Into the Lion's Den II

"Can I count on you to protect Sylvia?" He asked.

"Seriously, that's what you're worried about?" The woman responded with teary eyes. She was dark skinned and had dark, long, braided hair.

"Focus Nakia, this is something bigger than you," he stated.

"Why do you favor her more than you do me?" She asked.

"We all have a role to play in the coming war. Yours is to make sure Sylvia makes it past the aftermath of this war and meets with Morgan when the time comes. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she replied, her voice low.

"Also, do not tell Kendi about this ... Or about us, he won't take it well," he instructed as he picked up a round crystal-like orb from a table.

Nakia grabs him by the arm, turning him around and kissing him deeply, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Is this really goodbye?" The dark-skinned woman wept.

"Stay safe, Nakia." He pressed on the orb and disappears from the location, the orb transporting him elsewhere; a small room where Kendi, Yves, and Jade were.

"Going around saying goodbyes?" Kendi teased walking towards him.

"Glad you're taking it well and no, this transport orb was too hard to find," he said handing the orb to Kendi.

"So this is it, huh?"

"Everything comes to an end, my good friend."

"... Or a stalemate. This is a stalemate."

"I think 'pause' would be more appropriate."

Kendi laughs before moving close to him and hugging him. "So this is what breaks the scourge of Netradral, eh?"

Kendi takes a step back, "I'm going to miss you, man," the dark-skinned man stated.

He turned to the ladies. "Better to save the goodbyes, I'll see you both in a thousand years or so," he declared.

Ignoring his words, Yves runs and hugs him. "Don't be daft, I'll still have to spend more than a thousand years in this world without you," she stated.

"You'll be fine. Remember what we talked about."

"I do. I love you, Horatius."

"I know," he said as he plants a kiss on her forehead. He moved away from the shifter, picking up a concoction from a table and drinking it all. Kendi took out his dagger and stepped close to him. "You might want to look away, love," he said before Kendi stabs him.

.

.

.

"Hunter ..." Chelsea said softly.

"Silence cannot save you," Ranock stated.

"True," Hunter agreed. The sprite pushes Chelsea away from himself, his fists surrounded with pink energy as he raises his hand and throws a punch at the demon.

Ranock raises his legs to his chest, using his knee to block the strike. The demon replies with a punch of his own and Hunter quickly dodges, moving to the side of the attack only for Ranock to move his hands sideways, catching the teal green-eyed boy on the side of the head, making him stumble backward.

[You're rusty]

'I am. I haven't been in a real fight since the mission by Agent Lovelace.'

Ranock formed a brown energy ball and shoots it at Hunter, sending the sprite flying backward.

"Did you two really think you could beat me?" said Ranock. "She hasn't even used her powers in years, I can tell," he stated pointing at the dark mage.

"Of course, we knew we couldn't beat you," Hunter conceded. "But you're wrong, there's three of us, not two!" The sprite said with a small smile on his face.

Thomas suddenly appears and holds onto both Hunter and Chelsea before porting them outside the sanctum.

Just before Hunter and Chelsea tried to infiltrate the Darkforgers' ranks, the sprite had called his former teammate and asked for some help since the year 4 student had mastered transmission ability.

Thomas ports again and again, moving them farther and farther from the sanctum. He ports once more to ensure that they were far away from the Darkforgers' home and there was no sign that they were followed by the demon faction.

"Nice timing," said Hunter.

"Thank goodness I appeared when I did," said Thomas.

"Thanks for the help, Tom," said Hunter.

"See you around," said the grade-A sprite as he walks away.

Chelsea quickly picks out her phone and dials Jade's number, the vampire picks up in the first ring. "Are you out of that god dammed place?"

"Yes. And we know who they are trying to capture," said Chelsea.

"Who is it?"

*ELSEWHERE*

Sophia clenches her fist and punches the air as strongly as she could. Zoe closely watched the redhead, her hand resting on her waist as she shakes her head disappointedly. "Fun fact, some humans can use natural energy," said Zoe.

"I just need a breather," Sophia stated as she threw herself onto the ground. "We've been doing this for hours you know," she added as she breathes loudly.

"Fine," Zoe sighs. "Take ten but no more slacking off."

"Thanks. I honestly don't understand what you're so annoyed about, ask anyone and they'd tell you I'm having a great development," said Sophia.

Zoe frowns. "First off, you're not the instructor so you don't have a say in whether or not your development has been great; it's been bad. Secondly, I was assigned to you because I'm a fiend, and fiends' powers increase astronomically when they train and people around them also tend to reach their peak quicker. So tell me this, how long have we been training and what's something meaningful you've picked up in that time?"

"When you put it like that ..."

"It's not about the way I put it, it's the way things are," Zoe stated.

"Okay, okay, I get it, I suck. No need to kick me when I'm down," Sophia rolled her eyes. "You said something about fiends' powers increasing astronomically when they train, are they the strongest order then?" She asked curiously.

"The order in general? Yes. There is no limit to the amount of power a fiend can generate in their lifetime what does have a limit though, is the amount of power a fiend's body can take," the gray-eyed girl explained.

"What happens when the body is at its peak?" Sophia asked.

"The fiend dies," Zoe stated. "The fiend would be reborn again though ... with no recollection of their previous life," she added.

"Wow ... And with the way you're training I'd say you have 2 or 3 years before you peak," said Sophia. "That was a joke, I'm joking!" She quickly added before the fiend could react.

"Fiends' bodies are capable of amassing an immense amount of energy, we tend to live longer than the average human, though not as long as the average mystic. It will take decades before I peak," the black-haired girl stated.

"Oh. What would happen if you were to stop training?"

"I'll stop improving and I'll live forever," Zoe stated.

"But you don't plan to do that, do you?"

"Eternity is overrated. Besides, I'll still get reincarnated when I do die ... Just not with my memories in this life."

"Wow. Well since you don't have a lot of time left --"

"I do!"

"You don't! When are you going to tell Hunter you like him?"

"Who said I liked him?"

"Please," Sophia scoffed, "I've seen the way you look at him!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Seriously? When I first joined the school. When he was attacked. When he was trying to bait the Northland spies. When you thought he was going to die, and let's not forget the lunch date we had recently. It's pretty obvious at this point," Sophia stated.

"Fiends are mostly attracted to fiends. Last time I checked, Hunter is no fiend," Zoe argued.

"Bullshit! You're telling me there's never been a fiend who fell in love with someone outside the order before?"

The redhead continued, "I mean, it's weird since you're his teacher and all that but you two are the same age so is it really weird? Besides, he's single now so you have a chance now more than ever."

"Wait, he was dating someone before?" Zoe queried.

"Yes. You didn't know? I thought it's why you didn't make a move," said Sophia. "Unless ... You did make a move and he rejected you," Sophia said. "Oh my God!" She exclaimed.

"Shut up!" She instructed.

"Wow! You actually d --"

"Shut up noodle hands, I'm serious," said Zoe, her expression suddenly turning serious.

"Okay, killjoy."

Ignoring her, the fiend stepped ahead and swat away a ray of energy that was headed their way.

"Holy --" Sophia said taken aback.

"Thirty of you and there's just two of us and this is how you start your attack?" Zoe shouted.

Some odd looking creatures stepped out from behind the trees, slowly creeping toward the duo, they were demons.

"Who did you piss off?"

"Stay behind me at all times and do as say. If any of them try to attack you, try to create distance between yourself and them and do not engage them no matter what, you won't win," Zoe instructed before looking up at the demons. "Let's get started then!"

The fiend suddenly disappears and Sophia looks around befuddled. "How I'm I supposed to stay behind you at all times!?"

Zoe appeared close to a demon and punches him into the air, she spins, moving one-eighty degrees before jumping and kicking another demon and uses the falling demon to propel herself to the next demon whom she simply hit with a backhand slap. The fiend looks back to see how her student was doing.

Sophia had her back against a tree, a demon steadily approached her while the former clenches her fist ready for a fight. Once she decided the demon was close enough, she threw a punch but her fist is caught by someone - Zoe - who kicks the demon away. "Create. Distance." The fiend reminded.

"You also said to stay behind you, both of those things have been really difficult to do," Sophia argued.

Zoe sighs before turning to face the army of approaching demons.

<•> <•>

Sophia felt as though time had frozen for just a moment and just like that, everything felt normal again. Sophia looked for the demons that were approaching them just a second earlier but all of them were now lying on the ground while Zoe was standing tall with not even a scratch on her body, her grey eyes now glowing bright green.

"Zoe!!!" Sophia shouted. "YOU'RE A GODDESS!!!" said the redhead.

"Yeah, no. Don't ever call me that again," said Zoe.

"Sorry. You are pretty awesome is what I'm trying to say."

"I know."

"You're so cool. We should hang out forever!"

"Nope."

Suddenly, the ground begins to rumble, as if there was volcanic activity nearby but Zoe could tell the shaking wasn't natural, something was coming, something big and dangerous.

Tree branches began to fall and birds flew out of their nests and soon the creature causing the tremors appeared. It was a seven-meter beast with the head of a bull and the teeth of a flesh-eating animal.

"So much power," Zoe muttered. "There's this skill I've been trying to master; you'll make a good training dummy," she stated before running towards the demonic beast.

The beast stomps its hands on the ground causing it to shake before uprooting a tree and launching it at Zoe. It hits the ground and dust rises.

Zoe walks out of the dust unscathed, her short, shaggy, black hair growing in length and turning white. Two flat horns that curve three times in a zigzag pattern grow out of her head. Her clothes transform into sparse, light-colored armor while her tanned skin turns albino pale, with the exception of her arms down from her shoulders and legs down her upper thighs, which darken into black. Her nails grow to the point where they resemble claws, and she also grows a tail about the same length as her arm. Her eyes also change, the pupils maintain their gray colors but shrink down into a narrow ellipsoid. On her back is a pair of large bat-like wings.

Zoe pointed at the beast and it suddenly fell to its knees. The fiend charged forward, running on one of the beast's hands before turning at the shoulder and kicking it in the face. The fiend lands on the ground, moving quickly and hitting it on the jaw.

Zoe wastes no time, spinning before punching it again in the face. The beast stumbles backward, feigning unbalance before leaping forward in an attempt to take the white-haired fiend between his teeth but the gray-eyed girl saw through its ruse, swiftly jumping out of the way and letting the beast eat her dust. White, green, red, gray, and purple rays follow her as she moves. She propels herself towards the beast, hitting it with a left hook, and watched as its teeth flies out from its mouth and the beast itself sink to the ground.

"Enough," a voice said from behind. Zoe looked over her shoulder to see its source; a demon that was wearing a cloak and had a well-kept mutton chops and a connected mustache.

The demon held Sophia by her hair with an energy barrier around them both to prevent the fiend from coming close. "Surrender now or she dies!" He shouted.

"You think I care about her?" Zoe scoffs. "Do as you please."

"Very well," the demon said before slowly drilling his claws into Sophia's skull, Zoe could tell the demon was using black magic to make it even more painful for the redhead.

"Aargh!" She screamed.

"Fine, stop!" Zoe turns back to her human form. "I'll go with you on one condition," she said.

"You're not in a position to be making demands," said the demon.

"I want you to let her go," said Zoe. "If I'm going to be giving up my life for her, I have to know she'll be fine," the fiend stated.

"That's fair, you have a deal," the demon agreed before shoving the stone blue-skinned girl to the ground. The demon lowered his energy barrier and opens a portal, the two of them walk into it.

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