Prince Colton’s home was obscured by a spell that painted it the color of the slums. Boarded up windows and graffiti lined the building, selling the idea of poverty to any passerby. At the edge of a city that had experienced a purge, it was overlooked easily by those traveling between cities.

Rohan knew that the spell was unbreakable because he was the one who cast it.

The wound on Rohan’s head had ceased bleeding, and the various cuts and bruises that had lacerated his form had healed away with Madeline’s magic. He had always wondered why she chose to pursue graveric kinesthetics despite her proficiency in healing.

Rohan, weariness and pain biting at his muscles, sat down at a bench on the platform to the train station. He wasn’t sure where he needed to go. Once again he acted without thinking. There was no point in leaving Victor’s church. Not that the church belonged to Victor, exactly. He had found the church abandoned and decided to hide away in it to avoid paying rent.

Once he enchanted it with a certain fear-based deterrent, nobody else attempted to enter his newly instated abode.

He appreciated that Madeline had agreed to stand watch over him. Rohan knew that he would get into more trouble than he already had without her. Not that he really had gotten into any trouble yet. That was the point. That was what made the situation so bizarre.

No matter how much Victor tried to turn himself into a villain, the citizens lauded him a hero. Perhaps the first time, Rohan could attribute the event to a freak coincidence.

Who could’ve known that a hostage situation was taking place in the same building that Victor had destroyed, allowing the hostage to flee to safety while the criminal holding her hostage became ensnared by the rubble?

But there came a point where calling such freak events “coincidences” would be little more than foolish ignorance.

But there was no need to think about any of this. Rohan had more important things to consider. According to the Devil Fragment, Lukas, there was going to be a purge in Seer City. Such purges involved dozens of demons, ranging from imps to fiends to even the rare hell demons and succubi to cause mass slaughter.

There was no way to stop it.

They had tried, once. Perhaps too many times. And it failed.

Rohan flinched away from his own thoughts. The screaming played in his mind -- the scent of blood and burning flesh was seared in his nose. The agony twitching in his chest returned and he felt his heart pulsate with despair again. He didn’t want to remember that. But he knew he had to remember. If he didn’t remember, then he would try to stop a purge again.

And then the tragedy would repeat.

“What am I supposed to do?” Rohan whispered to the thoughtless sky, the cruel stars leering at him from the unattainable heavens. “Am I just supposed to sit back? Do nothing?”

“That’s exactly what is expected of you, after all.”

Rohan leapt to his feet, eyes wide. “Taro? Taro, is that you?”

Taro materialized before Rohan, the transparent form shimmering in the moonlight. “Who else could it possibly be?”

Rohan wrinkled his nose and looked away. “What are you doing here, you fool? You were supposed to stay with Victor. Have you forgotten your job? I could easily remind you of it, if you’d like!”

Taro glared at him. “There’s no need to be so dismissive of me. Am I not allowed to come talk to you? It gets so boring being able to only talk to Victor!”

“God, you can’t do anything right!”

“If you spend one week with Victor’s presence straight, then perhaps I’ll consider your argument.”

“Agh!” Rohan exclaimed, rubbing his face with his hands. “What am I supposed to do about this?”

“About the purge?”

“No, about my uncontrollable thirst to grind some rocks in my mouth!” Rohan snapped. “Yes, of course about the purge! About the purge…”

“There is really no need to be so rude,” Taro muttered. “Neither you nor Victor have any respect. It’s like you forget who I am.”

“A punk ass bitch with no powers is what you are.”

Taro clenched his fist. “You really should be trying to get on my good side.”

Rohan abruptly sat up and took a deep breath. “Okay. Fine, fine. Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I’m just stressed.”

“At least you admit your faults,” Taro muttered, crossing his arms. “Victor would never.”

“Is that really why you came here?” Rohan asked, letting his hands dangle from over his knees, back arched forward. “Just because you were bored of Victor?”

“Well, there was something that I felt an obligation to tell you,” Taro said.

Rohan immediately rose to his feet, eyebrows furrowed. “Obligation? Well, spit it out. We don’t have all day.”

Taro rounded on Rohan and said, “Why don’t you find it out yourself, then? Go on! Go check your crystal ball and tell me what you see!”

Rohan dug through the copious expense of his enchanted pocket and extracted a smooth, crystal sphere that fit in the palm of his hands. “You can’t just expect me to pull a fortune out of my ass. Where am I supposed to look?”

Taro crossed his arms and looked away. “Why don’t you let your instincts tell you that?”

“Goddamn it, Taro.” Rohan closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the pink sphere. Tension began spreading through his body, starting from the spot the cold stone touched against his skin. The tension rose until the discomfort tingling through his limbs began to be unbearable. It translated to a tingling anxiety that sent wave after wave of confused, artificial memories through his mind.

Visions that did not belong to him. Thoughts that he never had. Sounds that he never experienced.

He felt like he was violating someone’s privacy. This ‘someone’ however was nothing more than the abstract concept of the world. He was violating the world.

Then, just when he thought that he could no longer keep the sphere in place, a vision burst before his eyes.

It was comprehensible and clear, though dyed in the characteristic pink tones that characterized each vision produced by roseaics.

Rohan saw the outline of Prince’s house. The pink tint made it difficult to differentiate the building from a normal impoverished area, but by the virtue of the vision he instantly understood where he was. The fact that he was the one who charmed the building only solidified his memory.

Then, he saw two figures approaching the house. As the image came into sharper view, Rohan identified the two figures as Marquitta and Victor. With a snap of her finger, Marquitta revealed the secret entrance and stepped inside, Victor following suit. There was a lapse in time and soon after, Rohan could see a group of unfamiliar people thunder into the building after them.

Rohan pulled the sphere from against his head, eyes wide in terror. “What the hell was that?”

“What was what?” Taro said, examining his fingernails with an obnoxious air of disinterest. “Oh, did you see something important? Well, all I wanted to tell you was that Victor and Marquitta were breaking into Prince’s place to steal the Cessation Sword.”

“I don’t care about that!” Rohan exclaimed, leaping to his feet.

Taro knit his eyebrows. “What do you mean? You’re not concerned that Victor is foiling your plan to --”

“Someone else is coming!” Rohan snapped, leaping from the train platform and bolting down the stairs. “Damn it, someone is breaking into Prince’s house!”

Taro floated after Rohan, breaking his habit of walking. “What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear me say that Marquitta and Rohan --”

“You idiot,” Rohan snapped, breath ragged in his throat. “You’re so -- Agh! Someone else is breaking in. What kind of coincidence is this? This is absolutely ridiculous. How is Victor involved with so many fucking coincidences?”

Taro leaned on his back and tapped his chin. “Have you considered that it may not be a coincidence?”

“What -- do -- you -- mean -- by -- that?” Rohan panted between breaths as he rounded a corner.

“Maybe Victor has been teaching himself rosearics?” Taro said. “I mean, you’re a Practitioner of Rosearics, aren’t you? That’s why you’re able to see some distance into the future…”

“No, he can’t do rosearics.” Rohan leaned back against a chipping brick wall, watching the milky sky break free from the navy blanket hanging low on the horizon. “He’s tried before. He can’t.”

“Well, anyone can learn how to do rosearics,” Taro pointed out.

Victor shook his head, breathing deeply. “Not everyone. It doesn’t have a good effect on his mind. He could physically never do it.”

“What a joke that is,” Taro replied. “How can he so easily practice daemonics and yet can’t fathom rosearics?”

Rohan glared at Taro. “You’re stupid as hell. What are you talking about? Daemonics and rosearics have two completely different effects on the body and mind. Using daemonics, the pain center is triggered in the brain and in the body. Daemonics literally rip humans apart.”

“What an unfortunate consequence,” Taro said, puffing out his chest. “This is why demons are more equipped to using the magic we were born with.”

“For rosearics, it creates tension in the body and can cause madness to the user,” Rohan said, glancing back and forth across the alleyway anxiously. “Damn it...where is the cab?”

Before Rohan could say another word, he was approached by a man with large wings and bulging, unbelievably muscular arms that could have been able to explode a bird with a single flex.

“You called for a cab?” the man said, pointing at the sticker fastened to his jacket. “That’ll be ten silver.”

“Ten silver?” Rohan groaned, forking the pieces over to him. “Fine. Take it, then. I need you to take me to the edge of the city.”

Rohan described the exact location he was heading towards and stumbled into the carriage fastened to the man’s shoulders.

“How lucky that you stumbled into me,” Marquitta said, as they ducked into Prince’s home. “Or else you wouldn’t have been able to come here.”

“That’s true,” Victor said as he examined the abode. “What I’m surprised about is the fact that you actually decided to help me.”

Marquitta laughed and said, “As much as I would love to say that I was doing it because you asked me to, the truth is that I do agree with you.”

Victor blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I agree that he shouldn’t keep the Cessation Sword in his home! It’s dangerous.”

A nerve twitched in Victor’s temple. He clearly had not anticipated that his efforts would worked towards the benefit of some goal. But this was not the time to interfere with Marquitta’s expectations. She was providing him an invaluable service by allowing him entry to Prince’s home.

“Why was it so easy for you to get in?” Victor asked as they stepped across the blue carpet leading into the rest of the home.

“People who belong to the Cupcakes Inc have certain spells --”

Victor snorted. “I’m sorry, what? What did you just say? Who has certain spells?”

Marquitta glanced at him curiously. “What do you mean? Are you telling me you don’t know…?”

Victor stared at her, bewildered. “What are you talking about…? I’ve never heard that term in my life.”

Marquitta fixed him with a long stare before shrugging and saying, “Oh, that is right. I suppose you would not know. The Cupcake Inc is the name we use for the efforts to fight against the Parasite. It keeps our identity hidden.”

Victor shrugged. “If you say so. Anyway, where do you think that this sword is supposed to be?”

“It’s going to be disguised as something,” Marquitta said, clacking around Prince’s living room on large heels. “He thinks that his house is safe just because it has obfuscation spells on it. Rohan did spend a lot of time trying to keep it safe, but even he admitted that his work wasn’t entirely secure. We should not be keeping such a powerful and important weapon in here. The weapon does release an energy signal, you know! What a shame, is it not?”

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Rohan did this?”

“That is correct!” Marquitta said brightly. “He is such a clever boy, is he not? He has helped immeasurably in the fight against the Parasite.”

Victor began absently massaging the leaf of a plant. “Where is Prince?”

“He is in the hospital,” Marquitta said.

Victor whirled around to face Marquitta, alarmed. “What? What do you mean? Is he alright?”

Marquitta patted Victor’s head and said, “Dear boy, you know that I would tell you if something had actually happened to Prince. He was just hurt by the Parasite when he found it.”

Victor blinked. “He actually encountered the Parasite?”

Marquitta nodded as she tapped her finger against a vase. “Yep. The whole team that went into the Building did.”

“How the hell did they get out with their lives?”

Marquitta stared into the mirror perched upon the wall. “Well, not all of them did.”

Victor stared. “Someone was killed…? Who?”

“You don’t know him. His name was Ken,” Marquitta said with a sigh. “He was a newer recruit, but he was very powerful. Not powerful enough.”

Victor crossed his arms. “Well, only the strong can survive in this world, after all.”

Marquitta looked over to her with a graceful smile. “And you’re among them, then? You’re among the strong?”

A deep chill suddenly fell upon Victor as he walked deeper inside. Prince’s house comprised one floor and had modest blue decorations.

“Prince is a snow nymph, right?” Victor asked. “He has to keep the temperature low in his house?”

“Well, he prefers cold temperatures. He can exist in most temperatures that humans can, you know, but not for very long. If it is hot outside, inner core of his body that cools his body temperature down will work overtime. This may eventually cause him to pass out.”

“Snow nymphs are so fragile,” Victor said. “Their bones are so damn fragile. I don’t see how he survived for as long as he has.”

Marquitta raised an eyebrow. “That’s kind of racist of you to say.”

“It’s not racist! It’s true that their bones are literally made of ice.”

Marquitta shook her head. “I mean, sort of? It's ice produced by iceric enerium. It is still ice, but much stronger than normal ice…”

“But weaker than bone,” Victor insisted. “Much weaker.”

Marquitta sighed. “Well, I suppose that is true. I do not know why you are so fixated on this though.”

“Anyway...what are we looking for?”

“We are looking for a specific energy wavelength,” she muttered. She pulled a purple brick from her pocket. It began glowing faintly the moment it hit the air. “I’m going to adjust this device to pick up the frequency of the sword.”

Victor walked into the hallway beside the kitchen and pressed a hand against the portrait of Prince hanging on the wall, directly next to his bedroom. Immediately, the portrait swung open, revealing a hole that suddenly dropped down until it reached the floor.

“Victor, how did you know that was there?” Marquitta asked, shock sprawled over her expression. “Have you been to his house before? But..”

A curious look appeared in Victor’s eyes. “I don’t know. I just walked over here and…” He shrugged. “Maybe it was instinct?”

Victor could have imagined it, but he thought he saw a flash of fear in Marquitta’s eyes before she recomposed herself. “Well, that is great! I was going to suggest we check in there if I did not find it out here! That is quite fantastic that you were able to find it first.”

They stepped inside. The hidden room slanted dramatically downward in a slope. The only light infiltrating the dark corridor came from the outside.

Marquitta looked down at her purple stone. The glow emanating from it had become more intense; the light now illuminated a large circle around her, revealing the long shelves lining the walls filled with miscellaneous artifacts -- vases, pencils, rocks, bags, books. Marquitta followed the stone’s gleam until she stopped about ten feet in.

She faltered. “Oh, no.”

Victor felt his pulse accelerate. He dashed after Marquitta and hissed, “What’s wrong? Is the sword gone? I mean, it’s in disguise right? So it shouldn’t look like a sword? Why did you say ‘oh’ --”

Victor stared at the object that the Cessation Sword was disguised as. He slammed his hand against his mouth to stifle his laughter, but it did little to drown out the sounds of his mirth. Marquitta quickly followed suit. Their laughter danced down the corridor.

“What are we supposed to grab this by?” Marquitta exclaimed, tears streaming down her face.

“By the balls, maybe?” Victor doubled over in laughter. “I mean, maybe just grab the tip?”

“No! Oh my god,” Marquitta shrieked, finally reaching out to take it.

She immediately squeaked and dropped it, watching the disguised sword jiggle spectacularly to the ground. “Oh Jesus Christ! Oh, my God! Why does it feel so life-like?”

“This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Victor said, bending down and brushing his fingers against it. The rubbery feel of the disguise made Victor fall to his knees in laughter. “Why did Prince disguise the sword like this? The Parasite must be losing her mind. You can’t tell me that she doesn’t know about this. I really hope she knows about this.”

“Okay, okay, Victor, we need to be serious,” Marquitta said, but her attempts to stifle her laughter were unsuccessful.

“You know,” Victor said, jiggling the disguise in front of her eyes. “Prince turning the Cessation Sword into this was such a dick move.”

It took Marquitta and Victor another five minutes before they were ready to proceed with their task. Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, Victor was glad that he had gotten a chance to reunite with one of the strong adult figures in his life. She had welcomed Victor into her home when he could no longer return to his own. Despite her busy schedule and hectic life, Marquitta had always ensured that Victor had a place to return to for the summer holidays and breaks from school.

Marquitta and Kelly, of course.

They are the ones who welcomed Victor into their home.

They didn’t live together anymore. But they were able to part on good terms and remained friends to this day.

Once the novelty of the situation wore off, it was time to deal with the situation at hand. “Do you know how to remove the disguise from the Cessation Sword?”

Marquitta tapped a finger against her chin. “Well, my dear, I unfortunately cannot say that I do. Rohan is the one who does these obscuration charms. I mean, he wasn’t the one to turn the sword into that.”

“Right, good, because I was about to say…”

“Prince did that all on his own, bless him. He just used the charged crystallic he was given and did what he wanted with it.”

Suddenly, Victor heard a round of footsteps stumble through the hallway. Alarmed, Victor threw his arm in front of Marquitta to keep her from inching into the light, narrowing his eyes.

A shadow came into view and suddenly --

“Rohan?” Victor exclaimed, baffled. “Rohan? You slimy, disturbing, godless man! What do you think you are doing here?”

“Me?” Rohan snapped, breathing heavily, dashing toward Victor. “What about you? You’re such an idiot. Why are you here?”

“It doesn’t matter why I am here!” Victor exclaimed in a booming voice.

Rohan doubled over, panting. When he recovered, he righted himself and snapped, “You can’t just break into Prince’s house! Do you have marbles in your skull instead of a brain?”

“If he had marbles there once, he has lost them now,” Marquitta said with a shrug.

Rohan whirled around to face Marquitta. “I -- I’m surprised to see you here, actually…”

“I did not agree with Prince keeping the Cessation Sword here,” she said with a shrug. “That is why I decided to accompany this darling child.”

“So?” Rohan said, glancing around the room. “Where is it? Where’s the sword that you’re trying to steal?”

“Right here,” Rohan said, brandishing the item with a matter-of-fact jiggle.

Rohan’s eyes fell upon the item in Victor’s hand. His face paled. “What the fuck?”

“This is the Cessation Sword. Have you not witnessed such a powerful and awe inspiring item before?” It took everything within Victor not to burst into laughter.

Rohan’s eyes appeared to be glittering with tears as he said softly, but with feeling, “Prince used my charged crystallic for that? He -- what the fuck?”

“I would say it is quite effective,” Marquitta said. “I can most certainly say that once I found it, I did not really want it anymore.”

“I wonder if he used it,” Victor said, tapping a finger against his chin.

It took Rohan a minute to return to reality, as he had ascended into a different plane of existence after he beheld the sword’s disguise.

“There is no time for this,” Rohan exclaimed, grabbing Victor by the wrist. “We need to get out of here.”

Victor tore his hand away from Rohan and crossed his arms over his chest. “And why do you suppose that is? Are we going to be attacked, or something?”

Rohan stared at Victor, baffled. “I -- What? I mean...yes. How did you --”

Victor slapped his hands together and leapt into the air triumphantly. “Hell yes! Foolish Rohan, you truly doubted my ability to utilize rosearic crystallics! I can now see into the future!”

“You know how to use rosearics?” Rohan said, eyes widening in shock. “To the level that you can predict the future? How is that possible?”

Victor scratched his neck. “Well, I mean, no. But lately, I have been able to predict strange things…”

“Predict? What are you talking about? You can’t predict shit if you don’t know how to use rosearic crystallics!”

Victor blinked. “For example, like this.”

Victor launched himself into Rohan just as the wall on the right side of the room burst open, cracking like an egg. Debris, like yolks dripping through the wall, soared through the air, coating Rohan and Victor with dust and rocks and miscellaneous items.

Victor leapt to his feet, turning around to see Marquitta surrounded by a large, purple barrier drifting through the air. The wall had collapsed around her, but she emerged unscathed. She swiped her arm to get rid of the barrier she produced and rushed over to Rohan and Victor.

“What happened, Rohan?” Marquitta exclaimed, pulling him to his feet.

“Do you still have the Cessation Sword?” Rohan demanded.

To Victor’s surprise, he was still holding it tightly in his white fist. He handed the item to Rohan, who deposited it into his enchanted pocket.

“We need to get out of here,” Rohan said, shoving Victor ahead.

The building rattled with another explosion.

“What about the rest of the items here?” Marquitta exclaimed. “They are all disguised because they are extremely important! We need them!”

“There’s nothing we can do about them!” Rohan snapped, shoving Marquitta through the door.

Just as Marquitta slipped into the corridor, another explosion tore through the room.

Darkness submerged Victor’s vision. He felt rocks pummelling his body, slicing into his exposed skin. Dust rose in thick plumes and he couldn’t breathe.

“Victor!” Rohan’s voice cut through the thunderous sounds. “Victor, wake up!”

Vision returned to his eyes and Rohan was leaning over him, eyes wide with fear, glasses coated with dust. “We need to get out of here.”

“Right…” Victor rose to his feet and found that the room he had been in was gone.

Instead of dark walls lined with shelves, there was nothing but a mountain of rubble precariously stacked upon one another. The exit was blocked.

“I’ll just move the rocks then,” Victor mumbled, raising his hand.

“No!” Rohan exclaimed. “Are you an idiot? The entire place will fall down on us! There’s no way to know what is going to make this place go down!”

Victor stared at the circle of debris. The wall had crumbled, landing only about a foot above his head. If he tried to move any of the rocks now, he would be crushed.

“God, what are we supposed to do now?” Rohan said, anxiously pacing back and forth across the narrow box under which they were trapped. “Oh no...Are we trapped here? Are we going to die?”

Victor pressed a reassuring hand against Rohan’s shoulder. “Do not fear. We will escape from here.”

“Do you have any bright ideas on how we’re going to do that?” Rohan snapped. “I don’t even know if Marquitta survived!”

Victor bristled. “She did. You ensured that she escaped from the room before it collapsed.

Rohan stared at him, breathing deeply. “I did…? I ensured that, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

Rohan collapsed onto the floor, leaning his elbows into his knees. “Maybe we just need to wait for her to come back...But God, we can’t rely on that!”

“Something will come to us if we think about it,” Victor said. “I know we can figure out how to escape.”

Rohan began scooping up the remains of the trinkets scattered about the floor.

“Oh no…” he muttered, shaking his head sadly. “This is like the burning of the library of Alexandria...Except for our efforts at destroying the Parasite.” He began shoveling any unbroken item into his pocket.

“What if we surround ourselves with a graveric barrier,” Victor suggested. “And let the building collapse on top of us?”

“Neither of us are skilled enough in graverics that we will for sure be able to make a barrier that will withstand the onslaught of fucking rocks that will come crashing down on us if we move any of the rocks!” Rohan snapped.

Suddenly, the rocks shifted on the left wall. Victor stepped in front of Rohan, pushing him back toward the wall.

Rohan glared at him and hissed, “What are you doing?”

“Your specialty is not equipped for handling such dangerous situations, you blithering fool! You have minimum fighting expertise and abilities!”

Before Rohan could respond, an opening in the debris-encrusted wall was blasted out, sending a cascade of rocks tumbling down around Rohan and Victor.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Rohan exclaimed, stepped away from the wall as it began to tremble.

From the hole that had been blasted open emerged five figures. They donned black clothing and dark gas masks. Helmets covered their heads, any identifying characteristic obscured by black.

Before either of them could say a word, Rohan suddenly fell to his knees, pressed against the wall, eyes wide in terror.

“Rohan?” Victor exclaimed. “Rohan, what’s wrong?”

“D-demons,” Rohan breathed. “They - the fear. They’re emmenating the fear aura. C-c-can’t you feel it?”

Before Victor could respond, one of the demons pulled a strange, bulky gun from his side and directed it toward the wall.

A plume of fire erupted from the end, careening toward Rohan and Victor. Victor pushed Rohan out of the way in time for the fire to cling onto the remaining wooden shelves lining the walls.

As Victor lay amongst the rubble, thrown around like any other trinket or piece of loose furniture, he felt rage like a flame rise up within him. A burning sensation crossed his chest, encircling it. He pressed a hand against his chest in attempts to stifle the pain, but as the rage and fear grew, so did the pain.

The people in masks approached Victor and Rohan, the flaming gun glowing ominously. Feeling the pain rise up through his body, from his chest, through his neck and into his brain. Then he jolted to his feet as if he were electrocuted. Before the men could react, Victor extended his arm and pointed his hand toward the ground. Within a split second, they soared through the air faster than Victor could perceived and shattered against the opposite wall.

Their spines were twisted into unconventional positions. The debris stacked precariously at the end of the wall collapsed over the men. If they had survived the crunch against the wall, the collapsing ceiling would have finished the job.

Before the ceiling could crush Victor and Rohan, Victor extended his hand toward the falling wall. In an instant, a black force exploded from his hands and blasted the debris into the sky. They burst from the air, jolting into the night sky. Bespeckled stars mingled amongst the debris.

Victor directed his hand toward the debris remaining on the ground, sending them bursting into the empty, dark street. Several of the mangled bodies hidden amongst the rubble were flung into the sidewalk.

Before Victor could continue, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“That’s enough… you can stop now.”

Victor turned around to find Rohan, blood dripping from a cut on his face and the reopened would dripping from his head wound.