20 Captured

As Zed regained his consciousness the first thing he noticed was a pounding headache. He was currently in a completely black room with his hands and feet bound. He could tell that he was upside down due to the blood that had gathered near his head. That was not helping the splitting pain he was feeling.

It wasn't long after he had woken up that he heard a noise along one of the walls. Slowly the entire side of the room was moved outward and revealed the people he had fought earlier along with some unfamiliar faces. He heard the grinding of gears as he was lowered onto the floor. Once he was down a man came in and propped him against the wall in the corner facing outward. A woman followed shortly after carrying some items.

"Mikax you didn't have to hit him so hard look how swollen his face is!" Lyra had gone in and began examining the damage that had been done.

Shrugging Mikax just laughed. The truth was he had held back a fair amount. If he had used all his strength he probably would have collapsed his skull.

Lyra had been working with Mikax on creating liquor that had healing properties as well. They decided to test how effective they were on their prisoner. "Now this is going to burn a little going down but I want you to open up, it should help your head some." Lyra held a bottle in front of Zed's face.

The demonic fox sniffed the air in front of him. He had been trained by his father to detect most poisons simply by the smell. He didn't notice anything that smelled dangerous but he was hesitant to trust people who held him captive.

"Your other choice is I smack the other side of your head and we try again when you wake up." Mikax was growing impatient. He felt he was already generous enough to let him live after targeting his guild mates when they turned their backs.

Zed didn't need a second warning. He gulped and then opened wide. The woman in front of him wasn't wrong, it was very strong and burned as it went down. However, it only lasted for a second before he noticed a numbing sensation spread from his throat into his body. The muscles he was using to stabilize himself went slack as he slumped to the floor.

Zed tried to say something but all that came out was unintelligible garble.

"Might be too strong. That's good though we can weaken it when we enhance the flavor." Orion was the one to speak this time, he was happy to see that it had worked, even if it was too strong. As Zed listened to this he was frustrated. He could tell that they were using him as a test subject.

Mikax moved forward and laid Zed flat on his back. "Okay try the next one." He then pulled Zed's mouth open again. Lyra grabbed another bottle before pouring a small amount into the demonic fox's mouth. Zed couldn't swallow properly so he felt like he was drowning.

Once the majority of the liquid was down his throat he could see everyone smiling. What he didn't know was that the bruising and swelling on his face was healing at a steady rate.

"Alright, we will have to wait till next time to try the others." Mikax then got out of the way to allow Hesa to cast a detoxification spell. As she finished Zed could feel his body return to normal.

"You guys are all insane!" Zed was glaring daggers at everyone as he wormed his way away from the people blocking his exit.

Eura began to laugh, "Coming from you that's rich. You tried to kill us because our fathers had bad blood. You're not right in the head. Mikax, maybe you should hit him again and knock some sense into him."

Zed immediately looked at the man who he had seen on the wall. It didn't take a genius for him to figure out what happened and who he clearly couldn't mess with. If Mikax did decide to hit him again he would consider begging for mercy.

"Maybe we can talk some sense into him first. We do need to train someone in torture techniques to extract information at some point though, so can someone make a note because I'll forget." Mikax had walked in front of Zed and squatted down to eye level. "Tell me dog, why shouldn't we close this door and let you die?"

"I'm a fox," Zed replied quietly.

Mikax lifted his hand and flicked Zed in the center of his forehead. The demonic fox was not ready for the impact as his head hit the wall behind him bouncing off with a good amount of force.

"Wrong. If I say you're a dog you bark. Now answer the question. Why should we not leave you to rot." Mikax was completely deadpan towards Zed, he wasn't going to let him off the hook even if he had the best excuse in the world. He just held grudges that way.

"I'm a fox." Zed was extremely proud of his parents, to let someone deny his mother's genes was not something he was willing to do.

As the words had finished coming out of his mouth the impact he had felt from the battlefield earlier had manifested on the opposite side of his face as the world went black for the second time.

Mikax stood up and turned around. Everyone was looking at him with disappointment. "What? He didn't bark." Was all Mikax said as he walked out of the room.

Shortly after, all the rest filtered out before closing the door behind them again. Slowly the box was lifted into the air in the center of the guild hall. If Zed could see the outside of the box he would be shocked. It looked like a completely ordinary glass cube. Everyone who entered the guildhall could see directly into it with him now lying on the floor unconscious with blood slowly leaking from his mouth. This was Mikax's way of showing everyone that if you messed with The Misfit Toys there were real consequences.

Since the incident at the gate earlier in the day the guilds bar had seen an increase in customers. Many wanted to see the demon they had captured. Others were accepting that Eura wasn't going to kill them since he had just slain his former comrades. This acceptance was only because they trusted Mikax wouldn't let him rampage. It created a very interesting dynamic in the room.

As the former noble ladies watched this occurring they couldn't help but feel that it gave them vibes of the king's throne room with factions forming to match each other's preferences. The only difference was that no one could gain anything here unless Mikax personally gave it away, it was just a security blanket to not be alone.

The group slowly went back to their work and tasks. Mikax disappeared almost instantly, he hated to put on a face and socialize with people. He made sure to delegate that task to his 3 centerpieces. Hesa, Rotnam, and now Eura were all being approached and asked questions about the guild and what to expect in the future. They had just defended the town against demons that even the town guards would have struggled with.

In a room on the third floor, Kydorzia was seated on a cushion dripping from sweat. She had been training almost constantly since the first day of the guild to learn to control her mana flow. She was anything but a prodigy. Her progress has been extremely slow, most people with a magic affinity were trained from a very young age over time to develop their control and skill. Since Bedel only recognized the traditional branches of magic they had never given her a chance as being a bard wasn't something anyone knew of.

Mikax stood by the window looking out into the distance, he could feel Kydorzia's progress and was pleased that she hadn't given up yet. He could tell that she was struggling but there was no secret shortcut he could offer her.

Finally, after 5 minutes of extreme concentration, she released a sigh of relief. She was exhausted, if it weren't for Mikax providing her with a constant stream of potions she would only be able to practice for about 2 hours a day.

Kydorzia stood up and approached the window Mikax was looking out of, she was still amazed at how clear the class he had was. Even after looking she was disappointed to find just normal everyday happenings occurring.

Suddenly Mikax turned his head towards the southern direction where a guardsman was seen sprinting up the road. This put a frown on Mikax's face. "Nothing good ever comes from people running", Mikax said to Kydorzia before turning and leaving the room.

By the time that the guard had entered the building Mikax was leaning over the railing on the third floor waiting to hear the news. The room had gone quiet to see what the man had to say as he caught his breath.

Finally after a few seconds of labored breathing, "there are soldiers from Mythden that say they are here to save the town from Eura. They number around 5,000."

Most people in the room looked very confused. Save them from Eura? That didn't make any sense. There were a couple of people who looked very panicked. They knew that they had requested help when Eura had been revealed by the guild, they were regretting it coming to light now of all times.

From the third floor Mikax's voice rang out, "tell them Eura is here and our door is open. If they come bearing arms then our members will defend this place till none of them are alive." He then turned around and went back into the room with Kydorzia.

Everyone was shocked, they knew that there was only 9 members of the guild. They had seen how strong a few of them were but at some point numbers would over run quality, that was absolute madness to openly challenge the small army. The guard looked around for someone else to give him an out to this situation but nothing ever came. A number of the people who had been hanging around for meet and greets promptly decided to kick rocks. However, a few bold people stayed to see what was going to happen next.