Rey's first instinct upon seeing Phil was to blast him away with Repulsion or use Attraction and give him a long, deep smooch with his scythe, but his Mana had other plans. It was still abysmal. The most he could do with it was shoot off half a spell that would make Phil sway in the wind. The others probably could have done a lot more, but they didn't.

  Just shoot the demon, burn it, or blast it with lightning—anything, guys. Come on.

  But they stood still, probably waiting for Rey to make the first move. If his head weren't still pounding from the Mana Fatigue, he would've done a lot more than simply talk, and as it turned out, it looked like that was what he would have to do.

  Rey sighed. "What are you doing here, Phil? Care to fall on my scythe and save us all a bother?"

  Phil smiled. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass."

  Rey shrugged. "Well, you will eventually."

  "Don't be so sure," he replied.

  Kassandra stepped up, dagger in hand. "Are you here to attack us or simply to taunt us like you did last time?"

  "Well, neither, you're in my friend's territory, and I was wondering what you are doing here so far up north."

  Rey's first instinct was to run. No, not run, sprint as fast as his battered body would allow, but if he did that, then he was sure this poison demon would fall on their backside and give them an unwanted bath. A bath that would sting at the very least and melt the flesh off their bones at worst. So, he would have to make sure that this demon knew not to fuck with them, even if they were all tapped out.

  He hated that none of this had happened last time, so he didn't know what to do or how this conversation would go. He groaned internally. Why did I have to change so many things?

  "If we're in your master's territory, then why don't you call him and get rid of us here and now?" Rey said.

  Phil raised an eyebrow. "Oh, feeling brave, are we? I could, but since you cleaned up the Nestoriels' cave, I'll let you pass with a warning. The same warning that I gave you last time. He's coming."

  Rey shared a glance with his friends and barked a laugh. Kassandra and Filomena laughed along with him. Ajay was the only one who remained serious. He looked ready to fry Phil, and that was the right disposition to have, but Rey wasn't done with him yet.

  "Bullshit," Rey exclaimed. "If we're in his territory, then why haven't you called him already. I think you're bluffing. I think you're wandering, hoping that your master shows up sooner rather than later so you can get your revenge."

  The smug attitude wilted off his face. He set his jaw and gritted his teeth. "You can act smug now, but we'll see how brave you are when Unokir shows up to tear your castle down and kill your friends. But you, oh, he'll keep you around as a pet to foretell the future. You'll be like a dog, just like—"

  "You are," Rey interjected. "Thanks, but I'll pass."

  "I think we've talked enough," Kassandra said. "It's time we went our ways, unless you wish to fight."

  Phil said nothing for a long moment, eyeing each of them in turn. He surveyed their injuries, and Rey could see that he was trying to assess if he could take them. Truth be told, Kassandra was bluffing. The only one of them in any fighting shape was Ajay. He could probably take on the poison demon by himself, but if they fought him now, it wouldn't be without more unwanted injuries, but they could take him down. Then, if they came across any demons on the way back to the castle, they would be human s'mores—with no marshmallow.

  Phil must've realized the same thing and, being the cowardly, selfish demon that most demons were, decided he didn't want the smoke.

  He stepped back, spread his arms, and smiled. "Not today. We'll save the unpleasantness for another day. After all, when we finally come to claim the castle, there'll be lots of fighting. I just wanted to thank you for cleaning out the cave and to remind you that we'll be visiting you all very soon."

  "Fucking coward," Filomena hissed.

  Phil only smiled. "What would you do in my position, Filomena? Would you attack the four of you?"

  She said nothing but only sneered in response.

  "Thought so. Well, friends, until we meet next time."

  "Ajay," Rey called. "Give him something to remind him not to pay us any more of these bullshit visits."

  Ajay's hand lit up with fire. "My pleasure."

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Phil stepped back several steps. "Listen, Rey, I don't want to fight, but I will."

  "Who said anything about fighting?" he replied. "I'm only talking about giving you a present for giving us this warning."

  Ajay thrust his hand out, and a column of flames shot forward towards Phil's head, who ducked, but not fast enough to save his face entirely. The left part of his forehead was singed black. The flames had barely missed his eye, though quite a bit of his hair was on fire. He patted his head frantically to put out the fire, and it took him a moment, and the fire went out, albeit with considerable damage.

  A large portion of his hair had gone up in smoke. A thin trail of black smoke rose from his head, looking rather comical. Rey couldn't help but snicker.

  "Now, you look like a demon," Rey commented.

  Phil gritted his teeth and looked as though he was about to retaliate, but proved himself to be cowardly indeed and took this humiliation in stride.

  "I will remember this."

  "That was the whole point. That you do remember this and tell your master that this, and more lovely presents like this, await him at the castle. Now run along before my fiery friend gives you a permanent tan."

  Phil said nothing more and stalked off into the trees, in the direction of the cave that they had come from.

  So, Unokir comes from the Kingdom of Night.

  Rey didn't know this, as he could never find out much about the demon, since he was so focused on running away from it. This made a lot of sense. The demon was strong enough to call that blasted land his home. However, this conversation and Phil's visit had put him on edge. He couldn't help but feel that he had upped the invite for the big bad wolf.

  Phil would run to his master and tell him of what had happened today. Most likely lie and say that we didn't think anything of him, add some other colorful adjectives, and do everything in his power to bring him to the castle as fast as possible. A part of him didn't want to let him go so easily.

  "We shouldn't just let him go," Kassandra said, voicing his thoughts.

  "I know, but we're in no position to fight a demon of his caliber," Rey said. "The Nestoriels were strong, but they were still the dumb, animal kind of demons. This one is of the thinking kind who could eat the Luthrol's poisoned body, like it was fried chicken. Plus, he also has the Shadow element. A fight with him will not be as easy as we think, especially with only one of us in any condition to fight. There'll be lots of injuries, and even if we do kill him, his master will still show up at the castle anyway."

  The others stared at Phil's back until he was far into the trees and vanished from sight. Then, without another word, they all headed back for the castle. The way back was somehow easier and faster, even if they weren't chasing down the Bowser that had kidnapped Princess Ajay.

  Rey couldn't wait to tease his friend incessantly about it, but he was in no condition to do so at the moment. His head told him to shut up and focus on putting one foot in front of the other. It didn't take them long to arrive at the clearing where their castle stood. But it wasn't without incident. They faced a few demons along the way. And by they, he meant Ajay. After all, he needed the experience.

  Rey pounded on the door with his scythe, and the slit in the door opened a moment later.

  "Password?" Asked Sergei.

  "Password? I thought this was McDonald's."

  The bolt on the door unlocked, and the door opened. Sergei's eyes widened when he saw their battered condition.

  "You need doctor?" He said.

  Rey was sure that his Russian bear of a friend meant it as a statement, but the way it came out, Rey couldn't help hearing it as a question.

  "Yes, a doctor would be ideal. Do you have one on hand?"

  Sergei frowned. "No, why Doctor Bahar in my hand?"

  Rey laughed and clapped his shoulder. "Never change, my friend."

  Their condition caused quite a commotion. After all, it wasn't like they had come back from vacation in the Bahamas. Doctor Bahar came running down the stairs and went to work right away. They were all pretty much equally damaged, though Filomena was the worst. So, she went to heal her first.

  Sergei brought them a bucket of water, and Rey had to resist the urge to dump it on his head. Hoping that the cool water would curb the head pounding, but the others were all thirsty as well. Once they had their fill. The questions began.

  Rey took them through the events of the day, with the others filling in for him or explaining what he meant, which mostly fell to Kassandra. He didn't know why his words needed explaining. He was talking in perfect sense. Some people were simply incapable of handling the truth.

  "After running from the cave, we ran into our dear friend Phil again," Rey said.

  That gave everyone pause. Even the good doctor stopped healing Rey, which was quite rude, to be honest. He was finally starting to feel a little better.

  "And what did he say?" Maria asked.

  "Oh, the usual threats about his friend, more like his master coming to pay us a visit and destroy the castle, and the usual flavor of threats and all that."

  "Oh no," Maria replied.

  "Then we must fortify the castle," Jerry said. "We can't waste any time."

  "And make sure we have provisions saved up for when he comes," Kassandra added.

  That was a good idea, but entirely useless for what Rey had planned. Then someone mentioned sealing off the windows. And then they just started repeating what they had said the last time Phil had visited. It was all rather redundant.

  Rey tried to get a word in, but they kept speaking over him. He sighed and looked at Sergei, who stood closest to the door. He made a motion of tapping on the door. The Russian bodybuilder nodded and tapped on the door. He must not have known his own strength as he left small bumps on the metal door, the size of bowling balls.

  Everyone grew quiet.

  "Ah, some peace and quiet, finally," Rey said. "I think we've forgotten that I set some ground rules a few days ago. Chief among them was that I am the fucking leader." He breathed a deep breath and calmed himself. "Now, all your ideas are brilliant, and honestly, any commander would love to have you to strengthen their castle before a siege…"

  "But?" Kassandra said. "I feel a—but is coming."

  Oh, Kassi, you're always too smart for me.

  "But we won't have any need to fortify the castle as we won't be staying. At the very earliest, we're packing up shop and moving out."

  Rey wished he had a camera. He wanted to take a picture of this precious moment to remember their shocked Pikachu faces.

  "Let Unokir come," Rey said. "All he and dear Phill will find is an empty castle."