Vina fell to her knees, her will to fight disappearing.

It was over. They had no way out.

When did we go wrong? Every step was done correctly. We made no mistakes.

A mage’s fears became too much, and he exited the protective circle, trying to run away.

He only managed to take a few steps, before stopping and touching his stomach.

“I-Is there something to eat? I-I’m so hungry…”

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see what transpired next. Even so, the sobs of her companions, curses, and prayers to several gods filled her ears.

But no one came.

They were going to die here.

The book was open, and the devil was out.

She didn’t look at him, her head low and eyes closed, but she heard him.

The wet, crunching noises right in front of her made it abundantly clear.

The gluttony devil. Frenese.

He was eating Bermu.

Nothing would remain from Bermu. Nothing except his guts. Reason why those were the first things the influenced, hungry mages removed.

Maybe it was because he didn’t like the taste, or maybe it was some sort of ritual. It didn’t matter. Not to her.

Frenese finished his first meal, and Vina felt him moving, stopping right in front of her.

None of them did anything for a brief moment.

“Where…” She asked. “Where did we fail?”

Devils were not mindless beasts. They were smart, smarter than most humans, more deceptive and perceptive too.

He knew who Vina's father was. He knew she was a Tarius, a member of the bloodline who imprisoned him.

Frenese crouched in front of her, and Vina saw one of his hands pressing the formation.

His hands still weren’t corporeal, which meant his full body wasn’t out, and at least part of the seal was still active. And yet, that didn’t prevent him from eating, or scratching the stone floor.

Neither the floor nor the formation were a match against his strength, getting pushed aside like sand. Looking down, Vina couldn’t stop the pained whine coming from her mouth.

There was a second formation. Right under their own. And she didn’t need Frenese to explain anything to her.

They had fallen into a trap. Someone had anticipated their actions, countering them in the worst possible way, dooming everyone.

Vina realized their protective circles weren’t doing anything. They never had.

And she was so, so hungry.

…

Kartal’s worry was progressively increasing. The portal to the pocket dimension had been sealed shut, the monitoring spells all ruined.

They couldn't see, hear or do anything.

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The Director, together with Hasdrubal and other members of the Mergifari’s High Command were trying to crack open a new portal, but that would take a while.

Like finding a drop of oil in a lake, they needed to first locate the microscopic point where the dimension fell once the portal got cut. And that wasn’t a job they could hurry.

Hadrubal created thousands of formations continuously, while the others supplied them with magic, filling the Selection room in a myriad of flashing lights.

The only reassuring thought they had was that the devil was a gluttony one, so, unlike a sloth one, it was unable to teleport the pocket dimension, which allowed them a sliver of hope.

They didn’t know that in Dianthus’ original prophecy, that fact didn’t save anyone.

…

Velvet had finished setting up the fae altar bells. To get closer to the devil’s origin without: quoting Dianthus’ ‘Ripping your guts out’, she had to ask for protection. And the only one who could travel anywhere, including a sealed, lost pocket dimension was Lothigern. Not the official mages, and not the gods.

Now, that He answered and gave Velvet some protection was something they needed to find out.

She had asked Dianthus what he used as protection, but, as to quote him once again: ‘I’m simply built different’ was the answer.

Well, she would have to trust his confident words.

And so, she started chanting.

“From the center… to between.”

“From the earthbound…to the fae that travels unbounded.”

“I’m Velvet Consestella Dobastro, and I call for Lothrigern, so that He may protect me from the Devil of Gluttony’s hunger.”

She had never called for Him outside the dream. Would she melt on the spot? Would she lose control, mutating into a monster?

As she stood still waiting in silence, Dianthus started fidgeting, clearly wanting to say something. And, since he was no coward, he decided to ask and try to see if his doubts could be cleared.

“By the way… what is your relationship with Lothrigern? Are you lovers?”

Velvet stared at him blankly for a few seconds, repeating his words in her mind. “What?”

Running his mouth without a care in the world, he continued. “I’m just saying, isn’t he like a million and half years old? And you don’t look above twenty, surely he can find someone more around his age, right?”

“...”

Not reading the room, or simply not wanting to, he kept pressing. “Someone like… half a million years old?”

“We’re not lovers.” She ended answering, still maintaining that blank look. She didn’t refute that Lothrigern was beautiful, but…

Was dying a horrible death worth the lay?

Was it? It probably would be an unique experien-

“Ah.” Dianthus stopped her atrocious train of thought.

The space in the middle of the bell circle chose that moment to bend, a small figure coming out.

It wasn’t Lothrigern, not even a mini-version, which would have terrified Velvet more than the full-fledged version.

No, instead it was some kind of mixture between a dragonfly and a dragonfly-sized human. It had the tail and the wings of the dragonfly, and the body and head of a human, with no clothes nor genitalia. Its skin was pale white, translucent. So translucent, in fact, that its inner organs could be seen from outside. The creature possessed two hearts, and an unnerving amount of blue veins, arteries and capillaries, who gave it a striped appearance. Its eyes were fully black, and its tiny smile was full of sharp, pointy teeth.

It fluttered in the air, before approaching Velvet, who raised her palm for the fairy to land. Once it did, it wrapped its dragonfly-like tail around her wrist.

“A midnight dew pixie.” Dianthus introduced the fairy, which, according to Gertine’s words, was better not to do. “I thought you could only see them in ancient grimoires, not summon them.”

He was clearly jabbing at the lover thing with that.

“Don’t mind him.” Velvet told the pixie. “He is envious of not being the specialiest boy ever. On everything. Only child behavior.”

“I know!” The chirpy, high pitched voice of the fairy startled her. “Oh! Lothrigern told me to tell you!”

“Hm?” Dianthus’ interest got picked.

“Not him. Not with him here.” The pixie repeated.

“I can cover my ears if you want.” He said, planning to simply read Velvet’s mind once the pixie spoke. He had tried to read the pixie’s mind, but, like with any fairy, their minds were a tangled mess of emotions, and in a tongue he didn’t understand.

“No!” It refused, before starting to flutter its wings, pulling Velvet along. “You won’t feel hungry with me here, so hurry.”

“Hurry, hurry, hurry, before everyone dies.”

“Okay.” She didn’t resist, but grabbed Dianthus’ sleeve, pulling him along. “But you go first, in case of an ambush.”

“I know.” Dianthus took a deep breath. He was the one who had to ‘entertain’ the devil while Velvet closed the book, after all.

None of those two things were easy, but only he could stop the devil’s advance.

It was time for the second round, even when the first had never come to be.