A Dog

"Nice to see you too, Leila," said Adam as he patted Leila's head. She nodded with closed eyed contentment before she gave Adam some space to finally breathe. He stood up with Leila and held her out at arm's length, inspecting her.

"O-oh, darling, looking at me so thoroughly like that…," said Leila, a blush forming at her pale cheeks. "Out here? In the wild?"

"I'm just making sure you're okay, Leila." Adam looked Leila up and down to make sure she was not hurt. She had not suffered a single scratch. Meanwhile, Adam had quite a few cuts and bruises all around his body. He figured this was just a difference in experience using demonic powers so far.

"Wait a second," said Adam. He reached down and held up Leila's hands. They were lined with a few cracks that glowed with white. "So they did manage to hurt you." He gazed down at the werewolf corpse with pure aggression. "If they were still alive, I don't know what I would have done to them."

"Darling, this isn't from those mutts," said Leila. "It's from me. From using my Shadow Magic. It looks like I am still just a little bit weakened. I need more time to absorb your mana through our bond."

Adam sighed. "Sorry for holding you back."

Leila pulled Adam into a hug this time, caressing the back of his head with her soft fingers. "Oh, my darling, don't blame yourself, okay? It only hurts me to see you blame yourself when you are the only reason I can even use my powers to begin with.

And this-,"

Leila broke off her hug and held up her cracked hands to Adam. "Will heal quickly. In fact, if you hold them, they may even heal instantly."

"Then why wouldn't I?" said Adam as he immediately reached down and grasped both of Leila's hands.

Leila blushed as Adam looked at her hands, waiting to see if the injuries healed. He knew that every part of his body, his touch, odor, and bodily fluids all gave her magical energy. Maybe they helped with this too?

"Uh, I don't think it's working," said Adam as he saw that her hands continued to stay cracked.

"I lied," said Leila bashfully. "I just wanted you to h-hold my hands."

"Oh, Leila, how can you be this adorable?" said Adam as he squeezed Leila's hands and kissed her forehead.

At that moment, a bush rustled, immediately causing Leila and Adam to separate and jump into alarm. Adam saw with surprise that Nia approached from her hiding spot. He had been convinced that the wolf girl had ran away to escape a confrontation with Leila's killing intent.

Granted, Nia came forward now in her dog form, but this was still absolutely crazy. If Leila found out about Nia's true form –

"Oh? What is this?" said Leila as she knelt down uncharacteristically for she usually never liked to get dirt on her. She reached out her hand towards Nia. "A Hellhound of some sorts? In the Overworld?"

"I was going to mention," said Adam. "I was fighting the alpha, then he turned golden all of a sudden with super regeneration. I couldn't hurt him until she-I mean, the dog showed up and finished him off. That's the super condensed summary of what went on, at least."

"Golden?" Leila raised a concerned brow. "Bronze and Silver furred werewolves are a common sight. Weakling mutts that cannot do anything to a proper demon. But a golden werewolf is an existence close to an Elemental, and some Elementals are powerful enough to match even gods."

"He wasn't that strong, though. Compared to Raum, he was nothing," said Adam.

"Any type of powerful entity from the Age of Myths such as Elementals and even us demons are either severely weakened in the Overworld or incapable of sustaining their existences for long. It is likely that this alpha could only turn into a weak Elemental," said Leila. She reached out to pet Nia on the head, believing Nia to only be some kind of dog. "Still, Elementals are impossible to fully kill within areas of nature without using nature magic of your own.

If this hound could do it, then it must be some sort of wolf spirit which are Elementals themselves."

"Yeah, seems like it," said Adam simply, allowing Leila to form her own conclusions while he figured out how to deal with the Nia-Leila dynamics for the future.

"Still," said Leila seriously. "As Walpurgis Night approaches and continues, the boundaries between realms starts to thin. In the final site of battle when there are only twenty left in the ritual, the boundaries fade almost entirely.

At that point, it is likely we will face magic and beings from the Age of Myths itself. Dragons, demi-gods, immortal mages – all of these have been contenders for past Walpurgis Nights.

This wolf spirit, too, might be here from the Underbelow. It is a sign that there are far greater threats we must face in the future."

"The Underbelow?" asked Adam.

"The Overworld is the realm of humans. The Underbelow is the realm where most monsters and beings from the Age of Myth went when humans took over the Overworld, draining it of magic and rendering it inhospitable for most magic-kin," said Leila. "Within the Underbelow, there are several sub-realms, one of which is Hell.

Perhaps this hound is part of another sub-realm and was drawn here by the battle.

Though what kind of wolf spirit it is and why it helps us, I still have little idea."

"You seem pretty okay with petting it," said Adam, surprised that Leila trusted Nia's dog form so readily. "I figured with all your talk about mutts and mongrels that you wouldn't like dogs."

"Oh, mutts and mongrels are just words I use because they feel so perfectly apt to describe how lowly others are." Leila smiled, her eyes wandering, remembering. "But dogs, is it? Before I fled Hell, I used to have a Hellhound that I grew up with.

I had to leave him when I left, but I still fondly remember how sweet and loyal he was.

Among creatures, demons and spirits and mortals alike, I fully believe the dog is the most loyal of all, one that will never turn their backs on you even if friends and fortune flees you.

Sometimes, it still pains me to know that he is all alone down there. Before I left, I told him to wait for me, and he must still be waiting…"

Adam put a hand on Leila's shoulder. "We'll get back to Hell, take that throne, and get back to your dog. I promised, remember?"

Leila smiled as she intertwined her fingers around Adam's. "Of course, my darling."

It was then that Nia did something quite interesting. She licked Leila's cracked hand, and almost immediately, white arcs of energy surged around her skin. Wherever the arcs hit, the cracks patched up perfectly.

"Oh?" said Leila as she held her hands up to her eyes, rotating them to inspect them. "Healing magic. Quite potent, too. That's it, then-,"

Leila nodded to herself with resolute determination before she reached down and scooped Nia up in her arms, hugging Nia to herself like an experienced dog lover. "I have decided! A hound that likes us like this and which possesses powerful healing magic – of course I will take it!"

"Well, no objections there," said Adam as he sighed in relief. For now, it seemed like this tense situation between Nia and Leila was resolved. Leila still did not know exactly what Nia was, but Adam figured he could work something out with some more time to think and for Leila to get to know and trust Nia.

"For now," said Adam as he looked around at the broken trees and the large, pale moon looming in the night sky. "Let's get back home and get some rest."

Leila and Adam flew back to his apartment, sneaking in through an open window while concealing their presences with magic. It was possible for shapeshifting demons like Leila and Adam to cover their bodies in a thin magical aura of hazy darkness that stealthed them from non-magically sensitive eyes.

Though doing it all the time was risky because it 'dampened' their auras, making it so that it took time for them to be able to fully pump out their magical energy after canceling the stealth effect.

Inside his room, Adam saw a single large crow staring at him from his bed, its beady red eyes locked directly at him.

"Hello again, Adam of the Park." Raum's voice emanated from the crow.