Morning had come. Arashia was standing atop a tree, just as the sun had shown its first light. Currently, she was hiding herself well within the covers of the tree leaves. She looked towards the Cursed Children’s camp a distance away.

A moment later, she saw several fog rising and flying just above the trees. They were moving away from their camp.

So they do leave…

As they thought, they would go and enjoy their time when relieved of the perpetual pain. Once the fogs had left, shrinking into the distance, Arashia jumped back down to the ground. She turned towards Venzus, who was leaning back on a tree, sleeping.

Arashia frowned. He was just awake a moment ago. She approached him and tapped on his forehead.

“Hey, hey, Venzus. Wake up.”

He groaned, his eyes still closed. “Ugh, yeah?”

“You’re right, they left.”

Venzus slowly opened his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead. “Right… Okay, as we discussed, return to the camp and count how many of them remained.”

“Got it.”

“Good, good. Now, I’m going back to sleep.” He slowly leaned back against the tree.

“Stop sleeping!” Arashia complained. “It’s unfair!”

“Hey, this is all your idea. You do all the work.”

“You’re an asshole.”

He nonchalantly waved his hand. “Yeah, yeah. Now go. Shooo.”

Arashia pouted and began walking again. She sort of wanted to kick him in the stomach right there, but decided not to indulge her demonic urges. She began running towards the camp of the enemy. Just like last time, she was perfectly undetectable. Upon arrival, she hid among the shades and bushes.

Every one of her enemies outside of the cave was so clear from view. They now appeared completely human, with black hair and amber eyes. What remained numbered in three, lesser than what Arashia first imagined.

But I suppose they all want to enjoy their free time.

That said, it was still hard to determine how many of the enemy could still be inside the cave. But judging from how many left, there shouldn’t be many. Arashia took a deep breath before leaving the area and returning to Venzus.

He was still dozing off. Arashia grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously.

“Hey, hey. Wake up.”

His face twitched with visible irritation. “W-What? Y-You done already?”

“Yeah.”

“Ugh.” He groaned before standing up and placing a hand on his forehead. “Give me a second.”

Arashia sat down on the tree root with a visible pout, waiting for him. A moment later, Venzus gave a nod.

“Alright, tell me.”

“Their number is greatly reduced. I saw three guards outside.”

“Mm. That’s great.”

“But I can’t tell how many there are inside the cave.”

Venzus placed a hand under his chin. “If they’re merely guarding, I think it’s safe to assume there are at least one or two guards to watch over them.”

“Is that a lot?”

“Mm, it is.”

“... So, should we attack them during the day or night?”

“Obviously during the day. At least they’re lesser beasts than man, and their numbers are fewer.”

“Okay. Do we do it now?”

“Hey now, slow down. We still have to plan this. We still have to lead away those guarding outside, otherwise we get overwhelmed.”

“How?”

“It would be nice to provoke them and have them leave the area. But I think we can do that. One issue is who will distract them?”

Arashia tilted her head slightly. “... So we need someone faster or something?”

Venzus grinned. “Definitely. It will be you.”

“Huh? Then that means you’ll be the one to free them.”

“Yes, as much as I don’t like that… But it’s way better than getting chased by a lot of them.”

Arashia frowned. “Am I gonna get sacrificed?”

“Hey now, this is all your idea.”

“...” She felt a bit annoyed. He always said that to win a case. And Arashia couldn’t give a response to go against it. She was at a disadvantage whenever it was mentioned.

“Besides, you’re better at moving around several obstacles, especially navigating in forests. And you’re faster on the ground.”

“But how am I going to escape? You do know I can’t fly.”

“Then don’t fly. Besides, you’ll be easily discovered if you do. Considering that those guys can also fly.”

“Then how do I escape?”

“...” He was silent for a moment. “We’ll figure it out, hehehe.”

Arashia could only whimper.

“But considering that we’ll be separated, we’ll first set up a place to meet up.”

“Okay… But at least make a plan that will keep me alive!”

“Of course I would. Not like you would die, right?” He chuckled with a sinister grin on his face.

“Don’t do that, Venzus! You think I don’t get it?!”

“What are you talking about?” He cackled.

“Don’t act clueless!”

***

The next day, the two imps have formulated and implemented the plans they had in mind. It took the entire day to make plans and preparations, but they were now ready. Well, most of the risks were in Arashia. It was early morning, and the two of them got ready.

“Your traps? How are they?”

A few minutes before this, Arashia had set up traps for the enemies. She could feel her link with them. That said, she would only have a little more than half an hour to maintain them. And the more strain it would be for her the farther she was from them.

“It’s fine. But we better move now.”

“Alright. Don’t hold back.”

After saying so, the two of them started to change physically. Their faces changed and their skin turned red. Arashia changed into a red-skinned demon, she was a bit taller, where her demonic figure was slender and more accentuated, despite the muscles in her body. Her hair was in a fiery crimson, her eyes glowing in the orange of fire. But she had no wings growing out of her back.

Venzus was a bit more muscular, with the same characteristics as any imp in their true form. He had wings on his back, but they were closed and unlit by flames. He held out his normal demon hand and nodded.

“Let’s go.”

The two of them separated. Arashia headed straight to the enemy encampment. She smoothly and swiftly weaved through the forest trees. A moment later, she arrived at the enemy camp, and she stood in the open.

The three Cursed Children looked at her with widened eyes, surprised at the sudden appearance of a demon. Arashia looked at their faces, they were different from the ones yesterday. They were changing shifts, it would seem.

A cursed child stepped forward. “You! What are you doing here?”

Arashia held out her hand, and as she flicked them to the side, fiery whips appeared in each of her hands.

“For payback.”

The Cursed Children’s hands morphed into claws. Arashia swung out her whip and lashed out at one enemy. It hit, burning off a part of their clothes and flesh. But as expected, they began to regenerate.

The other two got close, and thus she quickly, although a bit frantically, backed away. At the same time, she swung both her hands towards each opponent. The whips wrapped around the two enemies tightly. The smell of burning fabric and flesh emanated into the air.

“What are you—!”

Immediately, Arashia began running into the forest, maintaining the whip tightly, and dragged the two with her into the trees.

The third cursed child was confused. “Release them!”

The cursed child chased after them. Arashia looked back for a moment and formed a small smile. Their plan was working now that they had left the camp. She kept on running in the forest, intending on getting farther away from the enemy camp.

The two Cursed Children were trying their best to be free, trying to break the whip that was holding and hurting them. As they moved, they often crashed into some trees, their backs and heads getting hit. However, it didn’t take long before they broke the whips.

Arashia stopped and turned to face them.

“Damn demon,” one said. “You will be a good source of blood.”

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Arashia frowned. “Nuh-uh. You’re the ones gonna die here.”

“What a fool. You can’t take us all alone.”

“So what?”

Her hand blazed and as she swept them sideways, she shot out several fire arrow-like projectiles in a wide arc. The three enemies dodged, but a couple was hit, but that didn’t stop them from rushing towards her. They even turned into black fog.

Seeing that, she frantically began running away. She must not get reached, otherwise it would be all over for her. And she had made preparations for this moment. She had reached a particular point.

A trap was nearby.

She snapped her fingers. At that moment, a fiery magical net sprouted and expanded right below them. The three of them were caught up in it, where even in their fog form, they could not escape. Before they could attempt to cut through it, Arashia came to a halt and gathered her magic.

“Infernal Surge.”

She cast a spell, unleashing a tide of melting fire in front of her. It engulfed all those within the net. Considering that her net was of the same caliber, made of inferno, it shouldn’t damage her own net much. However, it would be a different case for the ones it captured.

“Aaagh!”

“It hurts!”

“Stop!”

They cried in agony. Arashia couldn’t see what was happening to them, but their screams echoed in the surroundings. Even the critters in the forest either grew curious or ran away. Once the fire had settled, the view of them became clearer. Their skin was seared terribly, flesh sizzling, and they groaned in the intense fading pain. They seemed to breathe heavily amidst the agony as they all turned their eyes towards Arashia. She could feel the sheer rage and hostility in those eyes.

While their body was regenerating, their claws began tearing through the net, and it also started burning their blades, but of course they couldn’t be melted. Arashia was about to cast another spell, but she canceled it the moment one of the opposition got through a small tear in his fog form.

The female demon quickly backed away and began running. Looking back, they were now more determined to chase her down. Although, she did notice that they were less fierce compared at night. In another situation, they would have probably been more relentless.

As they ran, she set off another trap, and this time, it came from two trees on both sides of the path. It successfully caught them. Arashia conjured another surge of inferno to ravage the Cursed Children. However, this time, as the flames rampaged, they clawed through the net.

“Eh?” Arashia couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded. Even though she could regenerate, she imagined that even she couldn’t think clearly in a situation like that, nor do anything really.

She conjured a pair of fiery whips in each hand and waited for the enemy to come out of the net. The objective was not to hurt them intensely or kill them — which would be impossible — but rather to make as much time as possible. But given how things were going, she wasn’t sure she could buy a lot of time for Venzus to free their friends.

One cursed child emerged from the net, and thus, Arashia quickly swung her hand. The fiery whip extended and lashed at the foggy opponent. Given that it was a magical attack, the whip made contact and hit the cursed child. He was thrown into a tree as he incurred heavy damage and intense burn. He groaned on the ground as he waited for his wound to heal.

Another one came out, and Arashia attacked him as well. She succeeded. However, in the third one, the cursed child evaded, and Arashia quickly swung her other whip, merely slowing the enemy down. Still, there was no time to stay still, as the other enemies began to move.

She rushed away, making sure to keep her distance.

Better hurry, Venzus.

***

Venzus was hiding behind the trees as he watched Cursed Children that were guarding the area leave to chase down Arashia. No, not exactly chase, but rather, Arashia forced two of them out and the third was forced to follow his allies. They figured that some of the opposition might decide to stay behind and not foolishly leave their post. Venzus was proud that she would even be capable of pulling a pair of them.

Considering that her whip was magical in origin, not even in their fog form could the Cursed Children escape from her grasp unless they break it.

Here’s hoping there’s only one enemy inside the cave.

Now that the coast was clear, Venzus rushed towards the cave. He stopped on the rock wall at the entrance as he heard faint footsteps coming. Must be an enemy that wanted to see what was going on. Venzus readied his claws as the footsteps got closer.

When the enemy was in reach, his claws blazed with inferno, and he stepped into the open. At the same time, he stabbed the enemy into the throat with one hand. The cursed child was shocked to experience a sudden brutal attack, his wide eyes looking at the red-skinned demon.

The flames grew in intensity, burning the enemy’s throat and bone. He tried to turn into fog, but he was being hit by a magical attack, and thus he couldn’t. Venzus lifted the cursed child upwards, and the latter’s newly morphed claws stabbed into Venzus.

The demon stabbed his other claw into the enemy’s knee and a burst of flames followed, severing it. He then held out his hand on the enemy’s belly, unleashing a powerful blast of fire. It threw the enemy away, the blazing claws slipping away from the neck, with mostly the spine remaining to keep the head and body together. The cursed child flew into the forest with smoke and ravaged body.

Thirty seconds.

That should be at most the time he had before that enemy came back. Thus, without a moment wasted, he continued into the cave. It was not a deep cave or anything. It didn’t take long before he reached the end and found three familiar faces tied in thick chains, wrapped tightly around their limbs. They were leaning against the wall and lying on the floor. Altogether, they looked terrible, exhausted.

They all looked up at him with surprise.

“Venzus?!” the tied demon, Droz, exclaimed in genuine surprise.

But there was no time to pay attention to them, for there was still another cursed child watching over them. Venzus clicked his tongue. The cursed child lunged at him, and their claws met.

Shit! I need to free them fast.

Venzus stepped back and swung a wave of fire at the enemy. But the latter took it all and continued on charging at the demon. He shouldn’t take several seconds from this, the other enemy would catch up at any second. With a strained face, he turned his eyes towards Droz. He noticed the demons had begun melting the chains, taking the chance now that the enemy had averted their attention. However, that would take some time, and Venzus didn’t have time.

“Chains!” Venzus shouted.

Droz realized what he was trying to convey, and thus he shifted his body up and held out his hands upward. Venzus aimed at Droz’s hands, he was stabbed into the chest, but he successfully sent an arc of flames towards his target.

The fiery slash hit the chains, but also damaged Droz’s hands. But that was alright. Droz quickly slammed his blazing hand into the chains wrapped around his legs, shattering them. Now that he was free, Droz quickly rushed to his two colleagues and broke the chains holding them.

Droz quickly ran to assist Venzus, stabbing the enemy in the back and throwing him into the wall. Venzus felt relieved that they were finally free.

“We need to get—” Venzus’s word were cut short when the enemy from before returned.

The cursed child attacked the other two weak demons. “Stay down, demons!”

Venzus grew anxious. They must lose these enemies before they could truly escape. They could chase them to the ends of the world. Venzus and Droz faced the opponent they were just fighting, and they began exchanging attacks. Amidst the battle, Venzus looked around, thinking — no, this idea crossed his mind earlier.

“Let’s get out of this cave!”

The three other demons looked at Venzus for a moment.

Venzus began to retreat slowly, along with the others. Considering that the demons were fighting each of the two Cursed Children by pair, they were at an advantage. But it wouldn’t last long, and they still needed to stop the enemy from chasing them down as they escape.

Venzus then continued, “Keep them inside!” He gathered a great amount of magic and let out a torrent of infernal flames at the enemy. The cave was filled with fire, and the enemies were pushed back from the pressure of the magic. He turned towards his allies. “Keep the pressure!”

The other demons unleashed flames of their own, but they were, of course, weaker than Venzus’s. But altogether, they were pinning down the Cursed Children. The enemy cried out in despair at the fires of hell tearing up their bodies.

The demons kept unleashing flames as they slowly made their way out. Venzus looked around and he sent powerful fiery slashes at the cave walls and ceiling. The place began to rumble and crumble. The demons stopped their magic as debris began falling.

“Run!” Venzus shouted.

And they ran outside while the cave collapsed, pinning down those left inside under the debris.

“Let’s fly now,” Venzus said the moment they were outside. There was no time to dally around.

The demons sprouted their wings, except one was unable to. He must not have the strength to do it. Thus, Venzus grabbed his hand and carried him as he flew.

“Let’s cover as much distance as possible.”

They flew right above the trees, flying as quickly as they could.

“Hey Venzus,” Droz called. “You’re crazy! I thought you left us already.”

Venzus deeply furrowed his brow. “It wasn’t my idea. Thank the girl.”

“Girl? You mean Arashia?”

“Yeah.”

“... Oh. What’s up with that? Why?”

“Ask her.”

“Where is she?”

“She has her own job to do.”

They flew for about a minute before Venzus began to descend. “Let’s land and walk from here. Can’t risk us being discovered.”

They landed on the ground, hiding under the shade of the trees. Droz panted, leaning on a tree bark.

“No time to rest, you fool. Let’s keep going,” Venzus said.

“Where are we heading?” Droz asked.

“We have a meetup point. It’s far from here, but we’ll be meeting Arashia there.”

“A-Alright.”

***

Arashia set off her fifth trap, and it utterly failed to catch them. They have already read through her plans after all that had happened. And they were getting close to her. She grew even more anxious. This had already become more dangerous for her.

And thus, as a last resort, she had to use her ultimate restraining spell. Unlike last time where she had to expand it, which in turn lessened its strength, restraining three in a smaller area would be much better. Her magic would be more powerful.

A cursed child swung down at her. She stepped to the side, and she could feel the passing of the wind as she dodged a mere inch off. She noticed one coming to her side, and she swept her hand, sending a wave of fire. But it only served to slow down the enemy for but a second. Arashia turned to the right, heading in a particular direction. She also had to make sure the enemies are at least close to each other.

She looked ahead, her destination was close. She stopped and faced the three oppositions, holding out her hand. In her palm formed fiery strings.

“Infernal Entanglement.”

She shot out a thick and blazing net. It moved swiftly, immediately capturing the three Cursed Children. The net then shone brighter, emanating a more intense heat. At the same time, Arashia cast her infernal and deadly surge at the enemy. They tried clawing out of the net, but the string couldn’t be scratched. Even the flesh that touched it was beginning to burn.

As the enemies were shrouded in flames, with nothing but the inferno to fill their sight, the demon lady had already left. Gone.

It took some time before the flames dissipated, and the net was torn. The Cursed Children moaned in pain as their charred flesh was regenerating. They looked around in confusion, searching for the demon. They looked at each other before moving forward.

One of them found something.

“Here!”

The other two quickly moved in to see a large hole on the ground. It was big enough to fit at most two people.

“She definitely escaped through here.”

“I’ll get that fucking demon.” This cursed child turned into black fog and flew into the hole.

The other two then followed.

The tunnel went a fair bit of distance. Wherever this may lead, that would surely be where that demon went. However, eventually, and unexpectedly, they reached a dead end. They were surprised. Indeed, it was a dead end. There was no small passageway or any collapsed part. It was as if the dig ended here.

They lost her.

In truth, Arashia did not jump and escape through the hole. While the enemies were engulfed in flames, she cast her anti-detection spells and ran into the forest. Indeed, the hole was meant to mislead them, while she ran away into the forest in an entirely different direction. So while the Cursed Children wasted time under the ground, she was already far gone.

Hehe, they got duped!

Arashia, as she traversed the forest in a sprint, grinned happily when she saw that no one was chasing her. With this, she hoped it was enough time for Venzus to retrieve and escape with the others.

Can’t believe Venzus’s hole plan worked. He really used a lot of his brain juice.

She then started making her way to the meetup point.

***

Arashia had reverted to her human form to be less conspicuous. She was walking down a dirt path. She looked up at the sky, it was late in the afternoon. So far, everything was peaceful.

She was getting close to a crossroad; it was their meetup point. And looking ahead, there were four humans standing, waiting. They were all familiar. Venzus was alive, and Droz and the others were there. A great feeling of relief washed over her.

With an excited and happy expression, she jogged over to them.

“You’re okay!” she said, genuinely joyful to see them.

Droz grinned and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We heard it was your idea.”

Arashia lowered her eyes shyly, placing a hand on her cheek. “Yes…”

“That was dangerous.”

“... I know. But I must do it.”

“Why?”

She looked at them with fond eyes. “You’re my friends.”

The demons looked at each other, surprised and baffled. It was so strange for them, it was childish. They found it hard to believe that was her reason for doing all that. It was just so alien to hear it from a demon.

Droz sighed. “Thank you, Arashia. Really.”

Arashia giggled. But Droz continued.

“Still, don’t ever do that again. It is unnecessary. Even if you see us as friends, it’s not worth it to put yourself in danger.”

“But… I don’t want to.”

Droz shook his head. “That is my advice. But we are thankful to you.”

“... Venzus helped as well.”

“Of course he did.” He chuckled. “And he got all teary eyed when we got out safely.”

“Really?”

“I did fucking not! For the record, I don’t care about you. I was just looking out for her.”

Droz smirked. “Ooooh, look at you, so compassionate.”

“Wanna get beat up, you shit?”

“Hehehe, still doesn’t change the fact you risk your life for little old us.”

“Tch!” Venzus crossed his arms, displeased.

Arashia looked at them with a wide smile. She liked the happy and casual atmosphere. And it made her feel everything was worth it.

“Anyway,” Venzus continued. “Let’s get going. Let’s get as far away from here as possible.”

They all agreed. And they began walking down the path towards the south.

“Where are we going?” Arashia asked.

“Need to be asked? Back home,” Venzus said.

Arashia energetically nodded. “Can we get some food on the way?”

“Fine, we’ll buy you a lot. We owe you.” Droz patted her back vigorously.

Venzus frowned. “We don’t have the coins, you know.”

“Eh, plenty of humans to rob from.” Droz shrugged.

And they did rob some humans that came their way.