"Alright," Liam began. "Here's the rundown of our situation. No matter how many times we climb up or down the stairs, we'll remain on the fifteenth floor. Elevators don't work. We can't leave through windows or doors, either. Alexander and Leonard tried climbing through the ceiling tiles, but the fifteenth floor was above that, too."

Alexander sat down, his back to a wall. "Isn't this all happening because Leonard went ahead and killed that spirit?"

Gabriel shook his head. "Curse magic like this is undone when the spirit dies. So this must be a different spirit."

"Okay, but you guys are forgetting that Leonard sensed a spirit on this floor," Lumiel said. "So where is it?"

"What if that thing that Leonard killed was just a chunk of it, instead of the whole spirit?" Anastasia asked.

"I guess that's possible. But it's unlikely. Haven't heard of that happening anywhere recently."

"But it's possible, right?" Giovanna asked. She sheepishly muttered, "What if it's outside? Then we can't get to it and we'll be stuck here until we die?!"

The room fell silent.

All seven of the Virtues stood, sat, and laid down in one of the rooms on the fifteenth floor. Their silence held the room with intensity. Not even half an hour had passed since they understood they were stuck.

For once, Alexander was the one to speak first. "Hey..." he said. "If we don't go back, then Archibald will come to help us, right?"

"In this situation, he might get trapped, too," Anastasia muttered, letting out a sharp breath.

"No, he won't," Gabriel interjected. "Uncle Charles would find a way."

Giovanna threw herself onto a bed. "We're gonna die here, aren't we? We'll starve to death."

"No, we'll find a way, too," Lumiel said. "He sent us here because he knew we could handle it. So that's what we'll do. Handle it."

Leonard cleared his throat as he ruffled his brown hair.

"So, uh..."

No one responded.

"Anyone got any fears?"

"Shut up, Leonard," Gabriel said.

"You shut up. I'm trying to make friends."

Gabriel groaned as he stood up from a chair. "You guys are annoying," he said.

From there, Alexander felt bad. He didn't want to bear the silence anymore, and he knew Leonard didn't want to either.

"I'm, uh... I'm afraid of blood," he said.

Leonard smiled. "Nice. Well... not nice because it's a fear. But nice."

"Heights," Anastasia said.

"Perfect. What about Liam?"

All six of them turned to Liam. Just like last time.

His stale voice spoke, "...Death."

They stared in silence, almost in shock. Liam didn't look like one to be afraid of death. He seemed to be one with no fear at all. In fact, he hadn't been the least bit fazed when they realized they trapped on this floor.

Giovanna got up and left the room.

"Where are you going?" Lumiel asked her.

"Gonna stay in another room. Staying here has gotten annoying."

Alexander nodded in understanding. "Leonard," he said. "The spirit's on this floor, right?"

Leonard nodded.

"Perfect," Alexander said, getting up from his chair. "I'm gonna go find it. Well... Try to. Any idea where it is?"

He shook his head. "It's all jumbled. I can't make out the curse. Kinda like its energy is spread throughout the floor. So... no dice."

"Dammit," Alexander mumbled. "Well... still better than doing nothing," he said, exiting the room.

Gabriel stood up almost immediately after Alexander. "I'm not going after you, I just had the same idea."

"Uh-huh."

Anastasia left after them. They began to search every single room, every single window, crevice, and possibility for any trace of the curse.

Liam stared at the clock in the corner. "What time does it say?"

"Huh?" Lumiel asked. She was sitting right next to the clock. "Uh... 11:32."

"Well, that's not good."

Leonard stood up. "Why not?"

"When we got stuck here, I set up a stopwatch. That was an hour ago. But that clock over there still says 11:32."

"Meaning?"

"Time isn't passing on the inside."

Leonard stared in confusion and silence.

"Basically it means..." Lumiel interrupted. "...help may never come."

"But it's not entirely bad," Liam said. "It confirms something else. This is an imperfect territory."

Gabriel stared at Alexander. His bright blue eyes focused on him and only him. He didn't trust Alexander.

"Aren't you a bit too calm?" he asked.

"What?"

"You're probably enjoying this, aren't you, Demon-Born?" Gabriel asked as he approached him.

Alexander shook his head. "Not really. I just wanna go home."

"Uh-huh." Gabriel placed his elbow onto his sword's hilt.

Alexander had tried not to acknowledge the sword this whole time. But alas, he sighed. "What's up with the sword?" he asked.

Gabriel smiled as if he was waiting for someone to ask that question.

"It's Excalibur. The sword of the king."

'The Excalibur from those legends?' Alexander asked himself. He slightly shook his head as he stared at the sword. Even if it was, it didn't make sense why Gabriel would have it now. Or why he would have it in the first place.

Gabriel continued, rambling on about the blade, with each word coming from his mouth filled with vicious pride.

"'He who can wield Excalibur's full might will be the one to lead humanity to victory.' That's one of its descriptions," he said smugly. "And I can wield it. Humanity's a lot better off with me."

Alexander nodded for the sake of nodding. 'So that's why he has an over-inflated ego.'

"Plus," he continued, tapping at the side of the sheath. "This is Avalon. Anyone in possession of Ascalon gets their injuries healed."

Anastasia squinted. "Wait, what?"

"Wait, how did you get here?" Alexander asked.

"From the door."

Alexander hadn't even heard her. But then again, he never heard her whenever she showed up.

"So as I was saying," Gabriel said, bringing the conversation back to himself. "It's the original power. All injuries are healed for the user. Last week, I accidentally cut myself with a knife and it healed in seconds."

They stared at him in silence.

"You guys don't believe me, huh? Alright, then. Hit me, Demon-Born."

It wasn't that they didn't believe him. They just didn't care.

"...Huh?"

"Hit me."

Alexander stared at him."I'm not gonna hit you."

"Hit me."

"No."

"No, seriously, try it."

"I don't think that's reasonable."

"Just punch me. It's perfectly fine."

Alexander spat out a sigh. He drove his fist into Gabriel's stomach.

The wind was knocked from his lungs. Gabriel fell to his knees and covered his stomach with his arms. His eyes were wide as he stared at the floor, struggling to take a breath.

"Damn, you okay?"

"Barely felt it," he said, his voice hoarse, and his arms still sprawled across his chest. Gabriel grunted before he forced himself to stand, one foot at a time.

"So like I said..." he muttered, still panting and struggling. "It works."

Alexander gave him a thumbs up and turned to Anastasia. "How much time has it-"

The doorknob at the hallway's end began to shake. The door to the staircase. All three of them froze.

"Please, don't tell me..." Anastasia muttered.

Gabriel clenched his jaw as he slowly nodded.

"Anastasia..." Alexander said. "Get Giovanna. I'll get the rest."

Alexander and Anastasia slowly backed away, heading back into the corridor, heading into the rooms. But Gabriel stood still, facing forward as the door swung open.

"Hey..." Alexander spoke nervously, sweat beginning to drip down his face as he entered the room. "You guys remember the spirit we killed?"

"You mean the spirit I killed?" Leonard interjected.

"Well, whatever. It's bigger now."

Liam shot up from his seat and dashed through the door.

"Oh, God," he said. This was the first time Liam's expression changed.

And now, all the Virtues stood in the corridor. Now... All the Virtues stared at the cursed spirit.

The term 'spirit' calls to mind a specific image, doesn't it?

This was not it at all.

It was a gargantuan mass of flesh. Pale grey flesh, at that. Arms, legs, hands, feet, and even heads by the dozen connected to each other en masse to form that thing. Scattered chunks of flesh and bone cracked and groaned as the dozen-foot-tall being inched through the stairwell.

That's how they understood this was it.

There was no other way to enter the stairwell.

Just like last time, Giovanna mumbled, "Ew."

"Well, this doesn't look so easy," Leonard said, beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead.

Alexander shook his head.

"I've never seen something like this," Liam said. "Creating an imperfect domain to trap us here... A form unlike any other... What kind of curse is it?"

Liam accidentally made eye contact with one of the eyes that were scattered about the mass of flesh. He squinted in scorn and disgust.

Alexander let out a sharp breath. "So we just gotta kill this guy, right?"

"Exorcise," Gabriel corrected.

Alexander glanced at him. "Really, dude?"

Lumiel turned her back to the spirit, facing the Virtues. "Okay. Let's look on the bright side," she said, clapping her hands together. "This is an important lesson. Now... How do you kill a curse?"

Leonard raised his hand. "You gotta destroy its core."

"Exactly. And that's our main problem," Lumiel muttered, turning to the spirit.

"How the hell are we supposed to find its core out of all of that?" Alexander mumbled.

It was then that an arm grew and extended from the seemingly endless mass. And from that arm, formed a hand. From that hand, fingers. As soon as it was complete, a single finger pointed at Alexander.

From somewhere, the curse spoke, its voice echoing and booming throughout the floor. It spoke in a raspy, grave voice, saying, "A contract. Let's make a contract. Allow me to eat that human. And I will let the rest of you leave unharmed. Make a contract."

The Virtues stood in silence.

Giovanna furrowed her eyebrows, still staring at the curse. "So are we gonna sacrifice Alexander or what?"

"Nope."

"Yeah, I'm not dying on the first mission," Alexander said. "Maybe after we kill some of the demons. But not by some random spirit."

"Fair enough."

Leonard spat out a sigh as he ruffled his already unkempt hair. "So, uh... What now?"

Anastasia sighed. "Leonard, can't you just engulf the entire thing in flames and burn it until it dies?"

"That's not how it works."

She stared at him.

"Oh... Yeah, that's fair."

"Uh-huh."

Again, Lumiel turned to the spirit. "Okay, uh..." she began.

Lumiel cleared her throat. "Uh... Mister Spirit Guy?"

Half a dozen of the spirit's many eyes turned to Lumiel.

"So, uh... We're gonna go back into that room. And discuss the contract. Y'know?"

The spirit inched closer.

Lumiel swallowed her saliva.

"Very well."

She spat out a sigh and turned back to the others, briskly walking back to their room of discussion.

"We're gonna need a plan," she told them.

Liam entered the room and sighed.

"He's talking," Liam said. "How the hell can he talk?!"

"It," Gabriel clarified. "Curses aren't alive, technically."

"Right. But that's not the point, though. Technically," he said, mocking Gabriel. "Curses aren't supposed to talk."

Leonard cleared his throat. "Let's not overcomplicate ourselves, okay? It's a single curse, meaning a single core, meaning an easy kill."

"Okay, Leonard, how about you find the single, miniature core inside that entire mass of whatever-the-hell-that-is?" Anastasia asked him.

"I didn't say it would be easy."

"You literally said it would be an easy kill."

"..."

Gabriel sighed. "What if... What if his core isn't there? If his core's in another location... then we can't kill it. Meaning there's no way to leave here alive. Other than the option he gave us."

Gabriel stared at Alexander.

"No, thanks," Alexander said. "I don't wanna die."

"Well, if it's necessary..."

Lumiel smacked the back of Gabriel's head. "No."

Alexander sighed. "I mean, are you really gonna trust a cursed spirit for this?"

"He called it a contract," Gabriel said. "When it comes to contracts, you'll die if you don't honor your end of the deal."

"Well, damn," Alexander muttered.

"Which is why-" Gabriel stood up. "-we should do it. We can just come up with a counterplan after we get out. At this rate, we'll just starve to death here."

"No," Lumiel told him.

"Why not? Making contracts with spirits is legal," he said. "It's just the best course of action."

Liam sighed. "If the spirit wants to kill Alexander... then there must be a benefit of some kind. I don't think we should do it."

"Yeah, I don't think so either."

"Same."

Gabriel grumbled to himself and sat back down.

Leonard glanced around the room at the others. "So, uh... What now?"

Alexander began to crack his knuckles. "Well... if we kill it... the territory disappears. That's how it works, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"At this rate, all we need is a plan," he continued.

Not five minutes passed before the Virtues exited the room. All except Anastasia. They all moved across the corridor, preparing for what was to come. And at the front stood Alexander and Gabriel.

Alexander took out the dagger Liam had given him. He pressed the button the pommel for it to expand.

At the same time, Gabriel unsheathed his sword.

"So, uh... You wanna be the one to start it?" Alexander asked, facing Gabriel.

"Why me?"

"You're the one that knows magic."

Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows. "So by that logic, I have to risk my life?"

"We're all risking our lives."

"Yeah, but you're using the fact that I know magic like if it means I'm immortal."

"Okay, but-"

"Guys!" Lumiel shouted. "Focus."

Alexander let out a sigh. "Let's just go at the same time, okay?"

Gabriel nodded. "On three."

"You ready?"

Gabriel nodded.

"3..."

Alexander dashed towards the curse.

'What?!' Gabriel's eyes widened. He didn't expect Alexander to run right away. He had to wait till the count of one. That was when Gabriel realized his mistake.

But Alexander didn't get very far.

Several of the curse's arms coiled together and connected, stretching and elongating before slamming Alexander into a door.

The door burst open, knocking him into the room behind it. And with that, the curse began to move, slowly inching forward.

Gabriel turned to the side and dashed to the window.

The windows that would lead to outside looped back into the corridor. There were three of those windows on each wall at their sides.

He grit his teeth and shut his eyes, before crashing into the window.

And through that path...

The window next to the staircase burst with shattered glass. Gabriel appeared right behind it, his hands wrapped around Excalibur's hilt.

Gabriel let out an energetic cry as she slammed the side of the blade into the spirit. He hadn't sensed any movement from Alexander. 'Did the Demon-Born die on impact?' Gabriel asked himself.

But those thoughts didn't last long.

His eyes widened as he saw Alexander's hand burst through the wall.

Just a few inches away from its eye, Alexander wiggled his hand.

"Ah. I missed," his muffled voice mumbled.

The rest of Alexander's body crashed through the wall. Chunks of broken wood and shattered stone burst from the wall as Alexander jumped through.

Alexander sliced off one of the spirit's arms within a single movement and rammed the blade back into its body.

Even though Alexander's blade was half a foot inside the spirit, no blood came out. Not even as Alexander yanked the sword from its insides, not even as Alexander drove it back in once again.

Gabriel grit his teeth. "Dammit," he muttered through his clenched jaw. "You're an idiot!" he shouted at Alexander.

"Yeah, I know!" Alexander responded, before slashing his weapon across the spirit's eyes.

"Leonard!" he cried. "Get going! Understand?"

Leonard dashed for the exit sign. As he knocked open the door, his hand slid over the crimson fire alarm. He smiled to himself. "I understand," he muttered, pulling down the handle.

Water rained from the ceiling as an alarm blared.

As the fire system poured water onto the curse and everything on the floor, Gabriel smiled and clenched his teeth.

Gabriel put his hand on the mushy, wrinkled skin of the spirit. Or rather, onto the water that rained from the ceiling.

He took a deep breath and slammed his hand further into the spirit. A cracking sound echoed as screams were let out of the spirit's many mouths.

Gabriel's smile widened.

Gabriel had used his magic to freeze the water. He permeated it through the spirit's skin and crystalized it, froze from within.

Now all that was left was Leonard. He kicked open the door to the staircase. Lumiel dashed into the staircase, her palm glowing with light.

She aimed a single finger at the back of the monster. From there, a rapid flash of light burst from her hand, exploding as it impacted the curse's back.

Leonard's hand ignited. He clenched his fist and cocked his arm back. With a deep breath, he launched fire at the spirit. Just like Lumiel's light, it exploded on impact.

Liam and Giovanna ran into the staircase. Liam dashed up the stairs while Giovanna ran below. The space in the staircase looped them. Just like last time.

Liam appeared from below as he continued to run up. Just as Giovanna descended from an "upper" floor.

And they continued.

Alexander winced as he hacked off the arms that had grabbed him at his ankles.

Gabriel was strong. Alexander understood that. He continued slashing and hacking away at the curse even while holding the ice together. He continued holding the ice even as Leonard bombarded the curse with flames and explosions.

All of them... All of them were strong.

Gabriel glared at Alexander. He stared at his obsidian eyes that were almost glowing with zeal. Alexander raised his sword once again, before slamming it into the spirit's head.

He thought back on the crazy idea the Demon-Born had.

"Alright. Here's the plan," Alexander had said in the minutes prior.

"It's kind of stupid, but it's better than what Leonard said. Plus, none of you guys are saying anything, so..."

"We'll use two types of attacks. Physical and magical. Swords and spells. Gabriel and I will just stab the thing until we find its core."

Alexander continued, "Secondly... Anastasia will make Connections."

"I can't do that, though," she interjected. "I've tried and-"

Leonard smiled. "So did the spirit."

They all turned to Leonard.

His smile widened as he continued. "Every time we go up or down the stairs, the curse uses its energy to loop it. Every time Anastasia tried to get us out of here, it used energy to prevent it. Meaning..."

Liam snapped his fingers. "The territory isn't automatic. It's manual."

"Exactly."

Alexander smiled to himself. "So..." he said. "If we attack it from multiple sides, if we try to open Connections, if we move through the stairs, it'll end up consuming more energy. More energy used means weaker defense."

"And weaker defense means we can kill it," Gabriel said. He spat out a sigh and stood up. "Dammit, why does that make sense?" he mumbled to himself.

"This is a crazy strategy, y'know," Anastasia told him.

"Yeah... But it's just crazy enough to work," Leonard said.

Alexander stared at Leonard. "Did you say that to be cliche on purpose?"

Leonard smiled and nodded.

"Either way..." Liam interrupted. "I think it could work. Let's do it."

"Alright, then. I guess it's settled," Gabriel said. "But I'm gonna need someone to pull the fire sprinklers. Killing the thing would be a whole lot easier that way."

Alexander's eyes widened as he realized that this was Gabriel's magic. He smiled to himself.

But that smile as quickly faded as the curse's voice returned. It echoed: "Enough." The hallway began to shift. Not shift, tilt.

"What. The. Hell?!" Leonard screeched.

Anastasia didn't stop, however. She still stood in the room they had left her in, she still continued the struggle to open Connections in every wall to her side. Even as the walls shifted and as the floor titled, she regained her footing and continued to try.

And trying was enough for now.

Now, the curse shifted. It was no longer a mass of eyes, teeth, noses, and limbs. What appeared at its center was a gargantuan mouth, opening a gaping hole into an endless darkness, with crooked, jagged teeth and fangs twisting in contortion.

Gabriel dug his sword into the rugged floor. "Everyone in the rooms!" he shouted. "Now!"

"Give me the Demon!" the spirit screamed.

First, the spirit called him a human. And now, a demon. But there wasn't enough time to think about that.

Alexander plunged his blade into the wall as the others scurried into the rooms. If he were to let go, he'd be eaten. He could barely hold himself up. Neither could the blade. He could feel the bronze metal groaning to support itself as the entirety of the corridor shifted.

Gabriel knew this. Alexander could die right then and there.

Alexander stared at the gaping hole. Even after a quarter of an hour, they had barely made progress. With each cut, slash, and stab, the curse would simply scream out in pain and regenerate its broken body.

Alexander froze for a single second. That was all he needed. Now... Alexander understood the two possibilities.

One: The curse will kill Gabriel and Alexander. After that, it'll destroy this space, killing everyone else in the process.

Two: They make the contract with the curse. Alexander dies, but the others survive.

These were the only solutions. Or rather, the only logical ones.

Alexander stared at Gabriel, before glancing down at the gaping hole beneath them. He took in a deep breath. "Hey..." he said.

"New plan!" Alexander shouted with a smile. "But you... You just gotta keep at it, okay?"

Gabriel didn't understand what Alexander meant. Until he yanked his sword from the crevice. Until he fell.

"Alexander!" one of the Virtues shouted.

"Demon-Born!"

The curse's many arms reached out as Alexander fell into its mouth. He smiled as he gripped the blade with both hands, squeezing it with every ounce of pressure he had so he wouldn't let go.

And from there... The Demon-Born fell into the spirit's mouth. From there... The spirit clenched its jaw, pushing its teeth together, chewing and gnawing on what it could.

"Oh, God."

Gabriel was frozen in shock. Alexander didn't just kill himself, did he?

A bronze blade shot out from the spirit's insides.

His eyes widened. Alexander went inside to kill it. There was always the possibility that its core wasn't even here. Still... If it was, they'd kill it much more quickly.

This...

This was the only option that could allow Alexander to survive.

Alexander had fallen just fast enough to avoid being ripped apart by the teeth. And now...

He stood in a seemingly endless pit of darkness, barely managing to stand upright on a crooked, uneven mass of flesh and bone.

"Yes!" the curse cried out. "You're alive after all, White-Eyed Demon!"

Alexander kept slashing, cutting, tearing apart from the spirit's inside.

Gabriel paused at those words. 'White-Eyed Demon?'

What Alexander faced was tougher than it was for Gabriel. The curse's arms and teeth had shifted into its insides, all of them trying to cut, chew, and tear apart the Demon-Born. And Alexander was still kicking.

He was still alive and slashing with everything he had.

"The best magicians are the ones with a few screws loose."

Those words echoed in Gabriel's head. He slowly began to smile as he slammed his silver sword back into the cursed spirit.

"You can't kill me!" the curse laughed. "You cannot find my core!"

And Alexander remained silent. He cut arms, slashed teeth, and stabbed faces. His movements became mechanical and robotic, continuing until his arms would give out.

"You are much weaker than you once were, White-Eyed Demon!" it cackled. "A pity! Truly, a pity!"

Alexander's eyes burst open, his eyes flashing and glowing with pale starlight. "Is that so?"

All Alexander could see or feel was a dense coating of water. No. What he felt to be water was energy. Pure energy.

He knew it wasn't from being in the literal inside of a spirit, but rather, something from within him. But now, he didn't have to think about it. He simply didn't care.

All he did was continue his mechanical movements ripping, tearing, and lacerating everything around him. He twisted his wrists as he slashed, the bronze sword sliding through the mass like water.

From there, it was all repetition. Alexander would rip and tear apart, Gabriel would slash and cut, and the spirit would scream in anguish. The spirit would heal and regrow. Even so...

It wasn't long of these repetitive actions and movements that Alexander encountered it. The core.

It was shaped like a pitch-black orb of diamond, glistening even in the darkness of the curse's insides. On its end stood a single protrusion, connecting the core to the rest of the body. Alexander raised his sword to sever the protrusion. And at the same time...

'Found it!'

Gabriel had reached its core as well.

But before he could do anything, a bronze blade shot out from behind. That was Alexander's sword.

He had decided to impale the crystal orb. To play it safe, he told himself.

"Damned Demon!" the spirit cried.

And from there, the spirit began to fade to ash and dust. The corridor and rooms began to tilt, reverting back to where they supposed to be.

Alexander sighed, stepping out a cut and slashed crevice of the spirit's body. He held his breath as to not inhale the overwhelming stench.

Gabriel stared at Alexander in confusion. For a second, the Demon-Born's eyes glistened with white eyes before flashing back to their normal obsidian color.

He let out a deep sigh. "Well, that was terrifying," Alexander said, his voice almost nonchalant.

One of the hands that Gabriel had severed shot up from the ground, grabbing Alexander by the throat. "You... I'll kill you," the spirit's voice rang out.

But Alexander didn't budge. Not even as the curse squeezed his throat. Well, tried to. Alexander knew that it couldn't fight anymore. All of its attacks would be useless.

Even though Alexander hadn't encountered a curse before... he understood the feeling that had surrounded the curse. The feeling no one could drown out.

"Damned Demon!" it repeated, the rest of its many faces beginning to fade away, just like its arms and legs, and every inch of the connected mass.

Alexander hadn't moved. He still stood there, right from where he killed the spirit, right where he was choked, right where it had all ended.

Gabriel sighed at that sight. 'Damned Demon is right,' he thought, sheathing his sword.

"Is it- Is that it?" Giovanna asked, opening a door and entering into the corridor.

Alexander nodded. "Yeah. It's over now."

By now, water had stopped drizzling down on them. And the room was filled with the stench of death.

"The curse might've been smart enough to talk, but it didn't even think of putting its core someplace else," Gabriel said.

Again, Alexander nodded. "Well, at least it worked out for us." He clicked the button on the sword's pommel. It shifted, shrinking back into a shorter blade and a shorter hilt.

"Here," he said, handing the dagger to Liam.

Liam shook his head and denied the blade. "Keep it. Seriously."

Alexander smiled. "Thanks," he said, sheathing it. He stared at his pockets. He had no place to store it, so he just continued to hold it.

Anastasia took in a deep breath and extended her hand to the side. A Connection appeared, crackling with energy like lightning.

"You have no idea how tiring it was," she told Alexander as he approached her. "Fighting a battle over the domain of space itself was horrible."

He smiled. "Told you the plan would work, though."

"You never said that."

"Yeah, I... Wait, didn't I?"

She shook her head. "Besides, what the hell are you eating that can make you bust through a wall like that?!"

Alexander didn't understand what she meant. "Well, it's not like it was a concrete wall."

"That's not the point! It's a wall. It's impossible!"

"..." He took in a deep breath. "...Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it."

Alexander tried to come up with something cool to say but all he could utter was that stupid remark.

Anastasia sighed. "You're an idiot."

"Yeah, I know."

A thin smile crept onto her lips.

Alexander hadn't seen her smile before. And she had just insulted him, at that. Before long, he himself began to smile.

Gabriel cleared his throat. "Wind and water."

"Huh?" Alexander asked, turning to him.

"Wind and water," Gabriel announced to the Virtues. "Those are my affinities. And for fear... I guess... failure. I'm afraid of failure."

Leonard laughed, patting Gabriel on his back. "Knew you had it in you."

"Let's go," Anastasia said. "I don't wanna hold this Connection open for a whole minute."

After killing the curse and exiting the building, the Virtues returned to the World Tree. The only pathway between realms. The only passage between Earth and Midgard.

And from there, they went back to Archibald's office.

He was elated to hear they had succeeded. And they accomplished their mission in less than an hour, at that. Except...

"Yeah, technically we were there for almost four hours."

"...Huh?"

The Virtues began to talk over each other, explaining what they knew and understood. Or rather, what they thought was the case.

Archibald smiled.

"I'm gonna need you all to slow down," he said. His smile was genuine. Charles Archibald had succeeded in creating this group. And this mission was all it took to bring them together.

"So... Alexander was the one to kill the curse, correct?" the Paladin asked.

"Yes."

"I did most of the work, but sure," Gabriel said.

Again, the Paladin smiled. Alexander couldn't use magic just yet, and still ended up killing the spirit. "Well... Y'know how I said the demon would be summoned in two months?"

"Well," he continued. "It's more like one month, instead of two. So uh... Take that as you will."

Alexander's face grew worrisome with that statement.

Archibald looked up at the Demon-Born and smiled. He pulled open one of the drawers of his wooden desk. "Since you can't use magic yet, Alexander," he said. "You'll have to use these."

What he unveiled was a pair of silver bracelets.

"What are-"

Archibald suddenly appeared before Alexander. He slapped the bracelets onto his wrists.

"So what's the-"

Again, Alexander's words were cut off.

A sudden shock coursed through his veins.

Alexander coughed as the air was knocked from his lungs. "Jesus!" he cried, staring at the source of that shock. The bracelets.

"Basically, it'll shock you if it doesn't receive a constant flow of magic energy."

Another shock from the bracelets, and another yelp from Alexander.

"Jesus Christ, Archibald, you're gonna kill the kid," Liam interjected.

With the next shock, Alexander was already on the ground.

Even so... Alexander pulled himself up, grabbing onto one of the chairs for support.

Archibald smiled.

Even though the pain etched inside him still burned, Alexander forced a smile and got up.

No, he didn't force a smile. Something inside of him was making him excited. The craziness that Archibald liked. The mindset that was perfect for a magician.

"This is just to teach you how to control your magic energy. Or more specifically, its flow. Not too much nor too little. It's best if you keep it on all day to make sure you're capable of controlling your energy in any condition."

"But of course," he continued, a smile growing on his face. "You're welcome to take them off at any time you want."

Alexander's excitement grew, just like his grin. "Are you kidding?" he asked, clenching his fist. "I'm gonna-"

Another shock was sent through his body. He hit the floor again.

"Yeah, I said constant flow. Not too much, not too little."

"Got it," Alexander hoarsely muttered.

"But, hey," Archibald said, helping him up. "You'll get the hand of it."

Alexander clenched his jaw and spoke. "Yeah," he said, letting out a sharp breath. "I can handle it."

Archibald smiled. "Perfect."

"Now," the Paladin continued. "Based on what you've told me... Alexander was the one to kill the spirit. Plus, Anastasia's magic energy is almost spent. They're both exhausted. You should head home."

Lumiel smiled. "Well, that's favoritism," she joked.

Archibald chuckled as he sat back down. "No, but seriously, he's struggling to stand right now," he said, pointing at Alexander.

He gave them a thumbs-up in return.

"Anastasia," he said. "Could you send him home?"

She sighed. That was becoming her only purpose nowadays, wasn't it? "You really gotta get this kid a transporter," Anastasia said, opening a Connection to her side.

"Come on," she told Alexander. "It's more distance than usual so I can't do it at once; it'll have to be multiple Connections."

Alexander nodded. "Well... thanks, Archibald," he said, before walking off into the circular Connection.

Archibald smiled as they left. "Now then... All of you will have to describe everything that happened. I have to file a report for each of your missions. So," he said, clapping his hands together. "Let's begin."