Palan laughed at Raea’s mother’s words as he narrowed his eyes and slightly bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity. His tail swayed back and forth, like a serpent waiting to strike. Raea’s father snorted and pointed with his right hand. The red lightning surrounding his body cascaded forward towards Palan, roaring and crackling. Raea’s eyes widened as Palan’s body first glowed with an oily sheen before emitting a black light. He squat against the ground and pushed off with his legs, flying towards the oncoming lightning like a cannonball.

Raea’s father’s brow furrowed as he watched Palan collide with the lightning. Surely Raea’s demon couldn’t be that foolish, could he? When the lightning made contact with the oily sheen on Palan’s body, both the lightning and oil seemed to dissolve, cancelling each other out. Before Raea’s father could even react, Palan had arrived in front of him with his body completely unharmed. Palan lifted his leg into the air and stomped towards his opponent’s chest. The ground beneath the two sunk down like a bowl as the black glow around Palan’s leg expanded and Raea’s father staggered.

Lord Caelum’s eyes widened as Palan’s foot crashed into his chest, blasting him back until his body hit the dome of wind and black fire, shredding his silver robe and setting it alight. He vomited out a mouthful of blood as he fell forward onto his knees, white bones falling from his sternum. Massive amounts of blood poured out of his shattered chest, staining the ground red. Raea’s mother frowned and waved her hand at her husband. A white light rushed towards him, enveloping his body as Palan charged at the fallen man. Before Palan reached him, Raea’s father stood back up with his body unscathed. The archangel lifted a foot and stomped on the ground, causing hundreds of earthen spikes to shoot out of the ground towards Palan like a tidal wave.

“That hurt,” Raea’s father said as he spat out blood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. For a second, he really thought he was going to die. A shiver ran down his spine when he saw the sneer on Palan’s face. An earthen spear was connected to the demon’s stomach, but it was pushing his body away rather than piercing him. “Are you an archdemon?”

“Be careful,” Raea’s mother said, sending a stern glance at her husband. While Palan and Raea’s father were fighting, Raea and her mother were engaging in their own battle. Silver wind pressed against the flames surrounding Raea’s body, suppressing them and occasionally blowing them against Raea’s own body. The dark-green mist was also contained by the silver wind. Raea’s mother turned her attention back towards Raea who was stomping towards her, using the sheer strength of her body to push through the wind.

“Leave Palan alone!” Raea said as her hair whipped about her head. She shielded her eyes with her arms and continued to push through the gale.

“He nearly killed your father.”

“Dad attacked first!”

“Is your demon more important to you than your own father?” Raea’s mother asked. The silver wind started to glow, and Raea’s advance slowed. Palan tried to disengage Raea’s father to focus on taking out the kindness angel first, but Raea’s father was persistently keeping him away.

“I don’t know how many times I would’ve died in the borderlands if it weren’t for Palan,’ Raea said as her eyes squinted. The wind started to cut her face, causing a few drops of blood to run down her cheeks.

“You would have died in the capital if it weren’t for us,” Raea’s mother said. “Did you forget that Lady Sariel originally wanted to have you executed? Who was it that sacrificed for you to live? Your parents or that demon?” Her hand waved again, and another stream of white light flew over to her husband, healing all the injuries Palan just inflicted on him.

“Palan cares about me more than you ever have,” Raea shouted. “You were going to let me die if it weren’t for Selena!”

A frown appeared on her mother’s face. “Can’t you see that we are doing this because we care about you?” she asked. “Lady Sariel sent us here to execute you if you were fallen. I do not wish for that to happen. When we remove your demon’s influence, you will return to us and see that we were right.”

“But you’re wrong,” Raea said. “Killing my friends will only make me hate you more. You never listen to me.” The flames around her body flared outwards, pushing back against the silver wind for the first time. She didn’t want to lose Palan—the fact that she’d die if he died didn’t even occur to her in that moment. Palan was hers; what right did her parents have to take him away? She was an adult now. Her choices were her own. So why were her parents so goddam stubborn!?

A wrinkle appeared on her mother’s forehead. The wind howled and pushed against Raea’s flames, stopping them, but not forcing them back. Her mother walked backwards until she was beside her husband who had forced Palan away with another wave of earthen spears. “Raea is strong,” she said. “I don’t understand where her anger is coming from.”

“The stronger her flames, the more mana she consumes,” Raea’s father said and shrugged. “Her demon is not an archdemon either—really quite weak. I suspect their contract level is quite high, enabling him to call upon her powers. It also explains why she doesn’t wish for him to die.”

“But at the same time, the contract deepens her own sins,” Raea’s mother said and sighed as Palan arrived next to Raea. She didn’t mention how Palan handed her husband’s ass to him because she respected his feelings. “Then what do you think we should do?”

“Since he is unwilling to dissolve the contract with Raea, he has to die. Thankfully, it is much easier to defend than to attack,” Raea’s father said as he placed his hands on the ground, summoning a miniature fortress of earth. “We will wait until they run out of mana. Reinforce the winds surrounding the area so they cannot leave.” His wife nodded, and the dome of wind shone so brightly that it blocked out all vision of the outside.

“I guess that’s what inspired Elrith’s fortress, huh?” Palan asked as he furrowed his brow at the newly constructed building. A snake made of red lightning was circling around the walls, ready to repel any intruders. It occasionally spat out a few lightning bolts at Palan, forcing him to block with Danger Noodle or greed. “How’s your mana looking?”

“Not too great,” Raea said as she clenched her hands. “My mom’s stronger than me. That pisses me off—it’s not fair! They think they can order me around just because they’re older. It’s a very unpleasant feeling.”

“You don’t say,” Palan said and snorted. Raea rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore her own hypocrisy. “So you can’t break that thing?” He gestured towards the fortress.

“No,” Raea said and pursed her lips. She frowned as she used her flames to block a spiraling cone of wind that was flying towards Palan’s head. “They want us to run out of mana. And since you aren’t an archdemon yet, they’ll succeed.”

“Well, I have a plan,” Palan said.

“What?”

“We run away.”

“Huh?”

“I should’ve targeted your mother first, but I didn’t know anything about their abilities,” Palan said. He shrugged. “There’s no shame in retreating when you lose the advantage. We know what to do next time.”

“You think they’ll just let us leave like that?” Raea asked as she defended them from more assaults of wind and lightning. The dome of air began to shrink, forcing them to get closer to the fortress lest they get shredded by the silver winds.

“Obviously not,” Palan said, “but if we worked together, I bet we could break through this silver bullshit.”

“What if they want us to do that and have a trap waiting for us?” Raea asked, her brow furrowing.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Palan asked back.

Black flames surged around Raea’s body. “We can pour all of our mana into one attack and break through the fortress,” she said.

Palan’s brow furrowed. “And have him rebuild it? I think the more you have sex, the more idiotic you become,” he said. Raea glared daggers at him as the black flames around her body doubled in size. He shrugged. “I’m not giving up my life because you dislike your parents and are feeling impatient.” He pointed at the silver dome that continued to shrink. “Let’s break through.”