pushed past Demitrus and Eliza in a huff, "Let's get going; we need to at least show our faces before the end of the fight.

Eliza looked at Leah, who gave Eliza another awkward laugh.

The group quickly entered the square and stopped before they came too close to the inferno. Whatever had happened had engulfed the entirety of the statue and the nest around in a roaring bonfire. Dead Rakna littered the square, and, in the flames, Eliza saw the other big Rakna's body burning in front of the queens'. The other team stood on the other side of the Crystal in a standoff with the Adult Rakna and its cohort of smaller Rakna.

Eliza and the others slowly came around the circle, taking care to stay out of the heat of the blazing inferno. Soon they were standing behind the Rakna with the other teams on the other side.

As they came up, the Adult Rakna glanced back at her before turning back toward the other groups. Immediately it reared up to charge as it had done before, but then it stopped. Everyone held their breaths as they watched it to see what it would do next.

It turned its head over to the burning Crystal Node and then looked back towards the two groups. Suddenly its head spun to look out into the city, and, to everyone's surprise, it dashed down the open street into the darkness, all the younger Rakna following behind it.

Eliza had the feeling that this wouldn't be the last she saw of it.

"By Serenia's name, what did you do that for?" The Captain yelled out, drawing Eliza's attention. Eliza looked over to see Xanthe snarling at Octavian, who looked disinterested as he picked his ear with his pinky finger.

After a few moments of silence, Kolgit stepped in, "ey sparky boy, ya gonna answer da captain?"

"I'll have you know that I am not a "sparky boy," as you call it; I am a Magician," Octavius said as he leaned down to look at Kolgit. "You got that, little man? Kolgit's face flushed Red, but unexpectedly he didn't do anything.

"A magician my arse, Who told you to use the Fireball spell like that?" Xanthe demanded.

"In the famous words of my Master, 'I don't care how big the room is, I cast fireball.' It's a simple concept, but it might be too complex for one of Serenia's dogs?" he said with a dismissive shrug.

"You're a bloody idiot; you know that?" Lycus walked up and glared down at the man.

"I don't make it a practice to listen to the words of gutter fodder," Octavius responded while scrutinizing his nails.

"That's fine; you can listen to what's coming because of you," Lycus said, His voice becoming colder and colder.

"What? More Rakna? I have plenty more fireballs where that came from." Octavian said dismissively.

Eliza and the rest of the group walked up, "You think there's only Rakna down here? He's right to call you a fool." Leo said.

"I'm sure I can handle it," Octavian began to say, but then off in the distance, a horrible screech rang through the city.

It was a terrifyingly familiar screech to Eliza, one that still haunted her day and night. She panicked,

W-we need to get out of here," She said, backing away. When everyone looked at her but didn't move, she gritted her teeth, "Now!" She yelled, but it was too late, the thing screeched again, much closer this time, and she could already feel her mind beginning to fog up.

She fell to her knees and covered her ears. But it was no use. The thing screeched again, and all coherent thought and emotion fled in the wake of the shriek, leaving Eliza in a daze.

An ethereal cold spread around the square in spite of the roaring bonfire as it entered, and Eliza's body began to tremble involuntarily but not due to the cold. Instinctively, Eliza could feel that it was getting closer, but she couldn't do anything about it.

A rock flew out of the shadows and struck Eliza's injured shoulder. She gasped; a bright searing pain lanced from her arm, pushing the haze from her mind. Suddenly Eliza could think again. But with the thoughts also came the fear. She hardly dared to breathe as the panic began to set in. Of all things, it had to be a bloody wraith.

She slowly reached out to her spear with a trembling hand. But then she heard an oddly familiar voice in her mind.

"I can help if you'd like."