It's pretty much a given. When you go to sleep, something's going to interrupt you. Whether it be your kid crying during the night, a spouse or a lover getting up to get some water or use the bathroom, or your own alarm clock, it's going to happen.

For me, it's always work. Silver kept odd hours, often staying at the office until 12 or 1 in the morning. So when situations changed and needed a equalizer, she often sent for me or Yulae. More often it was me...Yulae had a daughter that would be very scared if her mother was suddenly not at home in the morning.

So when the tapping on my window reached the tips of my ears, I was unsurprising and awake in moments.

I turned over to look out the window to see no one but there was a letter. Popping the latch on the window, I took the letter, giving it a once over.

Taking the letter in, I opened my magical senses to it, checking it for any traces of magical energy. A little paranoid but I've seen people put spells in an envelope before...and I had done it a few times.

The search turned up nothing, thankfully. I opened the letter and read it over.

"Hey Rez,

Just passing through and just got back into Lyre Town.

Do you still want that beer? Come and hang out with me near the town plaza. I'll show you a good place around here.

Axel"

"He sure dealt with stuff in Epala quickly," I murmured to myself.

I was already tucked in for the night but a quick beer with Axel shouldn't be anything too long. An hour or two at most?

I checked the clock, ticking away on the nightstand. Midnight. The bars would be closing in about another 3 hours. An hour with Axel. And then back here. Probably be back in bed by 2:30 or 3 am? I suppose it'd be worth it.

I picked up my clothes from the day and put them on. Not the most stylish or clean thing to do but I wasn't going to shower and put something new on just for an hour or two out. I also grabbed my messenger bag, a staple of my nightlife. Looks not suspicious and a good equalizer in a potential bar fight if one came my way. Let's hope that it never came to that. A night with friends shouldn't come to that. It ruins the whole experience.

***

After managing to get out of the house, talk to the guards who apparently get paid really well to stand guard in the middle of the night, and walk to the plaza, it was edging towards 12:30.

The plaza was underpopulated and by that I mean it was more empty than I expected. (Plaza descriptors here.)

Lyre Town's plaza would probably be the same as Epala's downtown if the two could be compared. And Epala's central area is never empty even in the dead of night. There's always mages going this way and that way. People hanging out and partying and talking. Just general signs of life.

Lyre Town's plaza was positively empty although there were some lights and sounds in the distance. Probably the bars making their money off the late night drinkers. Axel sat on a bench near the fountain with his legs crossed, waiting.

"Hey Axel," I said walking up.

As he looked up at me, I felt a familiar buzz go off in my head.

Proficiency going off now?

As my steps slowed slightly, one of my abilities Proficiency through Experience treated me to a vivid memory of me when I was 14 years old walking right into an ambush in similar circumstances to this.

Trusting my PtE was always a good bet. That ability had saved my bacon more times that I cared to admit. The ability to store past memories and have them instinctively recall themselves when my body felt like it experienced something for a second time was invaluable in my line of work.

So keeping my guard up, I walked up to Axel. And just like usual Axel gave me his big bear hug, although something was different. A tension in his shoulders I guess. He wasn't as relaxed as he was earlier this afternoon. He stepped back a few paces from me.

"Hey man how are you? My job ended pretty easy, just taking a stop before heading back home to the future missus."

"Good. Job's finished. The employer's so nice to give me a place to stay for the night. Heading back to Silver in the morning."

Once again the buzzing went off. I saw small marks on Axel's hands and face and one big cut on his face like a paper cut but on a massive scale.

He's been a fight. Something wasn't adding up. What was the best move? Another buzz and a flash of memory. No. I tried that when I was 15 with an aggressive play. I came out with no info and more injuries. Playing dumb and letting things come to me was the best. He still wanted to talk or at least lure me in to a situation where he can deal with me.

"Where'd you get the scar? Looks like you've been having fun without me," I joked.

He broke out into a small grin, apparently his poker face was better than mine. Or at least he was a better liar.

"Yeah I had drink or two earlier before you got here. Some guy got drunk and thought I was hitting on his girlfriend. He gave me a scar. I gave him a concussion so we're even."

The grin faded slowly and he looked down at me with a little bit of sadness.

"Look Rez," he asked. "Can you do me a favor?"

"You know it always depends on what the favor is," I answered back.

He pulled out a gun, sat it on the ground, and slid it over to me.

"Can you kill yourself for me?" he asked.

Either I was really comfortable with one of my friends wanting my death or someone replaced my blood with ice water but I managed to keep a calm face.

"Pretty big favor," I said calmly. "Any reason for it or you just don't like the look of my face anymore?"

Having friends want to kill you is actually a pretty common occurrence in being a mage. When it happens the first thing you need to figure out is why they're coming after you. If it's some type of personal issue, then they aren't stopping for nothing. But if you're lucky, it's just business and with business you can at least try and get them to change their mind.

Axel looked at me hard.

"Nothing personal Rez. Just business," he said.

Now I didn't visibly relax because that'd be a sign of weakness or at the very least something that I didn't want to show to Axel while he was on edge but my shoulders did loosen a bit. Now we could try and deal and more importantly try and figure out what was up.

"So who put you up to the task of trying to kill me. Have I really pissed someone off that bad recently?" I asked.

"Confidentiality and all of that stuff," he told me. "I might get killed for telling you. Then we'd both be dead and no one'd win."

"Yeah but if I pick up this gun and shoot myself, then I lose. What about that?" I countered.

Axel looked away, face like it was made of granite.

"It's better you than them," he said to me.

Ah. Now it makes sense. A favorite tactic of some higher end clients. Pay the mage doing the job and tell them they're going to hurt or kill someone they love if they don't do it. Then after that they give them the job so they've got no choice. It's really effective.

So now I know why he's up to this, I need to think of a way to get around this...and the idea hit me like a bolt of lightning.

I picked up the gun, the weight was a cold and heavy one. Axel tensed up.

"I'm not going to ask you to choose between your family and your friend. I'd never be that cruel to you, Axel," I said, my fingers tightening on the wood finished handle. If my play didn't work, I'd have to go after Axel and try and beat him in a fight. And I didn't know my odds against him.

I put the gun over my heart and said. "Later man. Just tell Maggie that I'm sorry I won't make it to her track and field day."

Axel recoiled like I just slapped him. It hurt to say but I couldn't just keel over and die even for a friend and their family. If I knew one thing about Axel was that he was like any rational man, he loved his daughter more than anything.

I popped the cylinder open and poured out the bullets into my palm then threw them over my shoulder.

Going to that little school event and telling his daughter that I wouldn't come while he knew the truth would kill him inside. And he couldn't tell her the truth because how would she think of her father murdering one of his best friends? An eight year old wouldn't able to comprehend the business of mages. She'll never look at him the same way again. And he knew it.

Axel looked at me and then at the gun and back at me. I could practically see the gears spinning in his head, trying to reason his way around this. After a moment of thinking, he said. "Damn it Rez."

I tossed him the gun and he caught it.

"I don't want to fight you Axel."

The look on his face was strained, his eyes darting from me to the dark behind me and all around.

"Do you really think I want to do this either? We're both stuck up this creek without a paddle. We can't turn back now," he said tiredly.

I sighed, resting my right hand on my messenger bag. A casual enough gesture but I needed to be ready to pull something out if Axel planned to attack me.

"We always have a choice. All of the time and every time," I answered back.

Powerful color rushed to his face and his eyes narrowed at me.

"You can say that because you're not a parent. I can't afford to fail, not when I'm the only one who can take care of them."

He reached into his bag, same as mine and said. "Sorry for this Rez."

He pulled out something reddish orange tipped in white at the end. Was it hair or something? He muttered something and flames appeared in his right hand. He held the hair over the flame for a moment until was consumed into nothing. And for a moment, the night air was still save the smell of the burning hair.

The silence was broken by a eruption of black and purple fire forming between myself and Axel. The crackle of the flame filled my ears and the smell of smoke and burning enveloped my nostrils.

The flame faded away and revealed a woman that looked like she was from Tsuchi with her straight black hair tied in a bun. She wore a black kimono with a cherry blossom pattern framed with purple tied up by a white obi and purple rope, and her...I think they were called geta. I don't remember I haven't been Tsuchi in a while. The unusual thing was that the woman had fox ears coming from out of her head and a reddish orange tail tipped in white coming from her rear. Which probably meant she was a Spirit Creature, I think they called them fox spirits or kitsunes, something like that. I needed to do more research. It's always best to know the proper name for things which I should learn...if I lived.

She opened her eyes to reveal them to be a deep purple. I swallowed. Purple eyes was always the sign of a powerful demon or at least one of their children. This lady was bad news.

She looked around for a moment, her face a beautiful porcelain mask. And then her face relaxed into a comfortable smile and she turned to look at Axel.

"It's good to see you again my friend. How are doing this evening?" she said. The sound of her voice was like soft classical music and I had heard some beautiful female voices. Anyone who listened to my sister sing or talk was always entranced by her voice. Even me and I had know her for all of her 18 years.

"Not as good as I want to be," Axel replied. "I've summoned you so we can fulfill our debt. Are you willing and able?"

She turned to look at me and then back at Axel who nodded.

"I see. If I may ask, is this man a friend of yours? Or perhaps an enemy?" she asked.

Axel cleared his throat for a second and spoke.

"A friend caught on the wrong end of business."

The fox woman sighed, her fox ears drooping at the answer.

"It's always saddening when the bonds of friendship and the responsibilities of business get in the way of each other. I'll treat him kindly in his end," she said.

She turned me with a small smile, gave me a slow and small bow, and said.

"Evening magus. My name is Tamamo no Mae, Grand Archdemoness of the Realm of Demons ruled by my Lordship Azazel. Your name?"

I stood there for a moment, not out of shock but more surprise. One, I recognized the name. Tamamo no Mae was a super powerful demoness and when I say that I mean she made Demon Lords look like puppies trying to play tough. She was so old she was there at the Fundament of Creation, the start of the world and all things. And with that much age came a crap ton of experience and magical ability.

And two, she was so polite. I had people summon Spirit Creatures from the Spirit Realm to try and kill me before but they were never so formal. They were less "Hello and how are you?" and more "I'll kill you and feast on your marrow" if they could even talk at all.

Still being polite to her wasn't going to kill me. If anything it could only help me. If she was the really polite type, me not playing politeness ball with her wasn't going to affect her much. If she was the type to give manners to expect them in return, she would kill me in an instant if I didn't play ball. And while the odds of winning against a demoness that powerful was almost sub-zero, staying alive gave me more time to figure something out which was always a good thing.

I gave Tamamo a proper bow while keeping my magical senses trained for aggression. She was too polite to attack before introductions had been given but there was no need not to keep my head on a swivel.

"My name is Rez Proudheart, Master Servitor of Ms. Silver Stormshroud of Stormshroud Electric from the City of Wind, Epala. Pleasure to make your acquaintance for however long it may be."

Tamamo giggled for a moment, probably at the 'for however long it may be' I snuck in at the end of my introduction. Her laughter stopped after a second to turn more serious.

"Manners are important. They form the basis of how we can act and conduct respectable business and action between mages as a whole as well as mages and us Spirit Creatures," Tamamo explained. Then she sighed. "I'm a little sad. Rarely do I get a proper introduction from someone so young but a debt is a debt. I will make it quick."

And Tamamo blasted me with fire.

Okay that's probably underselling what actually happened. Purple Fire shot out of her hand. There was a massive pop probably something like a shockwave after you pop a balloon but on a much larger scale. The air started to glow orange between us like miniature suns floated in the air amongst us.

It was the single most powerful fire spell I had seen in all of my 12 years of mage work.

I moved like lightning.

"Dorsh!" I yelled, stamping the ground with my foot. I held the image of a large and powerful dome of earth in my mind, letting the magic flow through me to actualize the spell into reality. The earth dome sprouted from the ground to protect me just as the fire spell reached me.

"Oh..." Tamamo called out, her voice low but still audible through the dome. And that's when I realized my mistake. I could probably stop a normal fire spell with this dome but if Tamamo threw out high level fire magic she could melt the earth and trap me in here or worse the dome would hold and the fire would steam me to death.

"I'm going to end up killing myself with my own stuff again if I don't get out of here," I muttered to myself. Beads of sweat started to pearl off my face. I guess the dome was going to hold and I'd be steamed not fried. Or would I be baked? Probably baked. Steaming needed water while baking just needed heat.

There had to be a solution. I could release the spell but then I'd be open to another blast of fire the second the spell went down and I couldn't beat that level of fire with any water spell I knew. The best thing I could do is make some steam...

Something buzzed in my head as an idea sparked to life. A situation where I had used mist created by a rainy day near Aquos to save my hide and protect the client.

I put my left hand out in front of me facing where I guessed Tamamo was throwing fire. I steadied my left with my right and focused on the image of a dome of water flowing from the cracks between the dome of earth.

"Patet Aqua!"

Water started to flow from the earth dome to the outside with a high pressure and immediately the air started to cool.

"And now for another part," I said to myself. The next piece of magic was something that I wasn't really good at but I had to be good now. I focused my magic on myself, my personality, my looks, my very me-ness as some would call it. I concentrated those images and molded the Darkness magic into a clone of self made from the dark, the essence of self and the mind.

I tapped it on the shoulder to give it a start and some instructions and started to use earth magic to dig. I covered the hole back over like it was never there.

To be fair, you could only vaguely call what I was doing digging. What i was actually doing is moving the earth aside so it would fall back into place after I had moved through it. For an underground movement it had to be the quietest.

I flowed another pulse of mana through the ground back up to my double. He was still there except now he was talking through the dome to Tamamo, the exact things I had set him to say. Things were going well. Granted I had made sure to keep the clone's words to Tamamo polite but I had made sure to not surrender.

One, surrender meant a guaranteed death if she caught me since the clone was an agent of my will so it could make decisions on my behalf since it was me. That meant that she wasn't going to talk anymore and any talking she did kept me alive for a little longer. And two, it's another aspect of manners. If I surrendered to her and then attacked her, I would have been acting in bad faith which meant not only my reputation would be killed if I survived her but my honor as a mage would be destroyed at my funeral. A regular dead man looks better than a dead liar.

I continued to dig until I felt like I was below where Tamamo stood. I sent a small amount of mana through the ground again. The mana returned to me like an echolocation picture, showing me where everyone stood. I was less than 2 feet behind Tamamo, in perfect position for a finishing blow.

I quickly dug up and pierced the ground to show myself, energy for the spell already focused, spell already shaped in my mind's eye. Tamamo's eyes widened just as the energy left my hand.

"Florem obscura imbrem!"

The spell coalesced into a flurry of flaming black and red rose petals aimed right at Tamamo's back. Definitely one of my better Darkness spells...which is why my jaw dropped like a snake during lunch when Tamamo swatted it away like a fly.

"Ouch that burns," she said, waving her hand at the pain. There was a small burn there, kind of like the ones you'd get in a kitchen. Not the ones you'd get from literal Darkness shaped into fire.

A low whistle of approval sounded through the night. Probably Axel.

"We get it. That was good. We don't need the extra stuff, Axel," I shot at him.

Axel didn't respond but Tamamo did.

"I don't blame him for his reaction. That was a really good move. Slipping a clone in on me and getting behind me. If I hadn't noticed what you were doing, I would be burned from the tip of my ears to the end of my tail. Well done," she complimented with a bow. Her smile shone through the night like a sun...unfortunately like a dark sun because she pointed at me, a ball of black and purple fire not to unsimilar to my own formed on her fingertip.

"Farewell Rez Proudheart. I won't forget your name for many years and that is far more of a compliment than it sounds."

A chill fell on me as I closed my eyes to accept death. A moment past. No white light. No sensation of burning. I opened my eyes to find Tamamo's hand covered in a thick coating of ice and her and Axel looking off to the side.

There stood a woman with short icy blue hair about equal height with me. She wore a glacial blue t shirt with a black leather jacket with a white fur hood, ripped black jeans, and ice blue boots. And she held a wand pointed at Tamamo.

"I don't like what you're doing Tamamo," she said, her voice a low alto.

"Medbby, it's so good to see you again," Tamamo started sweetly before her voice turned low and almost into a growl. "Despite how disgustingly rude you're being."

I had to sigh unfortunately. I recognized my rescuer and while I'm happy to suck up more air for a little while longer in any other situation having this woman save me I'd rather be dead or at least mauled by some wild animal.

Mab, Queen of Darkness and Ice and Monarch of the Court of Unseelie Fae, and also my Queen...look I had made some bad decisions as a kid and Mab was all too happy to take advantage of my innocence and to make me her Emissary, her vassal in the world of humans. I had been serving her and enacting her will in situations she was unable to in the human world for 7 years now and hating every hour of it since.

"So how's tricks my Queen?" I asked in a little bit of polite sarcasm.

She turned to me slightly, not taking her entire attention off Tamamo but still acknowledging me.

"In fine working order, my Emissary," she said flatly in that incredibly attractive alto... "Now be quiet. The higher beings are talking."

"Such rudeness Medbby," Tamamo commented. "Our powers nor our age do not make us better than anyone younger or less magically capable."

Tamamo inclined her head to me and Axel.

"My apologies for my friend."

"I'm used to her taking the piss out of me," I said. "I'd like to say that's how our relationship is built. Isn't that right my Queen?"

Mab remained silent and so did Axel. Well at least someone liked to talk like me.

"Regardless, why are you here Medbby?" Tamamo asked.

Mab pointed at me using her wand. I reflexively dodged even though no spell came out of the tip. Mab said. "That's mine. And I'd be really pissed off if you killed him."

Tamamo smiled. "Use your proper words, Medbby."

I snickered while Mab blushed a cool shade of blue underneath her pale Fae skin.

"Don't treat me like a child," she countered hotly.

"I will treat you as a child when you show the rudeness of one," Tamamo explained. "How would you feel if I addressed you as "that"?"

"Aggressively murderous," Mab said, her face flushing more blue. "And it's not like it matters. He gave his loyalty to me so I can treat him how I please and I don't care what he says or does as long as he does what I order him to do."

"Yes Medbby," Tamamo said dryly. "The contract you made with a 12 year old was so very valid..."

Mab stamped her foot on the ground and ice formed where her boot hit the ground...in the middle of a hot spring evening.

"When you and Azazel took that little boy's issue to the Cooperative Unity Court, you lost. If he was able to act as a mage at 12, then he's able to enter into a contract," Mab contested hotly.

I looked at Axel who looked back at me to which I shrugged.

"Reminds me of May arguing with her mother," he said to me.

"I've been there," I said. May, Axel's wife to be, argued like cats and dogs with her mom, a teacher at the Luxeria's branch of the Magic Institute. Her mom didn't like the choices her daughter made in life including her fiance which lead to a lot of heated arguments of which I and Axel had been there to watch. But in a way you could still see that her mom wanted the best for her, it's just that May's mother had only one view of success and Axel didn't fit it in her belief.

"Regardless of past actions," Tamamo continued. "I'm here to fulfill my own given word and debt. You do realize what will happen if your actions intersect with my word?"

Mab's eyes narrowed at Tamamo and for a moment, I thought they were about to mix it up right then.

"I'm not the arrogant little Faerie I was when I first became Queen," she said confidently.

Tamamo smiled almost serenely. "Correct. Your magical skills have grown incredibly since your acquisition of the Mantle of the Queen of the Unseelie Fae. However, your ability to perceive the situation is still lacking."

"Meaning?" Mab asked.

The air twisted and turned on itself, trying to balance Tamamo's fire and Mab's ice.

"You are grossly outmatched," Tamamo said. "It'd be in your best interests to leave."

"I won't," Mab said back.

"Then I don't feel guilty for hurting you then," Tamamo answered back. A ball of black fire appeared in her hand in a flash of second and she threw it at Mab. The air popped and burned in the wake of the fire, glowing as if it was set aflame.

Mab rolled to the left and slashed the air where Tamamo stood. Shards of glacial green ice appeared from the air and flew at Tamamo.

Tamamo opened her mouth and blew out more fire of a more darker black to block the shards, melting them into steam before they even reached her. She reached out her hand and pointed at Mab, the flames rushing forward to surround Mab.

"You will have to be more proactive than that Medby," Tamamo said.

The blue color in Mab's cheeks reached an absolutely glacial color. Her eyes bulged and her teeth showed almost like fangs.

"Don't mock me!" she yelled. Mab swept out a hand in a large arc and all of the fire froze in place...along with the ground, the trees, and really everything that wasn't myself, Tamamo, or Axel.

Axel whistled under his breath. I did as well. I knew Mab was powerful but even I had never seen her freeze fire. Heck before now I didn't even know it was possible.

"You want to play games Tamamo. Fine. I'll play but you better be ready for the consequences," Mab said, shaking in rage. Her voice was more of an aggressive growl than a human like voice.

Tamamo looked around for a moment, almost like a mother returning from the kitchen to see the mess her child made in the living room. She waved her hand casually and the ice melted which in itself was pretty powerful. I've seen pretty powerful Fae leave ice blocks that lasted years before and Mab is the Queen so her power had to be a cut above the rest. And Tamamo got rid of it like it was nothing.

"You need better control of your emotions," Tamamo said.

Tamamo paused for a moment and made something like a marble of darkness between her thumb and her forefinger. She flicked it at Mab and it shot out like a bullet. It hit Mab right in the center of her chest before she could react and she screamed. Her skin started to grow more sallow and some black substance started to seep out of the pores of her skin. She started clawing at her skin, almost ripping it apart as if trying to reach something just underneath her skin. Blood flew from her nails in every direction. Mab's screams continued as she fell to her knees, still clawing and now crying.

"Curse: External Expression of Suffering," Tamamo said, looking at the crying, bleeding, and now suffering Queen of Unseelie Fae. "I had figured you had lived a difficult life before your queenship but I never imagined it to be this much. I feel for you, Mebby. I always saw your impudence as adorable akin to a bratty little sister that I loved."

She raised a finger and a small ball of black fire formed on it. The hissing and the crackle of the flame rising over the screams of Mab.

"Goodbye Mab. I loved you so much and I wish you saw me the way I saw you," she said.

"Maledictum: Vertigo!" I yelled as I pointed at Tamamo. The fox demoness held her head as she fell to one knee. I rocketed past her putting mana in my legs to increase my speed, catching a quick glimpse of a shocked Axel.

I reached Mab before Tamamo had a chance to recover.

Tamamo had used a curse, a darker spell used by Creatures of the Darkness like Unseelie Fae and Demons to cause pain and suffering to others. Occasionally they bestowed powers like that on humans to test them, to empower them, or probably in my case to see what I'd do with them. I had gotten into a situation with the demons a few years back. Something annoying more than difficult, helped them out, did my piece and left.

I didn't really get anything out of it from the party that I had helped but the Demon King Azazel deemed that to be too rude to accept and granted me an Ability on my Status Sheet, Favor of the Demon King: Rank B. It gave me the ability to use Curses and gave me a certain amount of resistance against being cursed myself. Useful in situation where I had to deal with aggressive Demons and Faeries but useless everywhere else since I more or less tried to keep away from using Curses on other people. The way Curses worked didn't work with the way that I wanted to live my life so I saved them for counterplay and using them against Spirit Creatures and their Servitors.

I reached into my messenger bag and pulled out a vial of blackish purple liquid, my serum to counter curses. I had learned a few years ago if you hit someone with multiple curses, the more powerful one will take effect and the weaker one will be canceled. That's why I always kept an A+ tier curse liquified in a bottle in my messenger bag, just for such occasions. I wrenched Mab's mouth open with one hand through her screams.

"I swear if you bite me...I'm going to be really pissed off," I told her through the screams. I popped the top off the vial and poured it down Mab's throat. Near instantly, the black ooze stopped seeping from her pores and her skin returned to its normal color. She fell silent in my arms and looked up at me, her glacial eyes looking up at me in shock and wonder.

"Don't worry. I've got you," I told her. She nodded, apparently still in shock or reeling from the pain of the curse.

"Now that was uncomfortable," Tamamo said. She looked down at me holding Mab in my arms. Her eyebrows made a disappearing act into her hair and her mouth lay open for a moment.

"I don't understand this. Please explain Rez Proudheart," Tamamo asked. Her eyes kept darting between me and the vulnerable Mab in my arms.

"I don't like Mab. I make that clear on every mission she and her Attendant send me on. But I want to help people. I want to help people in need. Even if they've done me dirty and that includes Mab," I told her. "Regardless of what she's done to me, she deserves my help just as much as anyone else no matter how much she's done me dirty."

The shock faded from Tamamo's face as her mouth set into a hard line.

"You do realize that because you're protecting her, I'm going to kill you and her now. Right?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"I've put myself as a man of ideals. I don't like Mab but I'll do what I believe to be right regardless of the consequences," I told her.

Tamamo looked me in the eye for a moment and nodded.

"I understand."

And she fired another fireball at me.

There wasn't much time. Tamamo and Mab weren't far away from each other when I made my move to protect Mab so I didn't have much for thinking time. So I went to my bench, something comfortable.

"Sword: Water," I yelled. A sword of water manifested behind my ear and shot at the ball of fire. They collided with an explosion of steam.

"A spell done in the Common Language blocked my spell?" Tamamo asked.

"I've got a lot of mana to throw around. It's not much to add a little extra to match a normal spell," I said. I picked Mab up. Either she worked out or she was a lot heavier than she looked but I managed to pull her out of the action.

I put my hand out in front of me, focused on Tamamo. Dark fire shaped into a tube in front of me as I focused it into a shape.

"Gladio pluviam: Tenebris Ignis!"

The tube of dark fire focused into the shape of guardless swords and shot from the tube rapid fire at Tamamo. Any other opponent I might have had them...unfortunately I had to be facing a elder demoness...

Tamamo projected a wall of black fire which my dark fire swords got stuck in. She twirled her finger around in a circle and the wall turned in on itself until it was a massive ball of black fire. It grew. And it grew. And it grew...

Until it shone overhead, casting its own dark shine over us.

"Kuroi Taiyo," she said and with the finality of turning the last page, Tamamo pointed at me. The ball of fire started slowly coming down on me.

"Well this just sucks," I said, looking at the looming death ball above me I looked Tamamo straight in her eyes. "It was a pleasure to have fought you Tamamo for however long it may have been."

She nodded at me, probably so she wouldn't lose concentration and probably turn the entire area into a blackened inferno.

I waved a hand absently at Mab, a dome of chilly winter-like water formed around her. I wasn't going to stop trying to protect her even if my ticket was a guaranteed punch out. The black sun moved closer and closer.

I closed my eyes and accepted my fate...and after a moment I opened my eyes. The glow of the black sun was gone and Tamamo stood on one, bowed before a older man, looking around his mid-forties. He wore black slacks, a dark purple button down shirt, a leather jacket and expensive leather loafers. I recognized the pair, they were a pair that Daisuke and I had seen while we met up in Luxeria, the City of Light, about a half a year ago. They had been close to 500 Opallina. Way too rich for our Mage class blood.

"Tamamo, my beloved, I thought I made it rather clear how I felt on the situation," he said, he had an amazing low baritone that floated through the air.

"My apologies my lord," she said, not looking up at him. "I misunderstood your will. I thought when you said that you found the boy interesting, you were merely stating an opinion. I didn't know you meant he was not to be touched."

The man reached down to take Tamamo's hand, raising her up. She rose with him, looking into his eyes now.

"A reasonable mistake, my beloved. In the end, the fault of this little spat might lie with both of us, more myself than you," he said.

"Thank you for your kindness, my lord," she said.

"What kindness? I merely stated that the blame lies more with me than with you," he said, a little mirthy like it was a joke.

Then the man turned to me and that's when everything clicked together. The man that stood in front of me was a daemon yes seeing as Tamamo knew him well and gave him respect. That much was true. However who he was matter more. This man was Azazel, the Daemon King, Ruler of the Daemon Realm, and a peer of Mab's all in one...

Manners don't fail me now...

I gave a slight bow to Azazel, not too much to be overly formal but not too little to be disrespectful to his station.

"Evening Lord Azazel," I said.

"Evening to you as well, Emissary Proudheart," he said with nod in my direction. I controlled the urge to flinch at my title given to me by Mab. I don't like formalities given to me and I don't like Mab so those two tend to mix together like bad alcohol.

"My apologies for Tamamo. My orders to her were that you were to remain unharmed and they were misinterpreted due to an error on my part. I hope you bear her nor I any ill will," he continued.

"None whatsoever Lord Azazel," I said, which was the truth. "If anything I found the situation interesting and almost enjoyable minus her attempts at killing me. The ArchDaemoness Tamamo was pleasant company tonight to say the least."

Azazel's eyes stared into mine for a hard moment before he spoke again. Then he clapped his hands together and gave a warm fatherly smile to me.

"No harm, no foul then?" he asked.

I nodded in agreement, I had come out of the situation not much worse than when I had came into it so I was grateful to put it all behind me.

Azazel turned to face Axel.

"My apologies dear young man. My orders seemed to have interfered with your debt with my beloved Tamamo. I hope that the reissuing of the favor Tamamo owed you plus one more favor from of my other Servitors of your choice will even out our books?" he asked.

Axel blinked for a moment, eyes wide. He stood in silence for a moment before he answered the Daemon King.

"I will accept your offer Lord Azazel. I bear neither of you ill will because of how the situation turned out," Axel said, his voice a little shaky.

I don't blame him. I've been doing the whole "talk to powerful Spirit Creatures" thing for a few years so I knew how to manner up and keep my cool. I wasn't so sure about Axel though.

"Well then, I believe this manner is adjourned. Best wishes to you both," Azazel said with another warm fatherly smile to the both of us. He turned on a dime to where Mab sat on the ground still dazed and said. "Mab, I hope you strive to do better in the future. This young man is a gem. I personally believe he deserves better."

Azazel raised a hand and drew a line in the air. The line widened to form a door of pure darkness. Azazel gestured for Tamamo to go first. She walked through the door, looked back at Axel and smiled.

"Forgive me for the situation Axel. I hope to remedy it in the future."

And with that, she disappeared into the void. Azazel stepped forward to join her but not before turning around to look at me.

"Emissary Proudheart...," he said. "Or perhaps should I call you just Proudheart?"

"I'm more comfortable with Proudheat, Lord Azazel." I commented.

He nodded and continued.

"Please take care to remember two things. Your accorded favor from the Daemon Sisters still needs to be balanced. They are rather displeased to be in your debt for such a long time," he said. "And if the day comes that you can free yourself from your obligations to the Queen of Unseelie Fae, there will always be a place for you amongst my Acolytes. You will of course be given the respect you deserve as one of mine."

"I will keep the Daemon Sisters in mind. As for the offer, if I did manage to free myself from my...lovely Queen, I'd rather be a free agent. The whole experience has soured me you see." I explained.

Azazel scanned my face for a moment before a sigh.

"I see your heart is set. A pity but perhaps such things will change in the future? Regardless I'll keep hope. Best wishes to you Proudheart and to you Axel."

And with that, the Lord of Daemons left us.

As the door of darkness closed, Mab rose, still shaky.

"So magus," she said, a little bit tiredly like she had ran a mile in a minute. "What do you wish to do now? You're outmatched."

Axel shrugged.

"Call off the mission. This is outside of my paygrade. Calling in Tamamo was my equalizer when Rez decided to play below the belt," he explained. He shot me a look that was half playful and half insulted. "You've got nothing to fear from me, Rez."

"Thanks, Axel," I told him.

"I'll return my down payment tomorrow but since I've called off the mission, I can tell you something," Axel explained, his face was set and he didn't meet me my eyes. "Tanya Gearshift is the one after Silver. She's sending a squad after her tomorrow morning before dawnbreak."

I opened my mouth, and almost asked why didn't he tell me sooner, then I stopped myself. A mage never tells something told to them by their boss about the mission or even off details like that. As Mages we're so many things and secret keepers and confidants are just one more thing that we have on our plates.

"Thanks for the in," I said. "Good luck to you man."

Axel nodded at me. "Same to you my friend."

And with that, he walked off into the darkness. I turned on a dime, my mind already back at the Stormshroud Manner, grabbing my things and hoping the trains ran this late in Lyre Town. They ran all night in Epala but that was more exception rather than the rule.

"Emissary," a cool voice said behind me but there was a trace of something that I couldn't place.

I turned around to look at Mab and yet I didn't see any of her usual arrogance or her blase attitude.

"What do you want?" i asked.

"I wanted to tha-" she started but I cut her off.

"No thank you," I said.

Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open for a moment. That was probably a hint that no one had interrupted her before. She was going to need to get used to that...

"I don't want your thanks. I did what I did because it was the right thing to do not because of you as a person. I don't forgive the things you've done to me Mab," I told her.

I turned around and said. "Keep your thanks for someone who wants it."

And with that, I left the Queen of Unseelie Fae to try and save someone that I both loved and wanted to protect. I wouldn't save Silver because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't. I would save her because she's like my big sister and I wouldn't let anyone hurt her.