8 – Hope

Saffra’s gaze snapped in the direction of the voice, like everyone’s did.

Lailah in particular had drawn two daggers and dropped into a combat position in the time it took Saffra to blink. She had suspected the woman had been faking her rank—she hadn’t seemed like a silver—but that confirmed it. The movement had been unnaturally fluid, showcasing the sort of grace she had only seen on high-rank adventurers.

There was a demon standing a half-dozen feet away. She wore plain black robes and held a gnarled staff of gray wood. Her hood was thrown back, revealing a seemingly young face wearing such a contemptuously bored expression, red eyes flat and uninterested, mouth downturned the slightest amount, that Saffra felt condescended to, somehow, just by being in her presence.

Despite her apparent youth, Saffra had the instant impression she was in the presence of someone—something—old and dangerous. Her gut instincts were usually right.

It was the woman she’d met earlier. The newcomer mage Lailah had invited. What was she doing here? It was such a confusing turn of events Saffra didn’t even feel relief.

Lailah slowly straightened out, clearly on edge. So was Dominic, hand on the hilt of his axe as he watched the development carefully.

Allen started squirming and trying to call something out through his gag. Dominic looked over and almost seemed like he was going to kick him, but he refrained, turning to eye the stranger instead.

What had her name been?

“Vivi, right?” Lailah asked. “Didn’t expect to run into you out here.”

“Invisibility is a tier seven spell,” Dominic said, his tone clipped.

Lailah shot a glare at her partner. “It wasn’t invisibility. Glamour, or something like that.”

The demon didn’t react. Saffra found herself captured by the utter lack of worry in her eyes. And the slight disdain leaking through, which probably spoke of complete and utter disdain, considering how little her face seemed to emote.

Saffra remembered being slightly unnerved in her conversation with the woman, even if she’d never felt worried. She’d known the demon was dangerous, but not dangerous in a bad way. Not like Lailah, despite being ten times as suspicious on the surface.

But [Invisibility]? It was indeed a tier seven spell, something only mages averaging level seven hundred could cast. Saffra would know. She was Institute-educated, if only briefly, now expelled.

Level seven hundred. Solidly into mithril rank. Which meant, if that were true, the demon could handle two low golds…probably. Mages weren’t great duelists. Especially not two-on-one. And that assumed her opponents were, in fact, low golds and not higher.

On top of that, it might not have been invisibility, and instead some other spell or skill. Lailah’s suggestion of a [Glamour] or [Illusion] wasn’t far-fetched.

The demon briefly ignored the two adults as her red eyes slid over to Saffra. “I apologize for the delay. I came and watched at the start, but nothing was happening, so I returned to town.”

She…came and watched? How? She hadn’t sensed anyone following them, and obviously Lailah and Dominic hadn’t. That definitely implied an invisibility or equally strong stealth spell.

And how had she known to return, if she’d gone back to town? [Farsight]? That was high-level magic too, though not as high as [Invisibility].

It probably ought to be disturbing, knowing someone had been spying on her, but Saffra was only now feeling the barest tinges of hope.

She stamped down on that feeling. A person couldn’t trust in one miracle. Was she really about to get a second in her lifetime? She didn’t dare let herself believe.

Still, at the demon’s words, the surge of repressed hope made her eyes start watering. She hunched forward, staring at the ground so she didn’t lose her composure entirely.

The demon grew agitated by that, for some reason. Her red eyes locked on Lailah, and Saffra swore she could feel the air thicken, like it was responding to the woman’s anger.

“Why?” she demanded.

The green-haired woman seemed to debate the pros and cons of trying to talk her way out of the situation. A few seconds passed, and she shrugged. Tossed her hair back and spun her daggers.

“Pays well. Nothing more, nothing less. Have to make ends meet, don’t I?” She sighed, as if exhausted by her own argument. “Let’s get this over with. You clearly don’t know who you’re up against.”

And despite the impression that this demon mage was competent, possibly even mithril rank, something cold gripped Saffra.

Because she wasn’t sure her savior would win. Had Saffra lured someone to her death? And worse, an apparently good person, willing to risk herself for a stranger? There had been no obligation to follow them into the forest. She had come out of a desire to help. Those sorts of people were rare. And Saffra might have gotten her killed.

Daggers drawn, Lailah dashed forward faster than Saffra could perceive, practically [Blinking] in front of the demon mage. Black metal blades scraped against a prismatic shield—but were repulsed, throwing Lailah back.

Stolen story; please report.

At the same instant, a lazy flick of Vivi’s wrist had a blast of air slamming into Dominic, who had charged at the same instant, his axe raised. He went careening head-over-heels, throwing up clumps of dirt and grass, cracking a felled log in half as he tumbled. He staggered to his feet, seeming uninjured, but was clearly startled by the strength of the attack.

It made Vivi’s two opponents reevaluate her.

“Not a pushover, are you?” Lailah asked. “Damn. Was kind of hoping.” Her jaw worked left and right. Vivi didn’t seem eager to retaliate, but her expression was cold enough to freeze over the Ashen Hierophant’s lair. “Sure we can’t work something out? Cut you in, maybe?”

The demon’s head tilted slightly, and something stuck in Saffra’s throat despite all logic.

She wouldn’t, right?

But Saffra had faced more than one betrayal. Maybe the demon was considering the offer. While she had blocked their first coordinated attack, their speed had been incredible. Were these two even gold ranks? Or had they been faking from an even higher position than Saffra had assumed? Were they mithril themselves?

With that sort of realization, Saffra wouldn’t even blame the demon for accepting the offer. Better to come out with her own life. They were strangers; they owed each other nothing.

“I won’t kill you,” the demon said flatly. “But I will enjoy this.”

Another contemptuous wave of Vivi’s staff resulted in a deafening boom that had Dominic crashing through trees and foliage, disappearing into the forest.

It wasn’t anything comparable to the previous blast of air. One second the man was standing there, the next, a hole had been punched through the forest, Dominic a sudden projectile.

What?

What had that spell even been?

How had she cast it so fast?

The weakness of mages was the build-up required for their more powerful spells. Hence why they weren’t effective duelists.