Lucius looked around the bar, and said,

> Quaint.

Ted reeled back. Only a single word response? That was genuinely surprising. With how they always seemed to at least have a few sentences to form a rhythm, or whatever they called it.

He wasn't exactly sure quite how to take that. A compliment, an insult?

"I uh..." Ted mumbled. "I think I'll go back and work on making some alcohol."

Lucius held out their hand and turned their mask down to look at it. All while ignoring Ted completely.

Yo! Bakade, how's it hanging dude? Death cheered. Feeling better already?

Bakade was sitting down at a booth and seemed to have been relaxing. She nodded and gave a simple reply, "Yyyyeeeeeppppp."

Azrail approached the girl with the horned moose skull for a head. He slowly nodded at her. "Glad to see you're on the mend. I was worried it would take a while to recover from your injuries. They looked quite dire after all."

"Aaaallll IIII nnneeeddeeeddd wwwaasss sssoooommmeee rrreesssttt aaannnddd sssooommmeee fffoooodddd." she replied.

"You don't say?" Azrail nodded. "You know, most people need time as well. And your eyes? Are they made of actual fire? Do they get hot?"

Death joined them at the table Bakade had been sitting at. Yeah, spill it girl!

Narissa turned to Lucius and shook her head. "Are you just expecting it to happen? Really?"

Lucius frowned at her but didn't reply as they just held their hand out with their palm up towards the sky.

Narissa rolled her eyes as she put her hands on her hips. "You're interesting, I'll give you that. You obviously have at least some fundamental knowledge of magic, but it's like you only know the theories, but have never actually practiced any of it."

> Practice? Why practice what comes natural?

>

> You call it magic, it's just part of me.

>

> This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

>

> Creation, destruction, life, and yes, death.

>

> All my domain, when I will them to be.

>

> Yet, nothing appears despite my will here.

Lucius grumbled with a cacophony of hushed, yet frustrated voices.

Narissa let out a sigh. "I'm just glad my little imp of a demon isn't here to complicate things." She pointed a finger towards Lucius and said, "You said you were kicked out of your own world, right? Well, maybe it only worked that way because you ruled that dimension. But here? Well, here you're just another schmuck like the others."

Lucius's face contorted into a furious glare.

> You dare look down on me?

>

> I'm the one who is free.

>

> You're the caged bird desperate for Death's escape.

>

> That's the truth that I see.

Narissa shook her head again and then shrugged. "Hey, no skin off my bones if you can't control life and death."

Yeah? Death called out. You want something dude?

"Not you, the...the abstract concept of Death." Narissa clarified.

I mean...isn't that still kinda what I am?

Narissa groaned.

----------------------------------------

While the others made conversation, Sid slipped away. He had stepped outside and his eyes almost immediately caught a wooden building with a narrow hole in the side of it.

"Curious." He muttered to himself.

He chanced getting closer to the building, but as a familiar grunt came from inside, he seemed to think better of it.

Instead, he walked away as he scratched the top of his head.

"Completely forgot about the threat..." Sid said to himself. "However, if he spoke the truth...that would be disastrous."

Sid was clearly lost in his own thoughts as he walked forward in no particular direction. Almost like he was moving just for the sake of it, not to get anywhere or do anything in particular.

"Ugh..." a tired voice groaned in front of Sid.

Wham.

Sid tripped and fell face first into the dirt. He pushed himself up and looked back.

It seemed he tripped over Harold.

Sid scrambled to his feet and immediately checked the principal's pulse.

"Nurse? Is that you?" Harold stammered as if he had just stumbled home from a night of heavy drinking.

"I am no nurse, but I can inspect you as a medical professional would." Sid stated.

"Turn...turn down the lights." he grumbled. "So bright...so tired..."

Harold yawned as Sid tilted his head to the side.

"Curious," Sid muttered as he carefully inspected Harold.

As the inspection went on, Sid seemed to grow visibly worried. His movements got more frantic and sweat even began to appear on his brow.

Soon enough, Sid grabbed Harold roughly and threw the principal over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He turned left, then right. Finally, he decided on a direction, and ran further from everyone else.

With his quick speed, it only took a moment for him to reach the fake beach that had only been moderately repaired. The robot turned humanoid grabbed the back of Harold's head, then dunked his face into the cold water.

"Wha! Who! Ah!" Harold howled in shock. "Wh...blugh!"

He was interrupted, as Sid dunked his head again.

As he pulled him up a second time, Harold complained, "Stop that! I'm a high ranking official and should be treated with proper respect and reverence! Which, of course, does not include dunking my face in this putrid pond!"

Sid roughly turned Harold around and firmly grasped both of his arms as he held him in place.

"We need to talk." Sid demanded. "And you had better answer honestly. Or I will be forced to use more drastic measures."

Harold gulped and offered a weak smile. "A...ask away," He said as his voice cracked.