[Alea Triscan POV]

With that large underground space revealed, I took the first step, past the hole in the wall. My soldiers followed closely behind me, very carefully.

"How strange... I can't feel anything here, even though It seems to have a lot of mana due to the crystals in the walls..." I ended up muttering to myself.

"Can't you feel anything? But you're a sensory mage..." The magma mage who had lost his weapon made a comment as he approached me.

"That means this place is being hidden on purpose. Guys, be very careful!" I gave an order and everyone seemed to straighten up and walk in a less sloppy way, always looking around.

Looking closely, the place was really huge. Not in height, but in length and extension, it could easily be used as an entire underground park if it were filled with plants, trees, and things like that. Comparing the arena where we faced that bizarre acid-spitting Lava Serpent, the height seemed to be about the same, around 10 meters.

We walked around for a bit, it looked more like it was a big path the way it stretched out. To cover more space, the group was divided into four. Two were more focused on observing the areas on the sides, one was aiming to protect our back, and finally, one was more forward focused and with weapons ready to battle, I was with them. We stayed like that for a few minutes, possibly 10 to 15 at least.

"How strange, even forcing it, my sensory magic doesn't seem to be working here..." That's what I thought, but after a few steps, I started to feel a tremendous dark presence, making me cough.

"Lance Aureate... Is everything okay?" our only water mage, asked, worried about me.

It took a few seconds for me to return to my posture. That thought that there was nothing around had been completely destroyed with that presence flooding my senses like a giant wave. It felt like there was something here this whole time, but only now are we out of the spell's effect radius, or whatever, that was affecting my sensory magic before.

"Augment your weapons and prepare already your spells! I'm feeling something awful coming near u-" Before I could finish my sentence, a loud high-pitched noise began to sound and suddenly the path we'd come from closed.

It wasn't as if the ceiling had collapsed preventing us from returning... No... Something dark emerged from the floor and ceiling, trapping us there, it was like wall that resembled metal.

"So... Did a group manage to find my hiding place? How interesting... to say the least." A male voice, curious and dry, emerged. I couldn't see where it was coming from, even though I felt his presence.

All flinched with that, while I looked at my surroundings, like a madwoman, confused and wondering how someone unknown was there and, on top of that, managed to hide from me. But that didn't last long, as I took a few steps, picking up my plant mana special sword and raising it in front of me.

"Identify yourself!" I exclaimed something I would very much regret having done later.

Suddenly the region in front of us, which still seemed to be a path through that big cave, began to disappear, as if it was just some kind of illusion, revealing a strange and tall being, who was sitting on a kind of throne made completely of stones, that were identical to those found on the walls of the place. Behind it, there was only one wall, showing that what we thought was half of a long way, was actually a dead-end.

"Hm... Interesting... Very interesting..." that being said, getting up slowly, that's when I noticed its features well.

He looked easily over two meters tall, had a ragged black robe that covered up to his knees, and a hood with several patches, as if it had been sewn on countless times. Its body, in addition to being tall, was thin, not to the point that I would consider someone that never ate at all, but it was very thin in relation to its height, something that shocked me. Things that looked like completely black horns, like the greatest darkness of all, were on its forehead, pointing upwards with parts of them being covered for its messy black hair.

When looking at its horns, that thing that looked like a demon, seemed to realize this and gave a light laugh. "Lessers.. Why are you staring at my horns?.. Are you jealous by any chance?" It spoke in sadistic way, staring at me with glowing red eyes. The demon was motion one hand out of its cloak, as if it was the kind of person who loved to move around while talking.

In this way, its cloak opened up a little, revealing countless dark bandages covering the demon's entire body, as well as hands with long fingers and sharp nails that matched its horns so much that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it left those two things together. But it only took a step away from that throne and that's when I noticed another small detail.

Neither I nor my mates, none of us were moving a muscle, was that fear? Was that pure fear that affected me?...

No! I'm a white mage, I shouldn't be afraid of things as mana beasts, especially something like that!! It doesn't matter if it's a terrifying demon! If my willpower isn't enough or if my determination isn't shown, I won't have the honor of being a Lance.

Finally I moved, still pointing my sword at that black-horned demon. "So you have something to do with corruption in this dungeon? No... In every other dungeon in the last few years?!" I exclaimed, already trying to get as many answers as possible.

"What if I have... Is there a problem?..." The demon spoke dryly, but I could see the bizarre, deformed smile appearing in its face.

"But...wait..." it soon spoke over its own question, seeming to think of something. "You... Elf in white armor... I feel that you are the possible leader of this group..." the demon commented, touching its face with the tips of the nails.

"What if am I... Is there a problem?" I answered this the same way it had answered me before, causing its face to change into a strange expression that I couldn't understand, but then the smile appeared again.

"Oh... In that case... I must inform you... That none of you will get out of here alive, to tell what happened." At that comment, a drop of sweat broke out on my forehead as I heard whispers behind me, with my soldiers enchanting their swords, shields and other weapons in their hands.

"But... Dear elf... I could only allow one person to leave here alive... To tell the people about my presence... But that person... It would just be you..." When it said that, I flinched a little.

"Let's say... Or you kill your companions... In front of me... And I let you out, without attacking you once..." the demon said with the smile fading from its face. "Or all heads here will roll...." And just like that the demon's smile appeared again, wider, as if this delighted in the idea of pure genocide.

I soon swallow hard, gripping my sword tight, disgusted by the demon's words. "I have been chosen as one of the six protectors of my beloved home! I will not let you destroy my purity with atrocities of this level!" plants began to surround my feet and I could hear a battle cry being let out by my soldiers.

The demon's smile grew in size and it made a slight movement with its hands. Seeing this I and some of my soldiers dodged the attack, but as that movement the demon made was small, others didn't notice and I ended up seeing these soldiers being impaled by a single spell.

"Damn you!" shouted one of the dwarves who were in the group.

And so the battle began, and with it, hell was brought on by that demon.

"Hm.." The demon waved its hands gently, and soon I could feel the ground below me having negative energy.

This made me jump to avoid it, and at the same time I shouted to warn my soldiers. "Careful! Attack!" My body was getting surrounded by more vines, specifically in the inner areas of the armor, on my limbs.

Looking back quickly, still charging the demon, I saw a scene. Some of my soldiers didn't have an excellent reaction time, causing them to be hit by the attack, it looked like black spikes that appeared out of nowhere, piercing their bodies, luckily among those who survived with me, we still had the magma and earth mages. In other words, we still had a terrain advantage.

"Magma Lunge!"

"Magma Slash!"

The dwarves already started to attack, with one of them moving his arm as if he was throwing something, below him, the earth softened and glowed, turning into pure magma that went towards the demon as if it were a massive sphere, the other dwarf swung quickly his weapon, causing a blast of magma to appear from the ground, being thrown at our enemy as well in a vertival shape.

"Air Pump!"

"Water Torrent!"

The two elves also attacked, the water one releasing a very intense element blast, which thanks to the spell of the wind one, gained more attack pressure. They really work good together.

"Great Stomp!"

"Fire Slash!!"

The only human left in our team and another dwarf started to help, with the dwarf's attack the terrain around the demon seemed to be reduced, with a crater created around him, as the human swung his sword hard, making another burst of attack on the air.

In a way that impressed me, I saw the demon move at an absurd speed, dodging the attacks launched as if they were nothing, even though the terrain where it could stand was limited. Also, when it went to dodge the last attack, I suddenly saw the demon disappear into the shadows and reappear behind one of the magma mages, kicking him hard in the back and thus flinging him straight into a wall.

"What?! How did it move there?" exclaimed the other magma mage who seemed to concentrate for another attack.

"Dammit, this is something I would never expect... what was that?!? Some sort of high speed spell?!?" I thought, gritting my teeth and making my attack.

My white hair turned moss green, my eyes glowing that same color, my sword was completely surrounded by vines and roses. With my limbs already covered by it, beneath my advance armor, I used the strength of my muscles and vines to propel myself against the enemy.

"Rose Revenge!!"

The vines that surrounded my blade suddenly seemed to loosen, the length of them all became sharp as big roses' needles and attacked our enemy in a frantic fashion. I saw its body quickly trying to defend itself automatically, with several of those black spikes appearing and disappearing. Its face... the demon was laughing at me like this was all a joke.

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This made me angrier, my whole body started pushing my mana harder into my spell, with more and more sharp vines popping up and attacking that monstrous thing, with most of them sprouting from my legs and back as if they were extensions of my body. My teeth were grinding together, I felt a sharp pain coming from my eyes as if all that concentration was killing me. But it wasn't just my spell that attacked him, I was still trying to hit him using my real sword.

"Take this!!" I screamed in rage, still trying to hit the demon, but nothing happened, it always defended, but that's when I realized something.

This demon for some reason didn't move to defend itself, it used those black spikes, but in the case of attacks in the direction of the head, those were the only moments when it moved minimally. Is something wrong happening? No... It seems more like its head is a weak point??... But I feel like the demon has a mana core in the same place any mage would have, why then does the demon care more about its head than anyother body part?

"Lessers.. Why are you staring at my horns?.. Are you jealous by any chance?" His voice echoed in my mind for a slight second, the demon had said something like that, but why? Is its horns something important to this demon? Maybe I can destabilize it by attacking that area.

"Fire Slash!!"

Again, the only surviving human in my group used that spell, creating a vertical attack against our enemy, this made both of us dodge, as we were very close to each other, plus my vines could be hit, and that would cause a lot of trouble. But that's when I saw, its black spikes disappeared for a moment, the demon was forced to dodge the attack by moving.

Seeing this chance, I ignored the fire attack and launched myself at the demon, some vines were burned, but I managed to reach its head, swinging my blade towards it, with my muscle strength and the help of the vines that were still there, wrapped around my arm, under the armor. And it seemed to work really well.

The attack resulted in a singular damage to the demon's body, he took a few steps back and I watched his face well to understand how I left him, but my gaze became desperate.

I had only done a simple damage to one of the horns, with a piece, which looked like a small and tiny stone falling from there. Its gaze turned to one of complete astonishment and then turned to hate, absolute hate. I felt the mana becoming stronger and more violent as if the demon had turned into a whirlpool with it at the center.

"You... Dare... touch my horns and... damage them...?" It stared deep into my eyes, the red there was before in the pupils had disappeared, now turning into a complete void.

"DIE BITCH!" It exclaimed as I felt my body fill with sudden pain, not only that, but the soldiers seemed to stop screaming, completely frozen in terror, but why?

Looking a little below me, I saw the why of it all. The long black spike had just crossed my sternum, and besides, at the end of the black spike, there was a kind of white ball that was losing its shine...

Was that... a mana core?... No, not just any mana core... it was mine.....?

"A-Aureate!!" the soldiers screamed after realizing what had happened, I felt my connection to plants slowly unraveling as my sword simply turned into a set of disappearing particles.

"N-No..." I tried to speak, but blood came out of my mouth, making me cough a lot.

"Oh... So this is how a Lance cries?" The demon said teasingly. "But... you touched and injured my horns... So you losing a mana core... DOES NOT balance at all." it said, holding tight to one of my arms as it stomped one foot on me, impaling me more with that black spike.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs to externalize my pain, and still pressing its foot into my stomach, starting to pull my right arm with its bare hands.

"NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOO!!" I screamed more in pain, feeling my entire arm being ripped off by force, blood was gushing out of it, leaving only the part of my right shoulder.

I looked around at everyone, still screaming in pain. "HELP!! HELP!! PLEASE STOP!!!"

My screams didn't seem to reach anyone, everyone there was paralyzed once again with fear, except the demon, which threw my right arm away and soon I felt that black spike disappearing, making me fall completely backwards on the floor. More blood going out from the hole made in my stomach area. But it didn't seem to stop there, that smile told me that I would suffer more at its hands.

"Hmm... I still don't think it's enough..." the demon said, now turning its back to me, with one foot again on my stomach and putting the other next to my legs.

Before I could try to protest again, I felt its stomping hard on the floor, more specifically in the area between my legs and a large dark blade appeared from the ground, hurting the area of my thighs. It was like a badly made deep cut from an amateur, or in this case, a professional who wanted to give people pain. My screams echoed more when I felt the demon using its bare hands again to force my thighs more against the blades completely severing my legs.

"Now... There's only one thing left... I've already taken away your magical sensitivity, now... I'll take your vision." The demon said, smiling in a disturbing way while I already knew I couldn't get away from there.

It got very close to my face, stepping on my only remaining arm, so I wouldn't try anything, and slowly took my left eye out using its long nails, my screams were unbearable, but it continued to talk over them. "Did you know that when someone loses their eyesight... all other senses became more powerfull?"

"Well... after I take your eyesight, I'll kill the remaining soldiers, and you'll hear their cries for help... their cries for mercy, you'll hear... you'll feel... and you won't be able to do anything!!" He exclaimed as he tried to hit my other eye, but something stopped him.

A strong tremor happened just now, causing the demon to stop its action and look around. "What the fuck is this?!" When he exclaimed that, my remaining eye widened, making me feel the slightest bit of hope. Something that shouldn't have been in this demon's plans just happened... I hope someone-....

Wait... No! NO!! Whatever it is, if it's any adventurer, it's going to be killed by this demon! It will be one more prey in this thing's nest...?!

A loud and sharp noise began to be heard, that thing was approaching, and the Demon simply looked around confused, due to the echo of the cave, it was not possible to identify which side that sound came from. But it became obvious when a voice emerged.

"UTOOOO! YOU BASTARD!!!"

I listened carefully to that voice and then a being with big horns and wings appeared kicking the demon in front of me, the demon was thrown to a wall, and not only that... One of the demon's horns had been completely ripped off with that attack and fell to my side.

That being landed on the ground, so I could better see its appearance. He had a green robe that gradually changed to cyan, a pair of horns and wings, both black with purple and red accents, and long messy hair that appeared to be more gray than black. His face wasn't as clearly visible, but I immediately recognized the mask he was wearing. It was a white mask with green stars and a blue line that cut diagonally, parts of the mask were broken, revealing skin that was a little paler than the last time I'd seen him.

"L-luley...?" My voice came out a lot weaker than I expected, but he looked my way and walked over to me, making me notice more about him.

His beautiful blue eyes didn't seem to exist, and instead there was a look with a strong yellow glow and slightly elongated pupils like a snake's. Both his hands seemed to be on fire, it wasn't the common fire, and not even the blue and green fires he made, that fire was...

That fire was dark... Identical to the ones that bizarre Lava Serpent I faced before had.

"D-Don't touch her!" One of the soldiers, the water elf, exclaimed, clearly shaking, but raising his staff.

"Don't worry... I would never hurt her... After all, she is my 'big sister'." Luz's voice was strange, but I couldn't tell what the difference was between him now and before.

"W-wait...H-He's righ-"

"Don't talk, Alea... If you do, chances are your death will be quicker... I can help you. But... I need to settle accounts with a certain 'Sadistic Jester'." Luz interrupted me and cast that dark flame over me. I closed my eye instinctively, quite afraid, but not feeling pain... actually I wasn't feeling any pain. When I opened my eye, I saw those flames in the severed areas of my body, where my left eye was and in the hole in my stomach.

"What are your elements?" He asked the mages there, while I could see with my remaining eye, the demon was slowly rising.

"One of each element plus two magma mages, but one of them is unconscious!" one of the elves answered him, while I saw the demon's face rise, he had a look of surprise directed at me.

No... wait... That monster was actually looking at his horn that had landed next to me.

"Perfect... I want the fire and wind mages with me, the others try to take the Lance to a far place, but not so much that my black flames stop having an effect on her, they are woking as a anestesic for her. And I want the Magma mage to do the work of creating a cocoon of protection for you all." Luz ordered as a large shield appeared in his left hand.

"What the fuck are you?... I feel Vritra blood... but I don't recognize you." The demon said as he finished getting up.

"Vritra..." I thought, still confused by the current situation.

I was caught in the water mage's lap and we were taken a little farther away, standing against a wall. The unconscious magma mage was left beside me while the other would create a dome of magma to protect us.

"Aureate... who is that guy? He had horns just like that thing, but also wings!!" One of the soldiers with me asked.

"My little brother..." I said calmly and with few words, after all, he himself told me not to talk too much.

Even in this absurd and intense situation... why did saying that make me feel such happiness and hope...?

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[Sirius Vritra POV]

"What the fuck are you?... I feel Vritra blood... but I don't recognize you."

"Heh... Retainer Uto... I so wish you'd recognized me right away, you fucking bastard." I said, smiling brightly as my MWShield was completely covered in soulfire, plus the Redspier in my right hand, coated in omega fire.

"Wait. Do you know this thing?!" The human who was with Alea exclaimed.

"Yes... But let's just say he's a sick sadist who would put you through near-death moments just to regenerate you and repeat the process... again... again... and again... I was one of his victims.. But as you see, I survived." I swung my sword gently in my right hand and pointed it in Uto's direction, giving him no time to think and hurling a blast of common flames at him.

"EEH?!" He tried to protect himself with his shadows, but soon his cloak started to burn, he quickly took it off, exposing his slender body and covered in dark bandages, just like I remembered him to be.

"I-I see, whatever we do to help, sir..." The elf, wind mage, would ask, but clearly didn't know what to call me.

"Sirius. The name is Sirius." I replied the elf as I swung my sword more, making it more augmented in my elements, but my eyes were focused on Uto, who gave an insane smile and surprised look.

"Sirius?!? The great prince that was thrown away?!?!? INCREDIBLE!! YOU DIDN'T DIE, SON OF A BITCH!?!?" He was grinning like crazy and laughing, possibly he was remembering the days my fa- Agrona would leave me in his care to be "trained".

"A prince??" Both people who were with me asked.

"I won't even explain if you make it out of here alive, be warned... Your job is just to be my extra mana pool." They looked at me weird, trying to understand what they heard I said, but I just sighed.

"Very good that Alea won't see that... She would see me as a monster if saw me using people just as batteries... Even with Luz's essence being used to refill my mana core, and thus making him pass out and being only me in this fight, it isnt fully enough for this moment... In my early days I wasn't in the level of a retainer yet... I NEED to be on full power..." I thought and faced Uto who kept laughing and approaching me, step by step, but when he heard my plan, he seemed to already attack the two soldiers using his Shadow Magic.

They seemed to be waiting for it and they try to avoid it, but waiting and being prepared... are very different things.

"Wind Leap!"

"Fire Blow!"

The human punched the ground with a hand full of flames, creating a strong glow that affected Uto's shadow magic a little, but only to the point where the damage he would receive was diminished. With him being hit in the shoulder, when he was actually supposed to be hit in the stomach. The elf managed to dodge the attacks using that quick jump that didn't need a boost, but two projectiles of shadow magic ended up hitting him, his right leg and waist were now purple from so much damage he ended up receiving there.

"Omega SoulFire..."

I spoke my spell softly as I advanced towards Uto, tackling him using my shield. He tried to dodge it but the large amount of soulfire there seemed to hit one of his hands, causing the flames to start consuming that area. To survive he cut off his own hand and covered the wound using shadow magic.

"Argh... Don't think it will be easy!" He screamed and stomped the ground hard, reaching forward with his remaining hand. I took a deep, slow breath, closing my eyes, now using essence vision to observe the attacks he would make.

Numerous points appeared around me and I was dodging the attacks very smoothly and lightly, accelerating and boosting my body whenever I needed to, using wind mana. Within that heightened spatial vision, I could see the soldiers also being hit, they didn't seem to scream, showing that Uto's methods were being fatal and extreme.

Now he didn't just want to make us suffer. He wanted to kill us at any cost.

"Heh.. This will be funny..."