We’d messed up.

  I wasn’t sure how they’d done it, but somehow the demons had done something to transport us out of the restaurant. Though considering that Mive was hanging in the air in front of us, suspended by the smoking tendrils that were slowly crawling back over his body.

  “Hello!” A silver skinned man in his seventies with thinning black hair waved at us.

  “You’re…” I knew I’d seen him recently, but I couldn’t remember where.

  “Vee.” He gave a little bow. “Butler to the Six, though I’m also called…” His blue eyes flashed yellow for a moment. “Yoriel.”

  “Kara.”

  The single word was all the prompting she needed, but her white blade bounced off of a purple barrier that flashed in front of the demon for just a moment.

  “Such a wonderful little spell.” The silver monster knelt down, and one of the black tendrils wriggled across the ground over the purple line that had formed between him and Mive. “Just add a little magic to get it started, and the host does the rest.” His skin shone as he touched the tendril.

  “You’re behind this?” I noticed that Rix had vanished as I walked over to Kara and put my hand on her shoulder to guide her back.

  “You could say that I started this, yes.” Yoriel stood back up. “Honestly, it’s a shame that you’re still here. These things are so hungry, but much like bees, once they feed, they die.” He smiled widely, “No point in wasting the few that we have on things that wouldn’t even make a mouthful…” His eyes locked on to Kara. “But you have power.”

  “NO!” Ether had pulled her shield out of her CB and tried to intercept the tendril that snaked out of the mass under Mive. A purple circle appeared under Kara as the smokey limb diverted around my tank and wrapped itself around Ether’s sister.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  I reached for my SnakeBlade and pulled it out of my CB and tried to cut it off of her, but my sword bounced off of the same purple barrier that Kara’s had.

  “KARA!” Ether rammed into the barrier, then focused on the tendril. “LOOK AT ME!”

  My blood felt like it had turned to ice as I heard her release the taunt. Relief and guilt washed over me as nothing happened except the demon laughing hysterically.

  “You can’t taunt something that high level!” The demon was holding his stomach while he laughed.

  “Atlas!” Ether fell against the barrier while Justia ran over to her.

  I turned to the demon. “LET HER GO!”

  The silver man tilted his head to the side. “You really are like a child.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand how so many failed. This was almost too easy.”

  “What do you mean too easy?” Nothing about the last two weeks felt easy.

  “Emptying the city so that this spell would work. Finding the right time to lure you into the between without that tree freak. Getting you to play hero so you charged in and wouldn’t notice that those demons you cut down had been turned into anchors that would pull you here!” He raised his hands and gestured around him. As I watched the motion, I finally realized where we were. We were behind the Hex where the Dungeon Seed had been detonated.

  “You planned all of this?” I swallowed as I tried to figure out what his endgame was. “To do what?”

  “Simel already told you that. These bodies can’t contain our true power, but with a Mantle, we can attune it to be more powerful than any of the gods in this world.” His eyes glistened. “And then we can finally take our rightful place in the Universe!”

  “You really think you’re going to be so powerful that you can go into space?” I shook my head. “With their Mantles?”

  “I don’t need their mantles.” The demon shook his head. “Just their experience to feed mine.”

  “And that’s enough power to do all of that?” I shook my head. “Kara’s experience would barely make a dent in what Mive needs to level up.”

  “True…” He smiled and nodded behind me. “But what about with theirs?”

  I turned around slowly and saw Klix and her seven Scarlets along with Harror and her four Roots. Whisper and Gesai were standing behind them. I felt my heart catch in my throat and choke off my voice as the ground around Mive flared to life with fourteen more purple rings to complete four circles of four rings.

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