CHAPTER 24: FAMILIARS

"Lesser demons!" V said it like a curse as her footsteps slowed.

Compared to Fate's two-inch horns, the demons' horns were at least five times bigger. The demon looked similar to the wild animal that had attacked him but they looked more like the work of a kid than an actual replica. Well, his work. Fate discovered early enough that he had absolutely no artistic bone in his body.

"Don't slow down," Zek called out. "I will handle them."

"Are you sure?" V asked. "There are three of them!"

Zek scoffed, "The day I have trouble fighting mere lesser demons, that day I will quit being a wizard." As he spoke, he rushed towards the demons while spinning the staff.

He shoved the bottom end of the staff into the nearest demon's eyes and pulled it out, the blood showed purple. It writhed on the ground in pain. Zek didn't slow down, the staff glowed and he sent the other flying. It hit a tree and whined in pain as it fell to the ground.

The third one rushed at him and as soon as he made contact with his staff, it was set ablaze. Zek smiled, these weren't even demons, they were probably the lowest in the demon hierarchy.

Still, his little act had taken a toll on him but he could only blame that on the amount of mana he had used just this evening considering all he had done in the past two months was lounge around. 

He bent forward as he tried to catch his breath. V had already gone ahead, that was good, he could catch up to them quickly. Zek heard a soft sound and moved but he was not fast enough and the demon clawed the side of his face.

"'You swine from the hells!" Zek growled.

He knew the creature had been going for his neck though they were lesser demons, their attacks still packed a punch, and the cut would have been way deeper had he not moved. It was his fault, magic was one of the things that could kill demons, they could take damage but they had regenerative powers and they were pretty stubborn. Magic was not the only means but it was certainly faster than brute force.

He immediately noticed the stab to the eye was already healing. He swore, that he had used magic to push his staff into the eyes of the creature but there was no magic in his attack which was why the attack had not been enough to take out the demon.

The cut on the side of his face was bleeding profusely, it was pretty deep even with the fact that he had moved out of the way. However, now was not the time to heal himself; the demon was already rushing toward him. 

He adjusted his stance, he was angry. It was a slight mistake on his part but he was embarrassed that he was going to spend longer than he intended because he did not use magic. V most certainly thinks he was having a hard time.

Zek did not realize what he was doing until it was too late. He rushed at the animal, using his staff, he touched the creature with it and it disintegrated. That was not the problem, the problem was the amount of light this attack generated, it could be seen for miles out especially in the dark forest.

Zek swore, his only worry was the Archdemon. If the light had gone unnoticed he was fine but if not even if he covered up their tracks, the demon would have no problems uncovering it. 

It did not stop him from doing it because if V was right, staying any longer in Euthania was suicidal, especially after their act of treason. Satisfied with his job he fled from the scene as he went after V.

He caught up to her soon enough, she was at the entrance of the town waiting for him. 

"That took a while," V said and slid out of the dark corner.

"I got a little tied up."

V frowned, "You are bleeding."

Zek reddened, it was one thing for her to know he had a hard time, but it was also another thing for her to know a demon had been able to attack him. He had forgotten to get rid of the blood stains after healing himself.

"Oh this," he casually muttered. "I wanted to see how much damage they could inflict on me if I went easy on them. It was nothing serious."

He chuckled and waved his hand over his face and neck, immediately the blood stains disappeared.

"Awesome!" He heard the demon boy comment.

Zek had not forgotten his existence, he was only pretending the boy did not exist. Not that his hand over V's front was not enough reminder, in fact, the only thing stopping him from attacking the feeble boy was the fact that they both needed him and V would not take kindly to that.

"Hmm," V muttered and continued the journey.

"Does that mean you defeated the demons?" Fate asked.

Zek looked at the boy, Fate was looking at him with glistening eyes from behind V's back. He found it amusing that the boy was out of strength but somehow his lips had no problems moving.

"Wow! I wish I could use magic."

Zek frowned, the boy had not even waited for a response from him. For some reason, he could already tell they would not get along very well. It was better this way, for every party involved.

"What were those lesser demons though? I have never seen them before and why do they look like the animal that had attacked me?"

There was a brief moment of silence where Zek was not sure he should respond or he should leave the explanation to V. He was not surprised the boy had no clue about demons, not everybody did, let alone a child who had been locked up for the best parts of his current life.

"The animal that attacked you was a panther, they live amongst these parts, especially in that forest. The demons only took on the form of the wild animal because they do not have a form of their own. These types of demons are usually pretty helpful when summoned. They are called familiars."