Partners

"What the hell is she doing here?" asked Naamah as she eyed Sylvia suspiciously.

He doesn't respond, looking uninterested at the demon before shifting his gaze to the mage.

"Lord Cal-Ra came down with a cold and lost his voice. I'll be speaking for him today."

"Right. Because he's human now ... Things as simple as cold can weaken him immeasurably," the turquoise-eyed woman noted. "Why am I here?" She asked.

"Not yet. We're waiting for the arrival of one more."

As if on cue, the door slid open and Alastair walked into the room. "Yo! I didn't know we were having a party here," said the grayish-blue-haired demon.

"You're late, Alastair! Next time we have to wait for you, it better be your funeral," Sylvia said angrily.

"Huh?" The grey-eyed demon turned to the alchemist who was seated at the head of the table.

"This one's doing her best impression of The Great Dark Majesty because he, get this, came down with a cold and lost his voice," Naamah explained to her brother.

"Oh? It was not my intention to leave you waiting," said Alastair which caused Naamah to scoff. "Something important came up," he added.

"Does that have to do with the demons you've been moving from Hel?"

Alastair's eyes widen. "Yes, we know all about the things you do when you think we aren't watching so here's what's going to happen: You are going to agree to a deal starting immediately. If you ever speak about Hel to anyone, you die. And if you ever step foot in Hel, you also die."

The demon sighs. "What do I get in return?"

"Nothing."

"That's not fair!" Naamah pointed out.

"No deal is ever fair. Someone always gets the shorter end of the stick. In this case, that someone is you, Alastair."

"This whole thing is bullshit!" Naamah exclaimed, slamming her hand on the table as she rose to her feet.

Sylvia's eyes turned dark. "Sit!" Her voice was accompanied by a hundred other voices repeating the same command.

"Naamah ..."

Naamah sunk back into her seat.

"I accept," the demon agreed.

"Good. We didn't want it to be like this but you forced our hand by repeatedly defying our orders."

"I understand," said Alastair.

"You may leave."

Alastair started for the door, sparing his sister a glance before walking out of the room.

"Alastair has been nothing but devoted to you and your cause, you know! When you disappeared, he gave up his responsibilities as ruler of Scharwz Hel to look for you. You can't keep taking advantage of his loyalty!" Naamah exclaimed.

"We didn't call you here to hear your opinion on our plans with Alastair. We have a deal for you too," said Sylvia.

The demon raised an eyebrow to hear what the alchemist had prepared for her. "What deal?"

"It's simple really; you're to travel back to Hel and never open a portal to Nym'Roal ever again."

"And what do I get in return?"

"Nothing. Like I --"

"No!" Naamah refused. "I've had enough of your bullshit!" She rose to her feet and shifted her attention to Cal-Ra. "If you're going to pull something like this, at least have the decency to say it to my face not ordering your sycophant to do it for you. You're an alchemist for crying out loud; if you really came down with cold, you would have found a way to cure it!"

He remained quiet and uninterested even after hearing the demon's big speech. "Control yourself, Naamah, or else ..." Sylvia said.

Naamah started for the exit door. "You'll try ... and you'll fail." Before she could make it out, Sylvia closed the distance between them and grabbed the demon by the throat, raising her above the ground. "You were saying?"

A ball of energy that manifested as a ball of fire appeared around the demon's hand which she pointed at the mage before changing her mind and shifting her aim to the Alchemist who was still sitting at the head of the table. Naamah shot at the non-mystic but the energy never touched him.

The color drained from Naamah's face after she'd witnessed that. The alchemist still didn't move, merely looking into the demon's eyes without saying a single word.

The mage tightened her grip around the demon's throat and the latter felt her soul slowly leaving her body. "I -- I --- I -- ac -- accept ..." She managed to get out of her vocal chord before the former choked her out.

Sylvia released her grip and the demon dropped to the ground and coughed violently as she struggled to catch her breath.

The mage turned to the one at the head of the table. "Please let me kill them both," she requested. "We can replace them with demons who are much more stronger, loyal, and competent."

He smiled and shook his head so the mage turned back to the demon with the disappointment of being deprived of the honor of putting down the brother-sister demon duo apparent on her face. "Leave now and be grateful his Lordship is merciful enough to forgive you for your transgression."

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Hunter could hear the submarine as it slowly lowered into a chamber in the ship and the water that came with opening the hatch was filtered back into the ocean.

The dark-haired boy breathed out and rubbed his palms together.

[Are you nervous?]

'Kinda ...'

[Why? You have no reason to be.]

'I'm only human ...'

At the shuttle bay, the chamber in which the submarine was inside moved into the ship's shuttle bay, and the door slid open before Sir Aragones exited the submarine and took a good look at his surroundings.

The coordinator was wearing his usual bartender suit and his hands were folded behind his back. A woman emerged from the submarine, she was holding a box in her hand and walked closely behind the brown-haired man as he approached Skylar who stood by the shuttle bay's exit.

"Doctor Skylar," he said.

"Sir Aragones, I presume."

The blue-eyed man nodded before pointing to the lady standing behind him. "This is Dr. Sonya of the Grand Liberation Program, she'll be examining the student today."

Sir Aragones looked behind the aqua blue-haired woman. "By the way, where is he?" He asked

Skylar turns towards the door. "Come with me."

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