Chapter 13: Predator

"Are you sure you don't want any?" Yukiji asks, putting another cupcake in her mouth. I swear, with the amount of food she inhales by the hour, she should be three times her size.

"I'm good," I reply, not really having much of an appetite. Ever since this whole mess began, I've only been eating when necessary, and even that's getting rare. Hunger just doesn't come to me as often anymore. Is this what it's like to be a fairy? "You might wanna tone it down. Wouldn't want to get a stomach ache when the kidnapper makes their move."

She pouts at me, looks at the cupcake, shrugs, then swallows it. Oustanding. "Do you really think they'll come?"

"Not sure. The twins seem pretty certain of it. I'm guessing they sensed something, but refused to tell us. You saw how weird Patrick got."

"I don't know him well enough to say he was being weird."

"Fair enough, but he was still being needlessly aggressive. They were definitely unto something. There's that whole thing with someone spying on us, too."

She swallows the contents of her mouth, then lies down on her mat. "They might've been checking you out."

I blink at her, confused. "Me? But they can't see my wings. They're glamoured." At least I hope they are. It'll be real awkward having to explain to everyone I've come across that I'm a member of a thought-to-be mythical but is actually nearly-extinct species of magical creatures.

Yukiji smiles up at me. "I meant your hair."

Right... It's grey. "Think it'll return to normal?" I hope it does. I don't wanna look like an old man.

"I don't think so. Consequences of overusing magic are almost always permanent."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know?" The girl sits up, looking as if she's thinking about something really hard. "Ryan's overuse of her shadow magic is what made her insane. She was a lot nicer before." I guess that makes sense. Is my fuzzy memory one of my negative consequences, too? Most likely.

"You guys should tone it down," Dexter says, and I glance at the little paper man floating in the air next to me. "You don't want the kidnapper to know you're aware of them, or that you both have magic. They can't sense Yukiji, so she's the one they're more likely to take."

"Has that thing been active this whole time?" I ask the paper man.

"Yep. Also, as for why Patrick got weird... Well, he's always like that when monsters are involved."

"What do you mean?" Feels like we're about to get a backstory up in here.

The paper man doesn't transfer Dexter's voice right away. I guess he's hesitant to trust us with this. Good. I trust him a lot less than his brother, mostly on account of his ability to remain calm and pragmatic. People with short tempers are a lot easier to read.

"Tell him his ass looks great in that," I hear Obi say, probably not knowing I'd get his voice, too.

"Tell that moron I heard that, and that he'll die screaming."

"Oh, hey there, Miss. We must stop rendezvousing this late at night. People might think we're up to no good."

"You're always up to no good. Now shut up and let him speak."

Dexter sighs. "Nevermind. Just believe me when I say our history with monsters is far from a pleasant one. Patrick didn't mean the things he said, and he'll apologize in a day or two. Just give him time."

"Fine," I reply, not really interested in an apology. Still, making small talk with an Apostle might make us become closer, and then they'll be more motivated to look for my family. I'm really starting to doubt Ozzie's intent in that regard. If anything, he's probably looking for the jewel Medea was after.

Yukiji goes on alert, letting me know someone's approaching. "It's just one of the girls," she tells me, and someone knocks on the door.

"Excuse me, Sir, Miss. I'm here to ask if everything's to your liking."

"Yeah," I reply. "We're all good in here."

"In that case, I'll have dinner sent to you shortly."

"Thanks. That'd be great."

A few seconds later, Dexter speaks up through the paper spell. "Don't eat anything they give you."

"I'm aware of that," I tell him.

"How did she feel?"

"Like a regular human."

"No mana?"

"Not a trace. No one in this hotel has it – other than the two of us. I don't think we'll find the culprit here."

"Well..." Dexter pauses, after which I hear him whisper something to the rest of the people on his side. "There's no guarantee that the one responsible for the disappearances is a mage. A knife to the throat will kill us the same way it would ordinary people."

"But then that doesn't seem like a job for magic knights, let alone Apostles. There have to be a few hints of magic being used for it, no?"

"It's just the fact that some of the bosses are hiring mages now. Other than that, no. The number of people taken is what took the king's attention. If the crime is on that level, the aid of magic knights is needed."

I don't respond to him. That sounds all too convenient, but I'm not about to clue him in on those thoughts. The whole situation seems ridiculous. A bunch of foreigners go missing, and the king takes an interest? That would not happen. He doesn't even care about his own people, let alone those from other countries. Even if he did care, he would not send Apostles during the Festival. They could all be needed if a trial goes awry. That means the twins are here to babysit us. Yukiji, Raksha and I are the ones who've been in this mess from the start, and Obi got dragged into it by me. Everyone involved in the fight against Ryan, and then subsequently the second Trial – apart from the contestants – was sent here, far from Polaris. I'm not sure if the king is the one who ordered it, or perhaps the third Apostle conspirator, but we were only sent here so our time would be wasted. Either they want us away from Snow, for the sake of the final trial, or, more insidiously, they want us not to meddle in the things happening behind the scenes. Are they even interrogating Medea? I'm starting to distrust every word they've ever said to me. However, I can't well go and openly confront them. My dream magic may be ridiculous, but any one of them could easily kill me before I got the chance to use it. On top of that, it wouldn't last nearly long enough for me to fight them all off. To top it all off, Ozymandias has the same type of magic, and he's infinitely better at it, so I would lose from the get-go. No, that's not what I should do. I should...

"Hey, Dex, you don't think you guys were sent here so you wouldn't get involved with the other Apostle business, would you?" Yes. I need to get his thoughts on my theory, but can't give him the whole story. I'll just spin it a bit, yet keep it close enough to the point to make his thoughts matter.

"What do you mean?" is his reply, which comes after a brief moment of silence. "Like, with Medea and stuff?"

"Exactly that. What if they're making sure you won't be in the way?"

"Who'd do that?"

"Well, Ozymandias is of the opinion that Medea and Ryan weren't working alone. He believes there's a third person helping them, and that this person is at least on the same level of authority. Such as an Apostle, perhaps."

"But... how'd you conclude that?"

"When has the king ever given a damn about foreigners?"

He gasps at that. Bingo. "You're right. This has to be fake."

"Or the king isn't the one who gave the order," Patrick adds, which I barely catch. "Oz is the one who sent us here, you idiots. He cares about the people. He just lied about it being the king so no one would question the order. The job is real, as are the disappearances."

"Quiet down," Yukiji suddenly says, and the door to the room opens. A girl enters, carrying a tray full of food.

"Here you go. Please enjoy." She bows respectfully before leaving, and then Yukiji crawls over to the food.

"Remember; Do not eat," Dexter reminds me as Yukiji sniffs at the tray.

"I don't smell poison. Seems fine to-"

In the middle of her sentence, a pale hand reaches out of one of the plates on the tray, and grabs her by the throat. It starts to pull her down into the plate, but the girl gets her dagger in time, and stabs it in the forearm. A hiss fills the room, and the hand retreats into the plate, which now has some sort of dark purple substance floating inside of it.

"You're quick; I'll give ya that," a playful voice says from the tray, and a sinister mana begins to fill the room. It's easily on the level of an Apostle, and completely inhuman.

"Run!" I yell, and we head for the door. Dexter's paper man floats after me, just above my shoulder.

"Jonah!? What's wrong!? Is it happening!?"

"Yes!" I scream. "Get over here now!"

"Get outside the building first. Don't stop for any reason. We can feel it even from here. You'll be needed for this. Your life matters more than the lives of the girls working there. Getting yourself out alive is your first priority."

That's the same philosophy I've been following on this journey. Was I really that harsh? It always seemed fairly normal to live like that to me, but hearing him say it out loud...

A dark purple puddle appears on the floor in front of us, and a small figure jumps out of it. It's a boy around my age and stature, and he has a playful smirk on his face. The difference is that he also has a single small horn coming from the left side of his forehead. "Can't let ya do that. Your bodies are needed, I'm afraid." His hair twitches a little bit, as if something is hiding beneath it. Actually, upon giving it a second look, I think those are... ears? How can he have ears on top of his head? And they look like...

The boy's yellow eyes narrow dangerously, and he pounces forward. His mana shifts to his muscles, making him move at ridiculous speeds. That's it. Come closer. I extend my hand forward, but then one of those dark purple pools appears in the air, and the boy disappears into it. Next thing I know, someone is hitting me across the back, sending me flying through the corridor. Not good! If I hit a wall now, my body's gonna be in shambles! Come on, mana, flow! What good are these massive amounts of I don't use them right!? Protect me! Soften the impact! Let. Me. Endure!

As I hit the wall, I feel minimal pain. I try to move my legs, and find out they're perfectly fine. My arms are working, too, though my left elbow hurts. I stand up and move forward. Yukiji is trying to cut the guy, whose ears I now fully acknowledge as being those of a cat. He dodges all her slashes effortlessly, without even using those purple, pool-like portals. From the feeling his aura gives off, and the grin on his face, it's easy to see that he's enjoying himself immensely.

"Ya know, I thought it was a smart plan," he starts saying, bouncing backwards to avoid being skewered. "I put a spell on that plate beforehand, so that I'd be able to be far enough away to avoid ya'll sensing me. Didn't work, though. I guess you're too fast, girl." He says that, but he has absolutely no trouble dodging her hits.

"Stop talking," Yukiji whispers as I move closer. We can't run from him. He's too fast, and he can teleport. His physical hits are no joke, either, but seem to be limited to actual hits. I can't count on it staying that way, though.

"You're never gonna hit me," the guy says. "You should give it up, guys. I can't let you escape. You're too precious." He lunges forward, muscles enhanced by mana, then disappears into a pool. I don't see him appear anywhere, so I immediately turn around. The boy is standing there, still emerging from the portal. I punch forward, and get him across the face, which seems all too tender for someone with his amounts of mana. His head snaps to the side, and then he fully exits.

The corners of his lips quirk upward as he glances at me sideways. I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but his mana gets even more sinister, nearly forcing me to my knees. I don't know how Yukiji can fight like this. Breathing is hard enough already, and that's even with my amounts of mana. I try to move back, but the boy reaches out and slams his hand unto my chest, sending me flying again. This time, Yukiji tries to catch me, but is sent flying right along with me. We fall across the hallway floor, and I don't succeed in softening the impact this time. Damn it. His dark mana made me lose focus. I could have taken him to the dream world just now. Would it even matter? Could he be able to escape from it?

"I've never fought a mage before," the boy says, and I see a black tail moving behind him. He's dressed like some sort of doll a child would play with – an expensive red coat, coupled with a grown man's underwear, which on his small figure look like shorts. "I'd assumed you'd be more of a challenge, but I guess I'm pretty strong." He starts stalking toward us, and I start shaking. Damn it. What the hell is he!? He's nothing like the devil in the Labyrinth. This thing is on a whole new level. An Apostle can't compete with this.

"W-What are you?" I manage to get out as Yukiji sits up, holding her arm.

The boy stops. "What am I? Are you asking my name?" His name? No, that's not what I- "I am Risk. What are your names, human mages?" What is he on about? Is he really asking that at a time like this? He shrugs. "Guess it doesn't matter. You'll be dead soon, anyway. Please make it less painful for yourselves and let me take your heads off right away." Suddenly, he lunges again, as if he was never being casual to begin with. I reach out with my hand, but his goes past it, and his nails, which are more like claws, dig into my stomach. "You shouldn't have moved. Now you're gonna bleed out slowly." Still smiling, he pulls his hand out, then brings it to his lips and licks the blood off. His mana twitches a little, as if his feelings are suddenly changing. There's no longer malice in here. Instead it's... satisfaction? Happiness?

I fall back down, and Yukiji catches me. "No," she whispers. "Please don't." Oh, no. She's starting to cry.

"Mages are much better, just as I thought," Risk mutters to himself, then lifts his hand to strike again, this time aiming at Yukiji. No. Don't you dare.

I reach out toward him, then let loose as much fire as I can. The explosion happens right away, sending me and Yukiji flying again. I manage to scorch my own legs a bit, and catch Yukiji's kimono on fire, which she quickly puts out. Pain. I'm in so much pain. The wound in my stomach, I have to close it. But if I do that, I won't be able to counterattack. We need to get out of here. That said, we can't move, either. I'd start bleeding too much, then die anyway. Shit. What do we do?

Girls all throughout the house start screaming, and one of them runs out of her room and into the smoke. Half a second later, her severed head rolls back down the hallway, and then Risks steps out of the smoke, unharmed. "You'll have to do a lot better than that to harm a royal." What? Royal? He's the king of devils? The king of Hell?

He jumps back, and the purple portal swallows him. Another one opens up on the ceiling above us, from which he falls down. As soon as he's out, his body becomes sturdy again, and he gets ready to take Yukiji's head off with a swipe of his hands. As he swings the hand down, something else appears between us. I don't see it fully, but it's small and red, and flies past us at an incredible speed. The thing takes Risk with it as it flies, so I crane my head back to see where the devil went. Not far. He just moved a couple feet, and even landed on his feet. As he looks up, his smirk is even wider.

"New toys," he whispers.

"Something tells me playing with us is gonna be a hell of a lot less fun," Patrick replies – or is it Dexter? Damn. My vision is starting to get blurry. I can't tell anymore. "Can anyone heal the kid?" I open my mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. Shit. I have to let him know I can do it. I used to be great at it, and now my mana is ten times what it was the last time I used it...

I tap Yukiji, and she glances at me. I blink at her twice, trying to gesture for my injury with my chin. She struggles to interpret it for a bit, then throws her dagger at Risk, when he wasn't expecting it. I follow the dagger with my eyes, and then that red thing hits it again, increasing its speed toward Risk, who still manages to avoid it. Still, in that instant, while his eyes were on the dagger, I put my hand on my stomach and started applying the healing magic, letting it flow into my wound. The effect on my senses was immediate. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I'm getting better, or just that Risk's mana is so horrible that it's impossible not to be on alert while exposed to it.

Something lifts me from the ground, and I see a few papers flying around Yukiji and myself, and we start getting carried toward the twins. The next moment, Risk is above us, ready to try again. A gust of wind blows him back before he can hurt us, and by the time I'm near our group, the wound is mostly healed. I'm a lot faster than before, but the increase in speed comes with a bigger usage of mana.

"Are you alright?" Raksha asks as I stand up, stealing healing. "That injury looked serious."

"No kidding," Patrick mutters. "Only Seraphina or Sheba could've closed it that quickly. Who taught you to do that?" Old lady Makena did, but I'm not about to get her involved in this. "Doesn't matter. Just get out of here. We'll distract that thing."

"You can't beat him alone," I reply just as the wound completely closes up. "His speed and strength enhancement is off the charts. Everyone-"

"Everyone will retreat," Dexter finishes. I wanna look at him, but I don't dare take my eyes off Risk. A single moment would be enough to lose my head. "We can't beat it. That's a monster on a higher level than us. We'll be making our retreat quickly."

"But the girls-"

"The girls are gonna die if we get ourselves killed. If we're not around, no one will be able to help them. Oz needs to know there's another devil running around."

"A royal," I say, repeating Risk's own words. I feel everyone glance at me, but I keep looking at the devil. "He introduced himself as royalty, and claimed to be above regular devils."

"Good to know. Now get out of here. We'll distract-"

In the middle of his sentence, Risk moves forward. Patrick strikes out, his palm following the length of his arm, and that same red spell appears. Focusing some mana on my eyes, I can make out the fact that it is a glowing arrow, pointing straight ahead. Risk dodges the arrow, and nothing happens to him, but then more of them come. He dances around them, dodging them one by one, while always keeping an eye out for the ones that are yet to reach him. Direction magic? Is that what this is?

One of the arrows hits him, and Risk moves about ten feet back.

"Damn," Patrick curses. "That should've sent him flying out of the building. How's the evacuation going?"

Dexter, who has his hand over one of his eyes, nods. "All clear. Blow it."

Taking that as his cue, Patrick jumps up, twirls around the air, motioning with his hands the whole time, then lands once he's spun a full circle, his hands crossing each other in front of him. Those red arrows appear all around us, and I sense Patrick's mana drastically decrease. The arrows then move out, each one pointing in its own direction, with Patrick himself at the centre of the circle they're forming. As the walls get hit, they collapse outward. Within moments, the entire building is shaking as though an earthquake struck it. The ceiling starts to collapse, but Dexter reaches toward it with his hand, and a whole bunch of papers appear above us, holding the rubble up. Risk is sent flying right along with the walls as the building comes crashing down, and I don't see how he reacts to it. The floor beneath us gives way, but the papers that brought me to this spot are now serving as our footing. Raksha blows away any stray debris to come at us from the sides, and we manage to endure the collapse, revealing the full moon to us.

There are people all around us, horrified at what is happening. Of course they stuck around.

"That should have gotten it," Patrick whispers, sweat dripping down his face. "I don't think we'll be able to do much if I t's still alive."

Dexter puts a hand on his brother's shoulder, offering some words of comfort. "No way. That was one of your strongest spells. He can't have lived through that."

"I guess you're-"

Suddenly, a dark blur passes us by, too quickly for any of us to react. I don't see what it does, but when I turn around, I see Risk standing there, looking as though he just landed on his feet, his back toward us. I keep looking forward, and then something drops down in front of us, onto one of the remnants of a ceiling. I look closer, then realize it's a hand. Someone screams beside me, but I don't dare to see who it is. It's one of the guys, that's for sure. Shit. Don't let it be Raksha. Please, don't let it be him. I can't be responsible for taking even more from him.

Risk turns around swiftly, but to me, it looks like he's moving in slow motion. Shit. Why's there so much mana in my eyes? Did the panic make me lose control of it? Is this a good thing? Can I strike at him while I'm capable of following his moves? No. No, it's only my eyesight that's enhanced. I'd still move at the same speed as always. Shit. What do I do?

A portal appears behind Risk, so he takes a step back. In that instant, the mana in his body returns to normal. It completely stops enhancing his body. So that's the risk. Of course! If he had that type of strength while going through portals, Yukiji would not have gotten away. That is the chance to hit him. We need to get him to enter a portal, then predict where he'll appear and attack there.

"Link with me," Raksha whispers in my ear, then takes my hand. As my mana flows into him, his flows into me, and I suddenly feel twice as strong as before.

"Aim for the portal," I whisper back, and then a purple pool appears in the air in front of me. I strike at it, sending fire with my punch, but no one comes out of it. Paper starts flying all around us, so I snap my head back, and see Risk's punch being blocked by a wall of it. I also see that Dexter's the one who lost his arm. He's bleeding badly. I need to stop that now!

I touch his arm, and pour all my focus into closing the wound. "I don't have time to reattach your hand," I whisper, and he nods, groaning.

"Better than dying."

Patrick takes a step forward, swatting Risk away to the side with one of his arrows. His magic isn't good for offense, and it's easy to predict. The direction in which he points his fingers while they're outstretched is the direction in which the arrow will fly. Risk has already picked up on that, too, and is having very little trouble dodging them. He's not even using the portals. Shit.

"Yukiji, turn invisible," I whisper, and she does. Risk's ears twitch at that, and he loses his grin. Good. He's no longer playing around. That means we're strong enough to take him seriously. Still, it also means I can't tell them how to beat him again, because he'll hear it and become aware I know what his weakness is. I'm gonna have to navigate all their moves. Here goes nothing. "Patrick, make sure he can't reach us. Dex, limit his moves to a specific area. Go, now!"

They don't hesitate to obey, and paper starts coming out of the ground on both sides of the devil. The paper starts folding, shaping different weapons. Most of them are swords, which then fly toward Risk, who dashes toward us to avoid them. Patrick aims an arrow at his feet, but the devil dodges it. A few more arrows come at him, each from a different side, but Risk is moving like a dancer. He knows the rhythm of the direction magic right now.

However, he slips up, and steps on a trap Patrick must have set for him. There is a drawing of a blue arrow on the ground, a circle around it. As soon as Risk sets foot on it, the arrow starts glowing, then sends him flying back into the mass of paper, which begin enclosing him like a prison. The devil uses every bit of his mana to enhance his strength, and tears through all the paper. I feel Raksha preparing a powerful spell through our link, but he's hesitating.

"I might hit her," he whispers as a Risk pounces again, navigating around the arrows, while also keeping an eye on the ground. Red arrows for the air, and blue ones for the ground. The blue ones can't move, and are appearing a lot more slowly, but that single one sent the devil back much farther than any of the red ones have so far. How's Patrick able to keep that up with just one arm?

I close his wound completely, then fly upward, spreading my wings. Risk's gaze follows me, and in that instant, a red arrow uppercuts him, lifting him off the ground. Yes! He can't bounce around from this position! Which means...

"Raksha, now!" I scream, and the djinn's mana increases to devastating levels for just a moment. Risk's eyes widen as wind picks up around us, and then forms a massive, serpent-like dragon. Raksha punches forward, launching the spell with his attack. The dragon surges toward Risk with blinding speed, and with too much power for anyone to take the hit and remain standing. A purple portal appears above Risk, so the impact from Patrick's attack sends him into it. From this high up, I can see the other portal appear right away. I also realize Risk is not gonna come out of it. He's gonna use a diversion, just like last time. "Not yet!" I yell, and then a third portal opens, on Raksha's right. A hand comes out of it, going for Raksha's legs, but something slashes across it, so Risk retreats and comes out of the second portal he opened. At that moment, Raksha's spell reaches its peak, and a destructive wind blows through Rook, knocking down the houses around us despite not having hit them directly. The impact is so strong that I start being swept away by the wind, too. Dexter sees this, and claps twice. A wall of paper appears behind me, keeping me in my spot. As Raksha's dragon spell dies down, everything quiets down. The people around us are too stunned to panic, and no combatant is moving a muscle. Risk just stands there, eyeing the group before him, as I fly above them, careful not to move too quickly, since I'm still new to flying.

"You are strong," Risk says calmly, as though we're about to have a casual conversation.

"Don't mock us," Patrick hisses in reply. "You know full fucking well you're stronger."

"But I'm a different being altogether," the devil reasons. "A bunch of humans keeping up with me is... impressive." He doesn't seem to be having trouble admitting that.

"You don't believe that," Dexter counters as Yukiji's visibility returns, and she walks up to me. I start healing her arm immediately, eyeing Risk as I proceed. "The fact that you're able to be so calm like this is proof. You don't think we're a real threat to you. Hell, we gave that last round all we had, and we only scratched you."

Risk nods. "And what did I accomplish?" Our whole group stays quiet. "I failed to hit a single one of you, so you won that session." His smile returns to him, as does the malicious nature of his mana. I think even the civilians around us must be able to feel that. This is easily on the level of Ozymandias and Xerxes. "That said, now I know you know my weakness, so I won't fall for that again. All and all, you're just gonna keep getting weaker during this fight."

"How do you figure?" Raksha asks. His pride definitely took a few hits just now. He's a djinn, and should be the most powerful magical being in the world, and he was completely outmatched. It's especially easy to tell as much now, as that one dragon spell depleted a third of his mana, while Risk's own powerful enhancements haven't even put a dent in his.

The devil's tail starts moving behind him, and I finally realize something I should have seen right away. I can be such an idiot sometimes! Obi isn't here!

"One more hit and the fella with the vectors is dead," Risk reasons, taking a step forward. His enhancements are still not in place. "He's lost too much blood already, and your healer can only do so much. Two or three more injuries like those, and he'll be running dry." Finally, Risk looks at me directly, and cold sweat immediately starts dripping down my body. "You fairies deserve to die, anyway." He's not even looking at me like an opponent! I'm just a mouse to him, ready to be crushed beneath his massive paw. Shit. We need to get out of here. This is a losing fight.

Something silver flies through the air, and hits Risk's neck. His eyes widen in surprise as he staggers sideways from the impact, quickly pulling the silver thing out. Dexter strikes right away, folding his papers into a bunch of throwing stars. Risk reacts in time, and vanishes into his portal before he can be hurt. We all start looking around immediately, but he's not coming at us. Of course not – not with that injury. That got him in the throat. He's dead. He has to be.

"That's not enough," I hear him say, and our heads snap in his direction. I see him standing there, holding an unconscious Obi by the back of his shirt. The wound in his neck is healing itself, without him even having to touch it with his hands. "This is an advantage regeneration magic has over healing magic. I can fight while fixing myself up."

"Shit," I curse, taking a step back as Yukiji is healed completely. "What do we do?"

"We make sure you survive," Dexter declares immediately. "Fly away. The others have to know a monster like this exists."

I look at the back of his head, then at Yukiji and Raksha. I know I should do it. I should just take off now. It's my best chance at finding my brother. "Fuck no. I'm staying."

"This isn't the time to be a child-"

"It's not the time to argue either," I cut him off. "I'm not going, and you won't be able to make me. Either we all win, or we all die."

The link between Raksha and I turns warm at that, so I guess he liked hearing me say it. "You can't die here, idiot. You still have to release me from the urn."

"You won't be alive for that to be done!" Patrick spits at him, and Risk takes another step forward. That one move is enough to put us all on maximum alert again, and all fighting ceases.

"Here we go," Dexter whispers. "This'll be the final bout."

"We can do it," I reply. "Just aim for the portals."

"Fighting spirit only helps heroes survive in stories," Dexter says, then chuckles dryly. He's clearly terrified of dying. "Man, I'm never gonna know how The Djinn Girl's Chronicles ends. The next book is coming out in a month, too. Damn, what a bummer."

"Quit being so sappy," Patrick tells him. "Though it does seem like we're screwed."

"We don't go down like cowards," Raksha says, subconsciously putting himself in front of Yukiji, who hasn't said anything so far.

Until now.

"It's over," she whispers, and Risk stops walking. All of us glue our eyes to the devil, who's now just standing there. Slowly, he reaches for his mouth, then coughs once. A good bit of blood comes out with the cough, which quickly turns into a fit.

"Poison," I explain immediately. "When did you-"

"The plate," she tells me. "My daggers are poisoned. It's lethal. We won."

"We won?" I repeat, not believing it. Tears start appearing in my eyes, and I throw myself at her and Raksha. "We won!"

As Risk falls to the ground, Patrick, despite having lost an arm, bursts out laughing. "We're not dead," Dex says in a daze. "We're not dead!"

"Of course not," Raksha says, though he's grinning, too, and looks scared beyond all belief. I imagine I look like that, too. "A djinn wouldn't fall to a devil."

In that moment, we're more relaxed than ever, which could have been a fatal mistake, because yet another source of dark mana, equally as vile and powerful as Risk's, appears. Our eyes turn to the coughing devil again, and we see a young woman standing next to him. She's barely wearing anything, with a black corset covering her chest and a bit of her stomach, and thin, leather panties covering her privates. There's a pair of black bat wings sprouting from her back. There are two ram-like horns coming from her skull, and a scorpion tail coming from her back. Her skin is the same shade as Raksha's, and her hair looks like a lion's mane. Shit. Another one... We can't beat that.

"You got careless," the woman says, clearing talking to Risk, though her eyes are focused on us. Her voice is surprisingly warm, given her appearance. "These ones should have been easy pickings, and yet they beat you. Oh, well. I guess we'll close all operations in this town." She bends down and picks Risk up with ease. "He doesn't have much time, so you're lucky I have to hurry," she tells us, and the intensity of her mana grows, making me fall on my ass. Yukiji turns to the side and pukes, while Raksha and the twins refuse to go down with just that, all of them having too much pride for their own good. The woman flaps her wings, and takes off into the air. "My name is Juno. Remember that, because, should by friend here die, I will be the one collecting your heads." She lifts herself higher and higher, then flies away at an incredible speed. As soon as she's gone, the rest of us fall down, too. We don't say anything for at least half an hour, after which we get out bearings, then get the hell away from this place.