“Come on let’s hurry.”

“Are you an idiot? If we just run into the castle all willy-nilly, we will be killed by whoever’s behind all this. We need plan.”

She is right.

“Got it. Then what is your plan?”

“First, we need to confirm who is in there. I will cast a surveillance spell. And after confirming situation inside we will try to sneak in as quiet as possible. Our highest priority is to save the duke and duchess.”

“Got it.”

After saying that, Orlin starts to chant her surveillance spell.

“There are only four people inside. Archduke, Duchess, youngest prince and the second prince. But there is something off about the second prince and the youngest.”

“What is off?”

“Second prince is sitting on the throne waiting for something and the youngest is kind of looking into the nowhere with absent look in his eyes. And the duke and duchess are unconsciously lying on the ground.”

“Now that we know what is inside, let’s enter.”

“Okay.”

After that we enter the castle and proceed along the castle corridor into the castle’s main hall. We come before the gate leading into the main hall and stop. Orlin looks to me.

“Are you ready?”

I nod at her and she pushes the door open. I see Tirin sitting on the throne in the middle of the hall and Turin sitting next to him on the duchess’ chair with absent look in his eyes.

“Your highness, what is going on here?”

“So, you managed to break through the barrier, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hehe. Doesn’t matter, you are too late.”

After saying that he stands up and starts to change. Four horns curled upward start to grow from his temples. And as soon as I saw that I realized who he really was.

“Demon royalty.”

“You don’t disappoint.”

“Question is: which one are you?”

“I’m second prince of the Demonic Kingdom Demone Albatras. It is a pleasure to meet you. The Guild master Orlin and Under-guild master Owl. You two make such a power couple.”

We prepare for a fight.

“Do you think you can defeat us, your highness?”

“I know I may fight to standstill with you, but I’m not the one you will be fighting. I brought someone else with me in case I needed to get rid of you.”

He looks back to Turin.

“You’re up.”

As he said that, Turin stands up with absent looking eyes and looks to us. As he looks to us, absent look in his eyes disappears. And his body starts to swell, and his skin turn darker shade. And biggest change is his eyes. There are no pupils, just darkness so deep that it threatens to swallow us all.

“This is bad. That is a devil, right?”

“Yes, this is bad. That devil is extremely strong and most problematic part is that he possessed Turin. So, if we kill him, we kill Turin.”

“Indeed, this is a dilemma.”

As devil finishes transforming. He forms a blade out of dark flame and lunges at us.

CLANG.

As soon as he gets in range, I meet its blade with my gauntlets. Orlin takes a distance and prepares her meteor. After getting blocked the devil pulls his sword back and slashes at me, I try to block it with my gauntlets and gets thrown backward, whizzing past by Orlin.

As soon as I got out of his way, he looks to my wife and five black fireballs materialize around him and attacks my wife. I immediately activate my Bloodlust and lunges into action. Standing in front of Orlin and taking the brunt of the fireballs.

I barely manage to hold of the fireballs. After blocking the fireballs, I look to the devil and see it right in front of me with his blade overhead and dropping it down on my head.

“Get out of the way.”

As soon as I heard that I immediately jump to my right and feel the flaming boulder pass by me and hit the devil squarely in the chest, throwing him backward.

“Did it work?”

“No!”

As the dust settles, I see the devil standing up and brushing of the dust off his body. After doing that he looks into our direction with condensation in his eyes.

He starts to walk toward us slowly. He is looking down on us. As I look to my wife, she nods at me and I immediately gets what she wants to do.

I converge my Bloodlust on my right hand and Orlin starts to chant behind me. And her enhancement gets mixed with my Bloodlust and start to mingle over my right hand. Devil notices what we are doing but still continues to walk toward us slowly.

As soon as he gets into range, he pounces on me. I punch back with my right arm.

BOOM!!!

Our punches collide and explodes in the middle. I get thrown backward and hit the wall. I stand up with a little bit of difficulty and look to the devil. Behind the dust he is standing as prim as ever. All our effort managed to get him take a few steps back. This is despairing.

He looks at us with same condensation in his eyes and starts to approach us slowly again. Just as he was about to pounce.

RUMBLE!

Earthquakes.

As I look outside, I see the red outside receding. I suppose 47 did something. Albatras looks surprised and angry.

“Circle got destroyed. Damn it.”

He looks to us.

“Is this your doing?!”

“Nope. But whatever that red circle was, it sure was important to you, right?”

“Abrax kill them.”

That is cold. As soon as the devil got his command, he goes to town on me. I do my best to endure the beating. If I don’t, my wife will be the next target. But I don’t think I can hold on much longer.

He slashes at me with his flaming sword and I try to block it with my last strength.

SLASH.

THUMP.

As he slashes down, his sword amputates my right arm and my arm drops on the floor. This is bad. I look to my wife.

“I think this is it, dear.”

She is looking at me with tears in her eyes. I close my eyes and wait for my death.