"The lord..." Who cares?!

Regardless of how desperately Bardeelus demanded it, John's soul did not appear out of thin air. Even if it did, that soul wouldn't be of much help here.

He was surrounded by necromancers, who could have hundreds of enslaved souls to their name, and could counter many relative attacks! In most conflicts, they'd fight very little in order to kill Bardeelus and his friends. They were prepared.

Typically he wasn't so calculative, but this recent bad idea tipped the bucket. It was stupid to fight these necromancers head-on, regardless of how he hoped otherwise.

He was barely conscious now, so he didn't recognise these people as a threat, and this was the root of his current stupidity. In a sense, he was somewhat lucky that his attempt to summon 'John', had failed, as everything could've gone wrong!

"Why do I need John anyway? A boar's soul would be better." Bardeelus debated with himself inwardly, and remained oblivious.

Anyway, regardless if he was attentive or not, the situation escalated nonetheless. Driola insisted on saving her own life, and had grabbed a dagger to emphasize her worth. She wanted to gut the captives!

"You want corpses, father? I'll give you corpses!" She said, and stomped the ground with horrid intent following her. 

To make a point, she said. "How does a necromancer's soul sound to ya? No sibling of mine has one of those enslaved. They're all spineless weaklings!"

Bardeelus felt threatened, so he finally paid attention. Driola's malicious intent was obvious, but there was something else he sensed within the crowd which surrounded him; Nervousness. 

He studied that old man's face afterwards, and picked up some hints. He understood why everyone was more nervous than they were supposed to be. This was no normal 'sacrifice', all of these people were at risk, in their own weird way.

"He's not stepping in? That's cold," He thought, "Necromancers aren't supposed to enslave other necromancers… it's suicide and they know it well. What the hell is she trying to prove here? What a moron."

This was a guess at best, but he just knew that they were nervous for a huge reason. They couldn't be scared about a simple execution, that didn't sound right at all. 

Anyway, there wasn't any more time to think about this. Driola was a simple thrust away from stabbing Bardeelus to death, and he obviously wanted to avoid that. He had just enough strength to focus a fraction of his power, and he decided to pierce through Driola's heart with this fraction!

"Nope," He taunted, after Driola 'suddenly' lost her strength.

She couldn't take any more steps forward, and then blacked out. Her heart was torn in two, and although this amount of damage wasn't what he usually inflicted, it was enough to buy him time. The rest of these necromancers got the message!

"I won't stop there," He spoke out, with all the strength he could muster. "I don't need to be creative to steal your souls, play nice."

That threat scared a bunch of people right away, even that old man was nervous. Necromancers were never direct with their threats, unless they got the upper hand. They took such measures for survival's sake, and they were especially confused by how Driola was suddenly killed! They understood that this was no bluff.

"How'd you do that? My daughter wasn't possessed at all!" That old man asked, and then insisted. "What weapon are you using? We have your sword right here!"

The confusion was well-spread across the room. They hadn't expected this captive to fight, and certainly didn't expect him to kill a whole necromancer!

Bardeelus could sense their escalating fear, and decided to feed on it, so he said. "I don't need weapons, I can kill all of you with a snap, one by one. I'm worse than the demon you worship, you wrinkly bastard!"

The latter portion was a bluff, but he managed to send his message across without looking ridiculous. The sixteen-or-so present necromancers were scared shitless, so he decided to get something out of this, apart from the privilege of survival he bought over. 

He sat up, and pressured them with a question. "Tell me now, how can I, a young mage, help my friends? Both of them are possessed by your retarded demons, and I'm not leaving this place unless both of them are healed, or all of you are dead."

"You haven't killed any of us yet, my daughter is alive." The old man taunted, although he was still clearly nervous.

"What the hell…" Bardeelus sighed, and this time around he was the confused one. 

It was true, Driola was somehow alive. He could sense a faint heartbeat on her, which grew stronger by the moment!

He was confused, but there was no shame in trying again, so he threatened. "Guess I should do better. This time, I'll make sure to push her heart down to her guts."

At this point, the enemies understood that he wasn't giving any empty threats. The last threat was especially specific, it couldn't be random! For that matter, while the other necromancers mumbled in panic, the old man pleaded for a negotiation.

He immediately exclaimed, "Don't kill anybody! Captured souls are stored in our hearts, so if you kill my daughter, the souls she captured will break loose and attack us all. We're lucky that she managed to patch her heart up, with one of her enslaved souls, otherwise we'd all be dead by now."

"That doesn't make any sense," Bardeelus pondered, "Though, I can hear her heartbeat, so you can't be lying. You necromancers are really weird, as if demonic worshiping wasn't enough."

He didn't let them talk about anything random, however, and emphasized. "My friends, geezer. Heal them, or we'll all die."

The old man nodded in cooperation, and waved at a couple of other necromancers, who then sprung into action. 

Their dark robes would taunt any lesser man, especially since these people walked really quickly, but Bardeelus knew what to do now if things took a turn for the worse. Each necromancer here was like a ticking bomb, and he'd gladly explode them for chaos' sake!

Thankfully though, they were helpful enough. They quickly discovered that Erdeta was associated with the toughest demons of all. Two other necromancers had to join in, just to detach her from this thing!

A necromancer eventually reported, "Soul-snarer, sir… this demon isn't one of our own, he isn't a gift from our lord."

That geezer, who was also labeled as the 'soul-snarer', was calling the shots. Sure enough, he was willing to battle this demon. One demon couldn't be as dangerous as countless souls running rampant; They couldn't afford to fail Bardeelus now.

For that matter, the soul-snarer said. "That's not a problem, fry the impostor and its will. An enemy of our lord, is a worthy sacrifice."

In respect to this command, the necromancers started quite literally, wrestling this shadowy demon to submission! 

They had grabbed it physically, somehow. In order to tear it away from Erdeta, they initiated a 'purification' process.

This process was more of a conversion, regardless of its name. The necromancers emitted a blood-red mist from their hands, which in the process, forced this demon to adapt to the same shade! 

This dark, demonic shadow now sported a dark-red color, which meant that the conversion process was successful. They enslaved this demon, and necessarily, broke its will to possess Erdeta!

"It was that easy?" Bardeelus thought, but then asked himself. "Why did we come to these ruins, if these necromancers worship another demon? Hmm… guess this place is even bigger than I thought it is."

That topic as a whole was expansive, but this wasn't the time to ask questions. He had the upper hand here, and focused on abusing it. The people in this room helped him get an even greater advantage!

The demon was entirely under a necromancer's command now, and they could sacrifice this demon if they pleased. Erdeta woke up minutes later, and felt as refreshed as ever! 

She had no idea what was going on, but didn't care to explore either way. Her well-being was enough of an advantage in Bardeelus' eyes. Her cleansing was the task that brought them here to begin with, and they finished this task thoroughly!

"She looks fine now, that's good." Bardeelus said.

He didn't plan on being merciful, however, and insisted. "Help Audera now, and don't forget to get her powers back. I don't care if you have to kill your own daughter to make that happen. She must recover completely."

"There is no need for blood-shed," The geezer bargained for patience, "The knight just has to mend with your friend's heart, that's all it takes. She won't even get possessed, the knight's soul will burn off in the process."

"Y'all are really crafty with souls and shit. I almost feel bad about threatening you." Bardeelus joked.

The other felt sick by that comment, and didn't want to be pitied any further.

Therefore he said, "Don't feel sorry, child. We are not of the same kin, this is the only way we can sit together without a massacre breaking out."

His disappointment was very visible, and with a sigh, the geezer also added. "Let's hope we don't ever meet again. I can't even imagine the sacrifices I have to make, in order to make up for today's failures…"