“So… the Hunter can use fire…”

“Yep, and he’s stronger than me by a long shot.”

Grace considered my words.

“That explains so much… but… why didn’t he utilize it until now?”

“I don’t know, but there was one thing that confused me…”

Brent looked at me in curiosity.

“What was confusing?”

“He went into a mana fury when I told him that I used control on Mordred.”

Grace snapped at me.

“A mana fury?!”

Taury nodded.

“Yeah… it was odd. He… was so furious he decimated both of us… though… one thing was even more confusing…”

Grace looked at her.

“What could be more confusing than that?!”

She looked up at the earth atronach.

“He backed off the moment he learned that William was a father.”

They blinked… I blinked too. I didn’t even realize that.

“The Hunter… seems to be unique for demons. I wonder why?”

Taury had an idea.

“Fey have anomalies that act differently then others… what if the Hunter is the demons’ version of an anomaly.”

Brent thought of that…

“Hm… maybe demons all originated as different species originally.”

“Where’s this coming from?”

“Well. Mordred became a demon as a result of the curse, so maybe other demons spawn that way… not necessarily a curse, but more like a one p*nch man situation, where a certain emotion in overdrive makes them a demon.”

I was curious about his idea.

“So, what exactly is this emotion?”

“Still working on that, but maybe Mordred can also have multiple emotions, but his broken state doesn’t allow him to.”

“Okay… so, how does this relate to the Hunter.”

“Maybe he also became a demon through unconventional methods.”

I thought for a moment and Taury nodded.

“That would make sense, especially given that demons typically can’t use magic, yet he can use almost a supercharged fire.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, I suppose that would make sense, but somehow I doubt he’d be kind enough to tell us.”

Then Amy had an idea.

“Maybe the reason he backed up was because he became a demon for a child of his, and that could be why he’s so protective of Mordred, because he sees Mordred as a sort of replacement for his kid.”

I nodded.

“That makes sense.”

“So… could we possibly use Mordred to lure him into a place of weakness?”

I thought for a moment.

“Maybe, but would we want him in a position that he could go into another mana fury?”

Taury shook her head.

“Using Mordred as bait is a last resort, because as far as we know, that’s a death sentence. First, we need to figure just how much fire he actually has.”

I nodded.

“The fact that he’s been hiding this the whole time isn’t good. That means two things.”

They looked at me, so I elaborated.

“He’s revealing one of his cards now, one he’s hidden in his hand for… millennia. This means he’s readying to use it. And he was stronger than Morgan before using it…”

“So…”

“He’s preparing for something big.”

“Could it have something to do with this mysterious ruler of demons that Astella mentioned.”

I nodded.

“He specifically said that the ruler wanted me alive.”

“Meaning…”

“If that ruler is anything like the Hunter… that’s not a good sign.”

“Any ideas?”

I looked at Amy.

“The Hunter seems insistent on being a commander, maybe, if we could convince him that the ruler doesn’t see him as anymore than a useful idiot, we could weaken him enough.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Then Taury sighed.

“Either that, or he’s get the idea to prove himself by annihilating us.”

I looked at her, and she looked back.

“It’s always a good idea until it actually happens, then it never goes to plan.”

I blinked and she raised a brow.

“Remember, I’m older than the romans, I’ve seen people try that so many times I’ve lost count.”

“Has it ever worked out?”

“Really only against idiots. And the Hunter is most certainly not an idiot. He’s probably one of the smartest demons out there.”

I nodded.

“So, what’s a plan you’d use?”

“Hm… knowing the Hunter… and knowing fire… If we could get him into a place with massive wind pressure, we may be able to quench his magic.”

I blinked.

“What about a vacuum instead?”

“I suppose that would work…”

I smiled.

“Alright, I’m going on a quick trip after school.”

Then Amy thought for a moment.

“By the way, if both of you are here, then who’s watching Ruby?”

“Oh, I dropped her at Morgan’s place.”

Amy blinked.

“Is that safe?”

“Maybe… Morgan isn’t dumb enough to mess with an infantile, or let her get hurt, so it’s definitely safe for Ruby.”

Grace shook her head.

“You two are way too not scared of Morgan.”

“Why would we be? She has no leverage over us, and we are both of comparable power to her.”

Then Brent sighed.

“But does she know that?”

“Nope, but she is somewhat scared of me, and at this point, I have most of the councilors liking me more than her, so she wouldn’t make a move unless she was certain that the others wouldn’t get involved.”

“That… is… impressive, actually.”

“Yep.”

I smiled.

“Though, I do want to eventually bring Morgan to my side, or, if I have to, control her.”

“Why?”

“Think about it, Taury’s power in the Sylvian Woods is almost supreme. That’s because she rules that world. Morgan is of comparable power to her even in said woods. Can you not see how good it would be to have an ally with that much power here?”

Grace thought for a moment.

“That makes a lot of sense.”

Then I nodded.

“Besides, I still need to refine my will, if she just resists it, that wouldn’t be very good.”

“But you can control her.”

Grace gestured to Taury, and I shook my head.

“That’s because she was willing to be controlled. The more willing, the easier it is.”

“I see…”

“So, I don’t know if I could control Morgan. Because the Hunter was entirely immune, but people like Mordred, I could.”

“So…”

“I need to be sure I could before I try.”

Then Brent.

“Why not practice on Wings?”

I shook my head.

“Because remember, I made her fully loyal to me, meaning, she couldn’t actually resist my control.”

Taury sighed.

“Unfortunately true, and even if I wasn’t, I probably still wouldn’t be able to resist.”

Then I grimaced.

“I also got to stop showing up to school injured.”

Amy nodded.

“Yep, much of the horror is gone at this point, we’re just like, oops, he’s hurt again, wonder what happened.”

“Yeah…”

“And with your quick recovery, there are a lot more people stating that magic is real.”

“What about Cherry?”

Grace stepped in.

“She’s remaining mostly quiet about it, but she has stopped ragging on me for believing in fey.”

I looked at her with a smirk.

“In those days, how often were you tempted to just take off your head to shut her up.”

“Oh, you have no idea.”

“Has she had any problems with her back?”

“Nope, it seems that you remade her spine pretty well.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, in fact she’s been more flexible than she was in the past.”

“Huh… so I did well.”

“Yep.”

“Nice…”

I smiled. My body magic was getting more precise.

My elemental magic was also getting more refined.

Now I just needed to do my neutral magic… which I could practice if I could find that dang goblin’s house.

I’ve spent some time searching, even consulting Morgan, but she had never heard of Dee.

I entered my history class and saw that we had a sub.

“Excuse me, but where’s Ms. Pan?”

The lady turned around. She was a regular human.

“Oh, she’s not here today.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, she’s taking a teachers course.”

“Oh… didn’t know college professors took those.”

“They do. Find your seat please.”

I sat in my seat, and Taury had a strange look.

“What?”

“She didn’t want to explain much.”

“Subs do that normally.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Kind of a keeping privacy thing.”

“That makes sense.”

“Yep.”

I sat down and the sub stood as people entered.

“Alright, so today, we are going to learn about Greek mythology.”

Then I whispered to Taury.

“Now that I think about it, did Morgan inspire Gaia?”

“No, actually, her mother did.”

“Her mother?”

“Yep, a spriggan named Gaia. She was massive, so much so that people thought that she was the planet itself.”

“Wow…”

“Yeah, she absolutely loathed us.”

“What happened to her?”

“Well, we killed her.”

“Huh…”

“Yep, she became so much of a threat that we had too. It was actually one of my greatest accomplishments.”

“Wow. How strong was she?”

“Well, her forest stretched across the globe.”

“Wow… how did you win?”

“Me and the other superpowers distracted her long enough for Morgan to do something that instantly killed her.”

“Wow…”

She must have cut her heart… I can only imagine how massive it was.

“Yeah, it was hard, as her avatar was also massive, standing taller than a mountain.”

Then the sub finished taking attendance and spoke.

“Alright, so, first, what do you know about the mythology.”

One person raised her hand.

“Yes?”

“Pretty much every story can be boiled down to, ‘unfortunately, Zeus was horny.’”

Everyone began snickering, including Taury.

“Ooh boy, that is accurate.”

“Alright, anything else?”

One guy raised his hand.

“Zeus married his sister.”

Taury cringed.

“Unfortunately, also accurate.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, he was the epitome of scumbag. He actually started out decent. Many thought he’d get with the mermaid that he was raised with, but instead, he went for his sister.”

“Yikes.”

Another student raised his hand.

“He was jealous of Hades’ appearance, so he made him run the underworld so people couldn’t see him.”

“Well, he didn’t really like Roman, so I can see where that came from.”

“Hades kidnapped Persephone.”

That caused Taury to cough.

“What? That sounds like a rumor that Zeus would spread.”

I whispered.

“What’s the actual story?”

“Roman and Persephone visited each other to play board games.”

“Some think they were romantically entangled.”

“Yeah, I could see where that came from, but as far as I know, they were buddies.”

“’Were?’ What happened to Persephone?”

“She died in the battle with Gaia.”

“I see.”

Then Adeline raised her hand.

“Hephestus was kept hidden because he was ugly, despite him having one of the kindest hearts.”

Then Taury snickered.

“So, was he ugly or hot? Because Roman was both of them.”

“Apollo tricked Artemis into shooting Orion.”

Taury raised a brow.

“He tried, to which she threatened him and stormed off.”

“Artemis midwifed Apollo right after her birth.”

“Not too far off actually.”

I looked at Taury.

“Really?”

“Yep, she was an Archon, similar to atronachs, they are sentient at a young age, but they can think through their actions a lot clearer.”

“Wow.”

Then another student raised his hand.

“Athena was Zeus’s favorite child.”

Taury sighed.

“I was one of the few members of the group he couldn’t trick into his bed, so he decided to label me his daughter instead.”

“Zeus controlled lightning.”

“Light, but close enough.”

I looked at her.

“What was Zeus, anyways?”

“He was a light atronach, one of the few to ever exist.”

“Oh.”

“So, yeah, he was strong as all get out. He was supposedly at Gaia’s level, but he never actually wanted to fight her.”

“Is he still alive?”

“Yep, I actually know where he is.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Though, he’s not a fun guy to be around.”

“I’d imagine.”

Then another student raised her hand.

“He became a golden shower to impregnate one person.”

Then Taury grimaced.

“He did… he also tried that with me… he regretted it.”

Then I whispered.

“Would it be a good idea to meet him?”

“Why?”

“Because we need strong allies, and even if he is insufferable, he may be a useful ally.”

She sighed deeply.

“You know what? Why not?”