Glancing at the runes on the ground, all written in various circles with each around a mana storage gem, I fling a rock and watch it bounce off of each successive barrier. Then I say, . A ball of white fire appears in the air in front of me, and the gems simultaneously disintegrate soon after. Grinning, I cancel my spells and the fire disappears. Then, I cleanse the ground of the chalk-written runes with a bucket of water.

Exhausted, I teleport back to my room and lay on the ground. Closing my eyes, it’s not long before I find myself back in the cellar.

The man looks at me with a smirk on his face. “If you ever remember this, know that you are a demon, and no one likes demons.” He chuckles and comes close as I shy against the wall behind me. “Don’t be afraid, this is the last time,” he soothes. “After this, you will never have to worry about being discovered.” He grabs onto my arm and pulls it to an open glass jar. After swiping a blade across my arm, he watches my blood drip into the jar as I vainly and weakly struggle.

The door opens and another man walks in. “Hurry. The King’s patience is wearing thin.”

“Don’t worry, we have enough now.” He lets go of my arm before saying, . The wound closes.

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“You’ve been at this for awhile now.”

“Disguising a demon takes a while. You were lucky to have been born in the Jorein House. At least you have no visual evidence. I, on the other hand, an orphan left on the streets, can’t do anything about these.” He lifts his shirt and points to the blue scars on his chiseled abs.

“You really aren’t afraid anything will go wrong, are you? What if your spell fails?”

“It won’t. The girl’s memories will be sealed, and even if they aren’t, she will try to hide them because she is a demon.” He turns back to me. “Besides, being the child that she is, she should forget memory before it traumatizes her. We will soon take over this world, and one insignificant child won’t be able to stop it.”

“You forget that this child is a descendent of the Donatella House.”

“They don’t even know she exists. When they are eventually reunited, they will thank me.”

“Why don’t we just bring her back now?”

“If the authorities continue to search, our plans will go awry. We need her blood in order to control the demons.”

“And if you run out of blood?”

The man huffs. “You forget that this child can hear everything.” He lifts his hand and places it on my head. A string of words leaves his mouth, and my vision dulls. As I fall over, the man stands up, pulls a bottle from his inner jacket, and pours the contents onto the ground. Then he takes the jar and leaves the cellar with the other man, saying, “Let’s discuss the rest with Keltos.” Then I black out.