Hey! You can’t just ignore me! Ugh. Fine. How in holy hell am I supposed to keep these idiots alive? They’re running around like headless chickens! Our resident mage isn’t even using any spells yet, the merc isn’t throwing any daggers, and the redhead should be throwing punches, but instead has decided to convince the others to get into prince blondies magic circle for prot-

Hey! You demon prick! You can’t just listen to my words and cut them off! What the hell dude!

Okay, fine! You wanna play games? I’ll fry your brain with so much information you won’t know what’s happening! I’ll set myself right over your shoulder, try fighting without pissing me off!

The blond prince and the demon-lieutenant-mercenary are stuck at a standstill as the royal court mages, in some ugly ass purple robes, use their circular formation to create an air dome. Reflecting the swings of the two demons whose spiked arms and hands seem to light up as they make contact with the reinforced wind. Funky looking lights too, following the veins? Wacky view upside down. And their spikes seem to be made out of their own bone.

Why are you doing flips? What kind of fighting advantage does this give you? And your kicks aren’t even landing. Hey, another question for you demon boy. Hate to interrupt your little failed slash fest, but what is up with the magic here? Is it all elemental or is there literally anything else?

“Youu assume that tiny womann, iss a lieutenantt? Iii am not a boyy, stopp with the incessantt dialoog.”

Well that's not what I asked. And don’t take that tone with me, I’m trying to let the idiots prove their not as pathetic as whatever writer has written them has. I can’t even blame the one I want to because of your damn connection to them.

“WHY THE HELL IS THE DEMON TALKING!? AND THROW A DAMN LIGHTNING BOLT AGAIN YOU BIG IDIOT!”

“LAST TIME I DID THAT, I ALMOST LOST A HAND! WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING THEN, MS ‘I FORGOT MY WEAPONS AT HOME!’ AND YOU! WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING AROUND!? LIKE HELL YOU'RE JUST A HALF RATE HEALER!”

Wow. And here I thought they would make a good team. That’s a shame, bickering in the middle of a fight. Practically tripping over each other. Hey, maybe it would be better to just leave them alone instead of going after a batch of people you're not even sure are the targets? And it might get me off your back too! It’ll maybe even keep you from stumbling and tripping over your own tail.

Blondie still seems to be at a stalemate, have the two even said anything to each other? I’m not that deaf, am I? Maybe it’s your loud grunting! I really need a better game plan than just trying to overwhelm a demon's mind, I’ll just keep the thought running in the back, if I can survive your breath, that is. And I can’t even put my focus on the main party, that’d make them even easier picking for you. To the assailant it is.

The black haired woman is still standing on the debris of the broken wall, there seems to still be maybe two pulses outside the walls. Alright, two back up demons, two demons focused on the prince, and a chin rest here. She keeps squinting around the room,barely paying attention to the squabble happening in the middle of the room. Do I really need to step in here?

“Targetss? Of course I’mm right. Slip of the tonguee?”

Excuse you?-

Whoops, everything went black. The hell happened?

Ha! You just got wall chomped by the floor! Take that! I knew our mage had something up his sleeve! Might as well keep you here by slowing you down. The marble coffin makes a nice seat too.

Honestly, the little party did pretty well against you! Odd, that you didn’t use any magic though. Calling me patron when you don’t even use chronomancy for offense. Weak. At least our white wisp haired mage actually did something. Damn, are all the main characters' hair nice?

Now they are making a run for the back of the room, away from the magic circle in the middle. I really need to learn what is going on with this magic system. It might also work on the other demons if I just keep narrating everything, making it harder for them to concentrate on keeping their physical forms. Cycling magic through your whole body manually sounds so tiring.

“I don’t know how long the marble will hold, but we need to do something to get rid of the rest.” Our wizard speaks! Saying something so outrageous that his companions will definitely get mad at him!

“Oh, yeah, Of course. Cause we totally know how to defeat a demon, great idea!” The ever annoyed sailor that's been dealt a shit hand of cards is the first to reply.

“He couldn’t raise his arms above his shoulders.” And our merc goes unnoticed as the two men decide to glare at each other instead of finding a way to deal with the problems in front of them.

“I know you don’t like me, I stole your boat, accidentally caused a mutiny, but we don’t have much of a choice here.” Jianyu still attempts to make it through to Aidren, yet keeps failing. As seen from the nasty glare of obsidian.

“His tail seemed more used for balance, but it was oddly off? Like there was a weight we couldn’t see. He kept talking to the air as well, maybe himself. His fighting seemed stagnated, like he was forced to hold back.” The beautiful white haired woman seemed to be the only smart one of the group as she kept muttering to herself what was happening during the fight. She’s really starting to become my favorite.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“I’m leaving your ass the moment we get outside of these castle walls, understand?” And he’s losing favor. Looks won’t be saving you now. What is with this guy and not liking Jianyu, is it the magic part? He was nice for a moment before he almost sacrificed himself, and in the cell. Weirdo. I’m definitely invading their dreams to see what's wrong with these people.

Oh, and it seems one of the claw demons finally got a scratch on one of the circle mages. And is now smirking. Don’t get cocky just cause I noticed your achievement.

“By the gods! Do think of anything other than yourself!” And our mage decides to continue his verbal fight with the red head. Keep on glaring with those amethyst eyes, pretty boy! I bet he’ll back down!

“Will you both be quiet,” What a mean hiss, missy! “The only reason we got away from that demon was because he was hampered by something.” Good job.

That mage that got sliced now has blood dripping on the floor, and he trips back on it. The moment his foot hits the swirling wind it completely tears apart the bottom of his shoe and takes some of his cloak with it.

“What? We barely got away from that thing and it was weakened?” Barely got away? You trapped him in marble. I wasn’t that blind to what they were doing, was I? I mean, my focus was elsewhere, but really? I guess I have to keep an eye on them. Or, I could push them in the right direction by getting them closer to the red eyed prince! I could keep my attention on all of them much easier that way!

Now how to do that.

“He seemed to be carrying an invisible weight. I don’t know if all the demons are like that or just that one, but we might be able to use that to our advantage.”

Good idea! Won’t work as they are now, but I guess I could help. I’ll increase the speed of gravity and mass on the rest of them, then. Don’t look at me like that you two, if anything I’m giving you a chance to land harder hits at the cost of speed. And great, now their howling in self pity. Really making me miss the last guy.

“And how would we do that? How do we even kill a demon? Sunlight? In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s the dead of night.” Isn’t that supposed to be vampires? Your not very knowledgeable, are you sailor boy? Guess that’s what happens when you’re raised on a ship. Unless…

“Yeah, well princy over here knows magic, right? Trained in the Imperial Palace? The Yangguang Empire itself?”

I can’t give them that much help, it’ll destroy the entertainment factor I’m after! Not only would I draw the attention of whatever gods rule over this world, Ere will get mad at me for messing with one of his stars. Tch. Two for two, I guess. So I won’t change it to day, and I’ve already weighed down the demons. I guess the rest is up to them.

The demons are back to cutting down the middle ground. Blondie seems to be letting the demons continue, even as he has trapped the demon's feet in marble. Which is quickly cracking, faster than it is being formed.

“What are you suggesting?”

Yeah, what are you suggesting? If things work by growth type or whatever its called, he could take the light of the moon and focus it into a laser beam of sunlight! He could make a lightsaber! Or just wrap a sword in faux sunlight.

“Which means you know how to use purification magic, right? And not just for healing.”

Oh. Well, I guess that’s an understandable game plan. So, purification magic? For offense?

“Do you?” Yeah, redhead is right, do you? He seems to be fishing for a different answer with that tone though. Sounding a bit hopeful yet accusatory? Weird people. Just get to the good part and start fighting already.

The bleeding mage no longer seems to be the only one, the blood starting to become a slipping hazard. The bottom part of the whirling wind has started to become red, some red lines being drawn in the air and flung about. Some getting on the rippling purple fabric, some highlighting the short spiraled horns and length of the claws.

“Hypothetically.” An ashamed tone comes out.

“Staining?”

Stain? Isn’t that the exact opposite?

“That kind of magic isn’t taught outside of the southern continents.” His voice is getting quieter.

“Distortion?” Disbelief.

“That’s only used by demons.” And he has shrunk in on himself in shame.

So; Growth, Purifying, Staining, and Distortion. I think I can work with this.

“‘Hypothetically’ you can break them down? Hypothetically?”

No need to get so hostile, he’s clearly trying. I’d suggest that he uses that mind manipulation trick, but I doubt it’d work on chaotic creatures.

“If growth can cause tumors, why not just use growth on their skin or bones?” Look at that! Redhead’s actually using his brain! And a thoughtful tone too, finally planning things out.

“Magic doesn’t work like that, growth can’t do that to others. It’s only a byproduct of misuse.” Poor guy, he really is unprepared for this. For a trained prince, who apparently should have training in high class magic, he can’t even do anything.-

What’s that cracking sound? Glass shattering and muffled? Below? Whoop-

Nice catch, Mr.Demon.

So this distortion thing, is glass your supposed affinity?

“Enntertainnmennt?”

Yes? That’s the goal here. Thanks for coming back, things were getting boring! And I get a nice place to lay across your shoulders now.

“Iff you’d like, enntertainment it willl bee.”

Hm? And now you’re screeching inhumanely, how lovely and not jarring at all. And could you answer the questions I ask, please?

“Ah shit-”

Without immediately targeting one of mine? That kid just got chewed out by his team, and now he’s hurt. These three are mine to mess with. I get that you’re under contract to kill her and all, but could you at least give a little leeway. I barely know anything about the villain, not to mention how she is just letting you all run around without doing anything. Either she’s cocky and annoying, or something else is going on. Would you like to enlighten me or not?

“I couldd, but what’ss the funn inn that?”

Meanie. And there comes the reinforcements. So now you have two allies, which makes the odds even. I guess this is the teams first real challenge. I’ll hamper you three, but I want to see what they are capable of without me getting distracted.