Strange... This is all very strange...

I continue to watch the memory play out in front of me while I rest on a fancy recliner in my soul realm. The monster known as a 'Chimera' barrels through one car after another as it chases after the man who killed its mother.

How is this possible? It's already extremely rare for me to gain an ability after absorbing a Lord or Eldritch, but I also retained the creature's memories? I understand why the Chimera's soul was so different after watching its memories, but for it to be this different is honestly shocking.

The Chimera screamed in rage as the vehicle carrying Hyon Sung-Ryung drove out of sight. Soon after that, it activated one of its abilities, a very special one that excels in tracking. The very same ability I acquired from absorbing its soul.

I was ecstatic earlier when I tested my new ability after watching the Chimera use the one it's showing me now. It allows me to see the past movement of souls in the area, and I can also 'mark' souls so the silhouettes they are attached to look different, which allows me to immediately pick out 'who is who' in any crowd. I have no idea of how long the remnants of soul activity stay behind, but even if it's only an hour, this ability is going to be unbelievably useful for me.

"You done Rei?"

Hmm?

Looking over at the widescreen TV I see Alicia standing over my body that's lying down on one of Euphemia's couches. Dismissing the Chimera's memory, I immediately exit my soul realm and look up at her.

"Is it time?"

Alicia nodded.

I got off the couch and sighed.

"I found something that will make the 'negotiations' easier."

Alicia was already turning to leave but she whipped back around when I said that.

"How?! Haven't you just been lying there absorbing that monster's soul?"

"Yes, and just like the Tengu's little spy, I was able to take a peek at his memories. I know where it came from, why it was here, and what dragged it to those villages. I can say without question that it was also unrelated to the disappearances."

Alicia turned and walked toward the exit. "... I have so many questions about that enviable ability of yours, but for now who is the culprit you're referring to."

"A type of Demon I've never seen before. Did the Lizardmen ever speak of a Demon with four gangly arms and a perpetual giant grin on its face?"

Alicia shook her head. "Nope. That one is new for me too. Sounds really freaking creepy though..."

No argument here. I was rather disgusted by the thing when it showed up in the Chimera's memories.

Alicia led me outside to Euphemia's wagon, where everyone was already seated and waiting for us. I jumped in after Alicia and took the only free seat next to Nisha.

Alicia looked at me as the wagon began moving. "Tell them what you found. Maybe someone here will know what that Demon is."

"Demon?" Keith asked.

I explained to them everything I saw in the Chimera's memories. Everyone calmly listened until I began to describe the Demon, at which point both Keith and Nisha's eyes went wide.

Keith put his hands over his face. "Rei, did you see any of the spells it used?"

"Hmm... I think I only saw one? It placed a mark on the Chimera's soul and warped it back to where the Demon found it after the Chimera had finished burning down a village."

Keith went silent after that.

I was hoping he'd illuminate us as to why he and Nisha appeared to be very disturbed when I described the Demon. Obviously they have seen the thing before, so hopefully they'll tell us later.

"Now it's a Demon... The fun never stops in this place." Ishar said.

This revelation didn't seem to bother Euphemia or Seifer in the least. They both had the same stoic faces they'd had all day. Clearly determined to deal with the king and get some answers, one way or the other. I assume the death of the broodling also played a massive role in lifting the princess's spirits.

"Seifer, how come they had you watching the wagon? Weren't they worried you'd kill the shaman when you were alone with him?"

Seifer shook his head. "The shaman gave me the all-clear before we left the manor. He scanned my soul and said for the time being I was safe. However, um..."

Seifer looks over at the princess awkwardly, which makes her smile in response. "It's fine you can say it. The shaman said there was a good chance I wouldn't be able to resist. But I did! I could feel the vile thing trying to worm its way into my mind when I was hiding in that cellar."

So that's why she was so downtrodden when she arrived... But the Lich would have choked her out if she turned hostile so there was never any danger anyways.

"... Just to confirm Euphie, but how well do you expect this meeting to go?" Cera asked.

"Not well at all," Euphemia replied nonchalantly.

Teifa raised her hand. "Um... I'm going to be okay, right?"

"Probably not... But I promise to bring your soul back to your people."

"Oh shut up Rei! You're the reason I'm here to begin with..."

Euphemia chuckled. "Now now, don't make fun of our little goblin guest. I swear that nothing will happen to you Teifa so long as you're with me." Euphemia put a finger to her chin, then continued, "Unless of course, he has all of us killed... You never know with my Father these days."

Teifa curled up into a ball and I could see Euphemia ever-so-slightly grin when she saw that.

She's certainly done a one-eighty after the broodling died. Her mood has lifted to the point she's even joking around now. However, from time to time she'll look incredibly sad, which is to be expected after everything that's happened(including her best friend dying).

... Hmm, she's probably forcing herself too. It's gotten a little easier since I first 'revived', but I still have to make a valiant effort to not think about my friend's deaths.

"Rei." Nisha pokes my arm.

... I must be imagining things. I can't imagine this girl talking to me, ever.

I look to my right, and sure enough, she's staring right at me.

"... Yes?"

"Can you describe the Demon again?" Nisha asked.

The deadly look in her eyes says this is apparently important to her. Either that or she's plotting my death with her eyes alone.

"Want me to just show you?"

Nisha's eyes widen. "Are you... Sure?"

It should be fine. Both Lindon and Albel are dead now, so with only her and Keith left I can't imagine her doing something to my soul. There's also the part where Arkaios would purge her if she did something as stupid as that when Urza already has so many other problems they need to deal with.

Nisha scooches closer to me and wraps her left arm around my right arm, hugging me tightly against her, resulting in my right arm being crushed by something soft.

"... Uh?"

"What? I might fall after entering your soul realm. It's not just to hide my body, I also feel much more secure laying inside something or hiding in the ground."

Then just lean back with your legs against the table like I was going to do? One of the first things Practitioners learn after creating their soul realm is how to access it in any situation. Riding in a wagon should be one of the easiest places...

Nisha brings her nose close to my shoulder. "... You have no smell. My god, you're so weird. Seriously, what the hell? Are you a walking corpse? There's a reason we put you in that jail cell instead of killing you."

Keith chuckles, "I almost forgot about that... We really did think you were dead."

"You locked her up previously? And not only that, you were going to kill her?" Seifer asked.

Keith looks around awkwardly. "Err, well there were uh... Special circumstances? Everything is fine now though... I think."

Nisha taps my leg. "Come on let's go. I want to see if it's the Demon we met before."

"You're the one who delayed it..."

Closing my eyes, I erase the veil from one area of my soul. Soon after that I can feel Nisha connecting.

A much deeper connection than I'm used to, but that's to be expected considering what she is.

Immediately the scenery changes to my soul realm and Nisha looks around with a disgusted face.

"I heard about your upbringing... Looks like it was true. These are the 'Xerath' huh? Arkaios has set Demons as priority number one. Xerath are number two, and lastly, any hostile Eldritch we come across are number three. I'm gonna have to get used to the sight of these things apparently..." Nisha looks around in a panic. "Rei, I'm not the only one connected to you right now!"

"I know, it's the Tengu and there's nothing I can do about it. I probed it earlier when I was absorbing the Chimera, but it's locked in tight. It'll be a long time before I'm strong enough to do anything about it."

"... I see," Nisha said.

I sit down on one of the couches, a long fancy one from my home back in Aetheria. Nisha walks over and sits down next to me. Immediately I start flipping through the Chimera's memories, making random bits appear here and there as I search for the Demon. After about twenty seconds I finally find him and change the view so it focuses solely on the Demon.

"That's the Demon... I knew it from your description, but still... My god, is this really happening?" Nisha said.

"Alright you saw it, now tell me what's going on, please? If you know what this Demon is, we're all going to need to know as well before we fight it."

Nisha sighs, "Yeah... You're right. I'm leaving your realm and going to tell everyone in the wagon right now. No point in doing this twice."

Both me and Nisha exit my soul realm, and she immediately begins explaining to everyone that she and Keith have already fought the Demon before, about three months before they met me. Apparently, it had tortured and eaten Keith's sister, which is what led to them summoning a Satyr. Keith did it to both save his friends and kill this very same Demon.

"But that makes no sense? Why would a Demon help you kill another Demon? And why were you so certain this 'Satyr' would most certainly help you?" Cera asked.

Keith looked away, so I cut in. "As for why a Satyr would kill another Demon, it's because the pros far outweigh the cons. They get far more out of contracts with humans than they do for keeping some random Demon alive. Case in point, they can now place portals here. As for why he was certain of this... I believe I have an idea." I look at Keith, "I'm starting to get a feel for how that creature thinks, so I'm almost positive of this, but did a certain raven tell you how to summon a Satyr and inform you that it would not betray you?"

Aresa who had been quiet up till this point opened her eyes and shoved her board in front of Keith's face.

"... I'm sorry Lady Aresa, it's true," Keith said.

"So that's why you suddenly came back and said we were summoning a Demon... We all knew something happened while you were gone, but none of us had even considered the Tengu as a possible culprit." Nisha said.

"Why not? It's definitely something he would do."

Nisha shrugged. "He had just reappeared one year prior. Up till that point, the Tengu was nothing more than a threat from the past we had to learn about in school. A pointless history lesson that almost nobody remembered or cared about."

{Maybe for all of you. Both me and Rai'ga were always scared he'd come back since nobody knew why he disappeared after killing Tsukiko, the Kitsune Eldritch.}

Aresa leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes again.

She's been completely exhausted ever since I used most of her mana... Apparently, if she can't return to her chateau, she needs to sleep for an enormous amount of time to recover.

The wagon rolls to a stop and Tyra immediately opens the door.

"Euphie, we've arrived, but..." Tyra glares at someone to her left.

We begin exiting the wagon one by one, with me coming out last. Next to Tyra, I see the knight who locked her up before.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Euphemia steps forward. "Oh good, I was hoping to talk to you as well, Tyrell. How very kind of you to allow me the opportunity to pay you back before we talk to Father."

Tyra grabbed the hammers at her waist at the same time Seifer was willing two scythe's into his, but Tyrell reacted by hitting the ground with one knee while laying his weapon down.

"... And this is?" Euphemia asked.

"I surrender. I realize now that this is the best opportunity to change the King's mind. Also, I'm nowhere near healed from my wounds yet. I wouldn't be able to beat Tyra right now, let alone Seifer as well."

Euphemia narrowed her eyes at Tyrell. Tyra did the same, but after staring at Tyrell for a little while she ended up sighing and putting her weapons away.

"Euph---My Lady, let us hear him out," Tyra said.

Euphemia kept staring at Tyrell. "Seifer?"

Seifer's scythes disappeared as he approached Tyrell, picking up his weapon and blinking that out of existence as well.

"... I see. In that case, please stand Tyrell, and come inside my wagon. I'd like to talk to you first before approaching my Father."

Another knight nearby approached Euphemia. "Apologies princess, but the King is waiting for you as we speak. So if you would---"

Euphemia ignored the knight, turning around and entering her wagon. Tyra saw that and chuckled at the knight before following after the princess. One by one everyone else filed back into the wagon except for me and Ishar. We both sat down with our backs to the wagon.

"Thoughts?" Ishar asked.

"Well, the King is definitely working with an Eldritch from below, it's just a question of why. As for the Demon... I'm really not sure? If we're to believe the Demon came here after fighting Keith's group, then it's only been here for about five months at most."

Ishar raises his hands and begins cracking his knuckles. "And yet, it didn't do anything until recently? A 'perpetually grinning Demon' sounds like something that would bring far more destruction to this place. Also, why did it bother using this 'Chimera' instead of doing the dirty work itself?"

I shrugged. "Hell if I know. I'm an expert on Satyr, but any other Demon aside from Imps are a mystery to me."

"You only saw Satyr and Imps in the Xerath realm?"

"Yep. I was isolated to my little area of the realm though. There could have been different Demons elsewhere."

We waited in silence for quite a while, until finally the wagon door opened and everyone followed Euphemia towards the fortress's main door. Ishar and I stood up and did the same.

The first room you see after entering through the main door is leagues different from the side door I entered before. It's one gigantic room that's built like a warehouse, with stairs on each side that go up to different levels. I can also see doors adorning the walls on each level.

There have to be hundreds of rooms in here... I do like this design though. You'd have to be me to sneak through here. Anything out of place would be spotted and killed instantly.

The princess leads us to the staircase opposite of where we came in. Surprisingly, once we began scaling the stairs, we stopped on the third floor instead of going all the way to the top. A normal-looking door only three doors away from the stairs is where the princess finally stopped. The two men in front of the door lightly bowed to her and then stepped aside for us. For the most part, their faces were impassive, but they were clearly surprised to see Tyrell when he passed by them.

Inside the room, there was only the King, Prince, and two maids waiting for us. The King raised an eyebrow when he saw Tyrell but said nothing as the man stood at attention beside Tyra near the wall.

"Hello, Father. Thank you for meeting with me." Euphemia said as she sat down. She glanced at her brother and continued, "And look who's here, my brother who said he'd be having dinner at my place after the Guardians arrived, and yet no one seemed to know where he was till now! I'm relieved to see that you are safe..."

"I'm sorry Euphie. I've been rather busy lately..."

"I'm sure you have been," Euphemia said.

"Meaning?" Parn replied, narrowing his eyes.

Euphemia sighed. "Alright, you know what, I can't bring myself to play this game anymore." Euphemia leaned back onto the couch, sitting more casually for the first time since I'd met her. "Which one of you wonderful family members of mine brought a Demon here?"

The King's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "What is the meaning of this?! Why would you... Ah!" The King then glared at the rest of us. "Outsiders... You must be responsible for this...!"

"DEMON! WHICH! SPEAK NOW!!" Euphemia yelled, pointing at both of them.

The King sighed and pinched the brim of his nose, while Parn just stared impassively at Euphemia.

Euphemia threw her hands up in the air. "I already know you're in a pact with a foreign Eldritch Father. A fish creature from underground. Putting the Demon aside for now, mind telling me why you're allied with that Eldritch?"

The King shook his head. "You would not understand. I sent you to that home to live in peace because I knew you wouldn't be able to understand why such an allegiance was necessary."

"At least try and explain it to me, please? After the hellish week I've had, I deserve that much." Euphemia said.

The King glared at Ishar. "I made that pact before I was King, for several reasons. First off, I needed something to defend us from below. The damned crocodiles proved that to us on several different occasions. And secondly, we needed food. The gold mine had dried up and the land was slowly dying. Nobody could figure out why, so we had to come up with a plan, and fast. Fortunately, none of our people have questioned why we have so many fish despite Kellog only having a few small lakes."

Tyra sucked in air sharply off to the side, making everyone look at her.

"You... No, wait... Something Rei said in the wagon gave me an epiphany as I listened to this." Tyra continued, "My King... How did you know there was an Eldritch close to the surface, and most importantly, who contacted it for you?"

... Oh shit, I see where she's going with this.

"..............."

The King went silent, closing his eyes.

Tyra's head hung down as she mumbled, "And my brother...? How is it connected to him?"

"... I didn't know it was going to be him. I was only assured that my Father and Brother would be killed. You half prevented it, but fortunately, my Father gave up the crown to me soon after that, instead of my weak and cowardly brother who was originally meant to reign." The King said.

"Father, did you really...?" Euphemia asked.

The King stood up, pacing back and forth. "Peace... The fools wanted peace with the Crotia and Xelba. I know not whether Xelba agreed, but the Crotia did, and they... They were actually going through with it. After those vile, despicable, loathsome creatures had killed, tortured, and maimed countless citizens of ours, they wanted PEACE?!"

The King's face turned red as he began walking faster, "Peace!!! All the raids, all the killings, all the... No, it doesn't matter. My mother, your very own grandmother was killed by those creatures, and I knew for a fact that the peace accords were fake, hell, so did Father! But he was going through with it anyway. The Crotia merely wanted time to deal with Viseux who was on the move to evict them from Urza. And thanks to me taking the crown, I was able to make it a reality. I solved the food shortage, evicted those useless crocodiles, and even now we continue to collect a large amount of metals from underground as a bonus. All things that never would have happened if my spineless brother lived."

"... And the price? I've seen your cages down below. I was put in one after all." Tyra said.

"What?" The King said, clearly confused.

Everyone on our side looked at Tyrell, who also appeared confused by his King's response. "My King, you... You're the one who told me to capture 'the white one'." He pointed towards me, then continued, "And if we couldn't capture her, then we were to grab Tyra or Cid instead. 'The white one would try and save them' we were told, so..."

The King sat down and slammed the desk. "I never gave such a ridiculous order! What is wrong with you Tyrell?! Tyra has served us dutifully her whole life, and I owed her a debt after getting her brother killed, even if that wasn't my intention. So as a means to lighten my own remorse, I sent her to look after my daughter, which also served as an early retirement."

Tyrell looked stunned. "But it was your voice using your communication crystal! Who else but you could use it, My King?"

"No one should be able to... Even my own children can't use it without my permission."

The room went silent while the King became lost in thought.

I have a pretty good idea of who it was since there is only one person here who would call me by that name, but there's also something else I'd like to know.

Leaning down, I whisper into Euphemia's ear, "Ask him if the push to the east is related to the Eldritch."

"Father, a slightly different question, but Rei here just asked something I was also curious about. Why the sudden push to the east? And is it related to the fishmen?"

"Ahh... Right, that. Ask your brother here, it's his plan. And yes, he wanted to use the fishmen. Their 'civilization'... If I can call it that, goes for hundreds of miles. They might even be underground in every single region of Urza. They're the ones who even told me about all the gold to begin with."

Holy shit, that explains why they seemed to be everywhere. They are fish, after all, so it's probably not very difficult for them to create more... I can't even begin to imagine just how many eggs the god can lay in a week.

"Brother?"

Parn shrugged. "There isn't much more to add. Father is soon going to pass the crown to me, so I figured the first thing we should do is fill our coffers. The Eldritch already agreed to clear the way so long as we increase our deliveries to it a little. At least that was the plan before the sky disappeared. Now I'm not sure of anything anymore..."

Deliveries... Like that little girl? I was worried that Mia might have fed her to the broodling, but Tyra told me she had hidden her in the manor without anyone seeing her before Tyrell showed up and chased after her again. She's still in the manor even now. Euphemia brought in a few people from town to look after the place for now while she finds new maids and butlers.

"Speaking of those 'deliveries'... Are you feeding our people to that thing?" Euphemia asked.

"No, gods no... They're brought to us from Viseux. Before you ask, I have no idea of where they are originally from." The King replied.

Hah... So it's okay so long as they're outsiders? It seems like every place has a little 'Xelba' in them.

"And you're fine with this brother?"

"It's either that or starve. The peanuts are the only other damn thing we're growing right now thanks to this weather. The only good news is that the Eldritch is currently looking for a place away from the goblins where we can place our farms underground." Parn looked at Teifa and continued, "Speaking of goblins... Why is this thing here?"

Teifa looked like she wanted to flee right then and there, but Euphemia moved to the left on the couch, blocking her brother from seeing Teifa who was standing behind it.

"P-Princess...!" Teifa said, nearly crying.

"She's with me. I heard all about your little war with the goblins, and they're more than happy to be at peace. However, after listening to Father earlier, I can already imagine what the both of you are going to say." Euphemia said.

"You're right. There's no way Father would agree to a cease-fire or anything of the sort." Parn replied.

The King sighed. "I don't care about them anymore. I only hated the goblins because they were allies of the Crotia. I told the fishmen to kill them because I was expecting them to be a major problem going forward, but instead they kept to themselves all these years... In retrospect, I should have reached out to them years ago and offered a truce."

Parn whipped his head toward the King. "Are you serious Father?! Just like that?"

The King shrugged. "Of course. Even when the Crotia were here, the goblins only defended the underground. A few stragglers came up and stole food or clothes, but nothing that truly mattered."

For her part, Teifa looked stunned. Seeing her lifelong war with Kellog so easily dismissed was quite shocking I'm sure.

Euphemia clapped her hands. "Now then, enough of these delays. Tell us where you met the Demon, brother."

Parn narrowed his eyes at Euphemia. "And you think it's me because...?"

"'The white one'."

Parn shook a little and glanced at me after hearing that name.

"... What of it? The first time I saw her was barely a week ago."

"Mia told me about your little diary. The one you tried hiding, poorly I might add. It's from one of the upper echelons that used to serve Xelba, and it spoke of Rei quite a bit." Euphemia said.

"Tsk... I loathe the younger version of myself who thought hiding a book under the bed was a good idea. That aside, what does this have to do with the Demon?"

"So you're going to keep this facade going... Tyrell called her 'the white one', and only you could call Rei that. Technically Mia could have too, but it obviously wasn't her. Even she couldn't have slipped into this room and used Father's communication crystals without anyone noticing." Euphemia said.

Parn shrugged. "Still waiting to hear this definitive proof of yours. I fully admit to associating with an unregistered Eldritch, and even feeding the damned thing. But I never, not once, consorted with a Demon."

Annoying little prick is probably unrelated to the Demon, but he clearly has no intentions to tell us why he wanted to have me jailed... I'll look into it myself later on.

I looked at Keith. "You told us about your fight with the Demon, but why were you originally called out to kill it? It might explain why it's disappearing people here."

"Oh, we were actually told it was an Eldritch. We only figured out it was really a Demon after Brian ran into it. After everything that happened with my sister, we kind of forgot to ask him what it was doing when he found it. All I know is that it was in an abandoned church, and I remember seeing a lot of dead farm animals strewn about." Keith said.

Animals...?

"I've heard reports of animals being found eaten in their barns, but surely that's not all a Demon is doing here?" Seifer said.

{Even if they're abandoned, churches will always have a stronger connection to other realms.}

The King, apparently having not noticed her till now, went wide-eyed. "I-I see, thank you Lady Aresa... And thank you so much for assisting my realm during this turbulent time."

"Why is that?" Teifa asked on instinct, then went into a panic when everyone looked at her.

Surprisingly, the King replied to her. "The goblins don't know? Prayers are designated for gods. Even if their prayers have no aim, they unconsciously seek out otherworldly beings in their thoughts. Over time, places of worship become areas filled with ether and it also becomes much easier to enter other realms there. Basically, demonic sacrifices require far fewer people as a result."

"Why the hell did you choose an arena then?" I asked Keith.

"... Because the area was filled with ether, making the whole ordeal much easier. Maybe because it was where lots of people had died in the past?" Keith replied.

That explains why Viktor conducted all his rituals in that massive ruined temple and even placed his little pet there as well. But he never needed anywhere near five hundred people to summon one Satyr... He could've easily got two or three for that amount. I really need to understand these temple connections better going forward. Hopefully Aresa has some books on the matter back at her place.

"I still have a hard time believing you're innocent in regards to the Demon, brother, but at the very least I want that diary. Hand it over." Euphemia said.

"You are out of your mind if you think I'm giving up such a valuable treasure. Also, if you read the diary like I have, you wouldn't be so friendly with that thing behind you."

I couldn't help but laugh when he said that. While it's true I wasn't exactly righteous, it's just the fact that I know Ash embellished everything in the event someone stole his stupid little diary. I'm sure it was meant to hurt me in Xelba and not out here forty-two years later, but he got his wish regardless.

Cera raised her hand. "Excuse me, but how are we certain the Demon is even responsible for the disappearances?"

A good question. The Demon is something you'd expect to be the culprit in a situation like this, but there are no guarantees. Especially if the damned thing has been here for many months.

Cera looked at Keith, "Has anyone else ever seen the Demon before? Or just your group?"

Keith shook his head. "Just us, strangely enough."

The King sighed, "This is going nowhere... I say we break for dinner. What do you say Euphie? It's been a while since you ate with us."

Euphemia stood up, with her face looking like she was about to explode. "... Apologies Father, but I need to head back for now. We'll talk another day."

As she turned to leave I held my hand out. "Wait! We really need to know where Blackwall is."

Cera nodded. "True... We haven't seen him since the first day we arrived. Or any of the Guardians for that matter."

"... Father?"

"Just like the Demon, I have never seen this 'Blackwall' of yours. However, there were eight Guardians who showed up before all of you. Maybe about three days in advance?"

"And does anyone know where they are?" Cera asked.

"Have you tried the inn near my sister's manor? We already knew you'd be staying with her since she asked Father. So when the first group of Guardians showed up, we had them stay in her village." Parn said.

After hearing that, Euphemia walked straight out of the room. Parn just shook his head and shrugged in response.

Everyone but Tyrell followed her out of the room and continued walking behind her until we reached the wagon.

Euphemia turned around. "Well?"

Ishar rubbed his chin, "Hmm... I believe we should head straight to that inn. It may be related to the Demon, or it may not. Regardless, it's best we find this 'Blackwall' as soon as possible."

Euphemia nodded and turned to enter the wagon, and that's when I felt time slow down around me. To my left, I could see the Demon rising out of the ground, right behind Nisha. Ishar reacted immediately thanks to his anti-magic spear shining brightly, and Keith was already drawing his weapons because of his ridiculous reaction speed. The others were lagging behind, but for the most part, everyone here was preparing to kill the creature here and now.

It began to reach out for Nisha but I grabbed her waist and pulled her away right before he reached her. The Demon's perpetual grin quite literally turned into a frown as several of Shana's daggers struck its barrier. A strange sound emitted as the Demon blinked out of existence.

"Damnit! This is the same problem we faced last time..." Keith said, stowing his weapon.

"If you're putting your weapon away already, does that mean it's gone? I've never seen a warp that fast before..." Ishar asked.

"Yes, it's gone for now. The damned thing will be back though. It kept trying to nab one of us until it finally got my sister, and that's when..." Keith trailed off.

"So what exactly do we do then?" Alicia asked.

"Same as before, go to the inn. We just need to be more vigilant from here on out." Ishar replied.

I let go of Nisha's waist. She looked at me for a moment before turning around and entering the wagon. The rest of us filed in after her in silence, with me sitting next to Shana this time.

"I'm tired of this place," Shana said.

Yeah, I think I'm pretty fed up with it too. Once we find Blackwall and kill this fucking Demon, it'll finally be time to go back to Viseux. I'll relax at Aresa's place for a week and then begin the next stage of my journey. The Chimera's soul gave me a shocking amount of strength. So I'm more than ready to leave Urza anytime I want now.