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Slayers GD: Generation of the Dragon©

Book 2

A fan fiction by Behemel

"Okay," I said hopefully, "Let me try that again."

I began to cast my spell. I added as much feeling as I could as I aimed for the empty space before me. I chanted the spell I wanted to cast. Blast Bomb. A powerful fire spell. I felt my magic build within me as I fed my emotion into my casting. With a loud shout and finishing my spell, I threw my arms forth.

"Blast Bomb!"

In a fragment of a second, three or four small balls of light blinked into existence, but suddenly flickered out. No explosion. No massive fiery blasts. Not even a puff of smoke.

I slumped my arms down and hunched forth in disappointment. I stood in the new training room to practice my spells. I had been trying to cast that spell for some time now, but to no luck.

Allow me to introduce myself, in case you didn't know. My name is Zane Cosmon, student in Saillune's sorcery academy and future world famous sorcerer. That's right. I'm going to be a world famous sorcerer and soon throughout all of history. You got a problem with that?

Anyhow, this school year had gotten a bit complicated. The spell I was practicing was a powerful spell, created over four thousand years ago and only three people in history ever cast it... and I counted as four. I actually did manage to cast Blast Bomb before.

To make a long story short, a guy named Alpha, a werewolf assassin infiltrated out school and attempted to kidnap me. The fleabag was a tricky one and didn't stay down too long after being nailed by a few good spells or two. To sum it up, after a fierce battle I was able to send Alpha running with his tail between his legs. I had somehow managed to conjure the Blast Bomb in that crucial moment and blew the hell out of the place. Alpha did escape, but he was seen leaving the school grounds and the town so I doubted that he'd come back anytime soon.

It had been two weeks, on the very spot I now stood on that I had cast Blast Bomb. I stood in a training room, a newly remodeled training room created to keep in magical energy. You see, the battle was held in this room. I kind of did a lot of damage during the battle. When I had released Blast Bomb, the explosion was so powerful it blew the roof off the joint... literally.

_ _ The large training area had been remodeled and looked brand new. However, the ceiling was still gone. They hadn't gotten to that part of the construction yet, but the building was now open again for students to use. Ms. Magdalene, the headmistress, was not pleased when I had ruined the last building. You see, I had a bit of a reputation for property damage after using certain spells. In my first year at the school, I... sort of... blew up the whole school gymnasium in an attempted to use the strongest spell castable by human hands. The Dragon Slave.

But enough flashbacks. Anyway, there I was standing in the roofless training room with a spell that I failed to cast. "Oh come on," I groaned disappointingly.

The sound of soft clapping came from the bleachers of the room. I turned to see my friend a couple of rows from the bottom. Technically, she's a friend, but she's so annoying. "Very impressive, Zane," she teased in a singsong voice, "I'm just blown away."

I shot her a crossed gaze. Her name was Cassandra, one of the highest ranked students in my class. She has good grades, high honor roll and is not subtle about it. She has a bit of an arrogant and overly cheerful disposition. In my opinion, she's a bad package in pretty wrapping.

She was also there in the battle against Alpha. And let me tell you, if you think Cassandra the student was bad, wait until you see her in action. She turns into Cassandra, the hero of justice. Her superpower; the ability to irritate her opponents to death. Okay, just kidding. Still, thanks to her and a fellow teacher, we were able to give Alpha a run for his money. In the end, we took in the sweet smell of victory; along with the smell of the freshly cut grass that Cassandra and I were punished to cut for sneaking out in the middle of the night to fight Alpha.

"Knock it off," I groaned in her direction. She was the only one aside from the teachers who knew about Alpha's attack on me and we agreed to work together to find out why I was targeted. I had invited her to watch as I tried to re-perform the Blast Bomb spell. As it was plain to tell, it wasn't looking too good. "And don't act like you don't believe me. You were there when I cast Blast Bomb that night."

Cassandra flashed her cheery smile. "Well, it could have been a fluke, ya' know."

"But you saw it. Besides, before I ever cast that spell, I didn't even get a spark. But you just saw those balls of light flicker just a second ago," I said defensively.

"Like I said," she said, "A fluke."

"IT WAS NOT A FLUKE!" I shouted aloud, my voice bouncing off the walls of the large gymnasium-like room.

"Relax, I'm joking," Cassandra said, raising her hands up in an apologetic gesture. "So, what do you think is the problem?"

I shrugged my shoulders as I walked up to the bleachers where she sat. "Not sure," I said simply, "Maybe it was the situation itself, me getting angry at him... I can't be sure. All I remember was a golden light around me as I cast that spell, and then I passed out."

She let out a simple 'Hmph' and pushed herself off her seat. Using a levitation spell, I watched as she lifted herself into the air, off the bleachers and landed softly onto the floor with a graceful descent. Her white robes flapped as she floated down. "Look at it this way," Cassandra said as she faced me, "If you were able to do it once, I bet its just a matter of time before you do it again. But next time, please make sure it doesn't blow us away like it did last time."

I sighed at her comment and gave her a nod. Then in a rather dramatic jump, she leaped forward towards a far wall and pointed into space. She stood in a rather heroic pose. "Besides, we won't need fancy spells. If we fight with courage and justice, we shall reveal the truth of Alpha and the evil force behind him! O-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

I cringed as she gave that shrill laugh. It was so annoying and filled with sickening overconfidence it was enough to make even a demon cry.

After she got off her high of being a priestly hero of justice, the two of us left the training room back to the cafeteria. It was lunchtime that we broke free to go to the training room. As we walked through the courtyard to get back, several other students were about and enjoying the fresh air.

Just then, I stopped as I overhead an interesting conversation not too far away. "Did you hear about the festival they're throwing in the city?" An upperclassman said to a girl close to his age.

"I know. Its suppose to be filled with all kinds of crafts and stuff from beyond the boarder as well. Imagine the how fun it will be."

"You going?" the guy said.

"No," she said, "I got studying to do. I might be able to catch it during the weekend but until then, I'm swamped with Alchemy class."

The two walked away as I listened closely. I swear if my ears were any sharper, they could have belonged to an elf. "Did you hear that?" I asked Cassandra. She had stopped to hear as I did.

"Yes I did," Cassandra said simply, "Something about a festival?"

A smile came to my face. I always wanted to go to a festival in Saillune. The city was a great epicenter of culture and art. Not to mention you could hear a lot of good news about the latest guilds of sorcery from all over. I just had to go!

"I'm so going to that festival!" I said jubilantly.

However, Cassandra gave me a dull look. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she said dully, "Our class isn't allowed to leave campus until our third year."

I didn't forget. Keeping my positive look on my face, I turned around to look at Cassandra. "Don't worry about that," I said positively. Still Cassandra held her dull look. "After my grand achievement of defeating Alpha and casting Blast Bomb, I'm sure a teacher would allow me to go to the festival."

"Absolutely not," Master Krots said.

_WHAT!? _

I stood in living quarters of the main dorm room. It was almost curfew and most of the students had gone up to bed. Before me was Master Krots, my werewolf teacher who I managed to speak with before he retired for the night in the teachers' dorm. The brown werewolf happened to be the teacher who helped Cassandra and I fight off Alpha. For a werewolf, he was very civil and kind. However it seemed, he was anything but lenient in his answer to my request.

"No!? Why not?" I pouted slightly.

Master Krots stood tall above me and looked down at me with a stern look on his mussel. "Because you are a younger classmen and the rules say you can't go off the grounds until your third year," he said.

My spirit dropped significantly as my fantasies of the festival were crushed. "But didn't my casting of Blast Bomb and my victory over Alpha mean anything for a little recognition?" I tried to convince my teacher.

With that, he loomed closer to me with his unyielding eyes, staring at me like daggers. "And that is specifically why you shouldn't leave the grounds. Alpha is still out there somewhere. What if he were to attack you then?" he growled sternly.

Despite my teacher's growl, I gave him a dull look. "Why would he attack me in broad daylight with several people around?" I countered.

"Do not try to sway me Zane!" he growled sharply, causing me to freeze with fright. Apparently he wasn't in the mood for quips today. "That fact that he's still out there is more than enough reason to be cautious. For that, I forbid you to leave the campus."

"But--!"

"No buts," he said sharply, "I'm sorry Zane. I know how much this means to you, but your safety comes first. Perhaps next year, okay?"

I kept silent, a grumpy scowl tight on my lips.

"OKAY?" he repeated. He raised his voice to encourage an answer from me.

"Okay..." I sighed disappointingly.

With the argument over, Master Krots's unyielding expression melted into a kinder one. He raised a paw, ruffled my hair in a loving gesture and then walked away. I stood there with disappointment. I really wanted to go, and I was so sure Master Krots, of all my teachers would allow me to. It felt like a weight of gloom was dropped onto my shoulders.

At that time, Cassandra entered the main dorm lobby with her cheerful expression. If I knew the annoying nature of my classmate, she'd probably had been eaves dropping from outside the room. She approached me and smiled.

"So," she chirped, "How'd he take it?"

The simple glumness and narrowed stare I gave her told her everything.

She gave a small sigh and then patted me on the shoulder. "Oh well," she said cheekily, "I guess that's that." Cassandra gave her cheery smile at me, the one that I hated.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. It was so humorous, so ridicules, so not like me. And yet... "Maybe," I said simply, and then grew a mischievous smile on my face. "Maybe not."

With my words, Cassandra shot me a surprised look. I gave a slight chuckle as I thought of my little plan. Cassandra's eyes narrowed at me. "What are you plotting?" she asked suspiciously.

I gasped dramatically, putting on the best act I could. "Me? Plotting?" I asked almost offended, "Cassandra, I'm ashamed of you. To think you would accuse me a sorcerer and priest in training of doing something sinister like that. I'm appalled."

Her look of suspicion never left. Not deciding to stay for her to interrogate me, I headed for the stairs that led to the priests' dorm.

"Wait a minute--!" She shouted to me as I stepped onto the staircase.

I turned around and hung myself in her direction, gripping the banister in a playful manner. "I'd love to stay and chat but its late and I got other plans for tomorrow," I said and gave a slight chuckle. The confused look on her face always made me smile after all the tormenting and annoying stuff she did to me. "Pleasant dreams. Goodnight," Leaving her dumbfounded, I quickly climbed the stairs to my room.

It was still dark as I walked through the courtyard of the school grounds. Okay, I was more like tiptoeing through the courtyard. It was early morning, six in the morning to be exact and I had snuck out of my room. The crisp night air carried a fine dew that hung in the breeze.

I know what you're thinking. He's a juvenile delinquent asking for trouble. EEE! Wrong! It was the start of the weekend for crying out loud! I didn't have any classes today or tomorrow. Besides, they never take attendance on the days students have off unless they are in advanced classes. I would be able to check out the festival from the morning to the early afternoon and still have time to make it back to my dorm room like I never left. Isn't it scary that the good guys often have what evil geniuses are made of? Relax, I'm just kidding!

Anyway, there I was. With my favorite blue cloak snug around me in the early morning air, I snuck quietly across the park that sat in the epicenter of the school grounds. Hiding behind a lone tree, I peered about the surroundings. The walls of the school had only two entrances and both with guards stationed at them. If I went to them saying I was leaving, they would tell right away that I was a lower classmen and send me back. There was only one clear option.

Going over the wall.

The east wall was probably the best bet to get over, plus it was the closest route to town. I had imagined sneaking out just for the thrill of the experience. However in my head, I was never caught. I'd just had to be more careful now than in la-la land.

Checking that the coast was clear, I made a small jog towards the main school building and pressed myself up against the wall. Hidden within the shadow of the building, I crept along it until I reached its edge. The wall was just on the other side. I waited on the edge of my hiding place. I kept quiet as I listened if anyone was close by. Not hearing anyone, I stepped away from the wall and turned the corner.

"A-HA!" Cassandra cried, "GOTCHA!"

A short shout of fright escaped my mouth. Quickly realizing it, I slapped my hand over it to stifle my scream. Standing in front of me with her finger pointed at me was Cassandra. She was wearing her white fighter garb and cape. Her blond hair hung off her shoulders as she glared at me with brave eyes. I hated it when she went all Hero-of-Justice mode on me. It's sooooo annoying.

"Cassandra!" said rather surprisingly, "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Zane Cosmon!" she boomed aloud. She was so loud I was afraid she might have alerted the guards. My heart beat faster from her fright. "I knew it! You were planning of sneaking out to go to the festival, weren't you?"

Gritting my teeth I cast my eyes to a far away space of the barely sunlit sky. "Me? Why, I don't know what you're talking about?" I said sheepishly.

She jabbed her finger in my direction again. "Oh please. Do you honestly think I would believe such a ridicules ploy?" I looked back to her as she lowered her arm that was poised at me. "Well, I hate to disappoint you, but no ploy shall escape the ever vigilant eye of the Hero of Justice!" And then, bringing her hand up to the side of her mouth, she released that annoyingly loud laugh. "O-ho-ho-ho---Mmmrff!"

As quickly as I could, I clamped my hand over her mouth. The last thing I needed was her sounding that ridicules laugh of an alarm. "Would you shut it?" I hissed and then removed my hand from her mouth, realizing how rude that was. "Okay, okay, I give. I was sneaking out to go to the festival."

Cassandra leered at me with a knowing stare. "Of course," she said with a smile.

I could tell she wanted to rat me out. I technically wasn't doing anything wrong. Besides, I'm very mature for my age and can take responsibility for leaving the campus for one little day.

"Look Cassandra," I asked nicely, "Please don't tell anyone. I really want to go to this festival. Besides, I don't have any classes today and no attendance is being taken. Can't you just let me go?"

"No way, Zane!" she shouted and pointed to me again. "Your deeds of evil shall not go unstopped!"

I gave her a dull look. "Somehow, I don't think my actions fall under the category of evil, Cassandra."

With a huff at my direction, she placed her hands on her hips and turned away from me as if in disappointment. "Despite that," Cassandra said proudly, her nose sticking upward. "If you think I'm just going to let you go, you're in for a big disappointment. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

This was becoming ridicules. I spun my crafty mind around, trying to find a way to turn the tables on Cassandra. Just then, a lighting spell went off in my head as I came up with a plan. It wasn't what I wanted, but I preferred it to Cassandra ratting me out and missing the festivities.

"Then... you should come with me," I said simply. I threw her off with that one. She backed up and looked surprisingly at me.

"Say, what?!" she said aloud. "Are you joking?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, I just thought since I'm bound on going and if you're going to keep your eye on me, you might as well come to the festival yourself," I said as sly and calmly as I could be.

"Oh yeah?" she challenged and once again drove her finger in my direction again. "I think I'd rather call for the teachers right now and stop you!"

"And how are planning to explain why you snuck out of your dorm so early?"

I saw her jaw drop dumbly and her arm flopped back to her side with disbelief.

Ha! Got her there!

While I stood there smugly, I watched as she staggered a few steps back in surprise. An angry scowl appeared over her face. "Rrrr! You! Your insubordinate habits are rubbing off on me!"

"Come on," I said seriously, "Cassandra, you of all people should be dying to go to that festival. It's going to be fun, and I bet there will be plenty of stuff from the sorcery guilds there. Who knows, maybe we'll even find some stuff from the outside world. We need to brush up on current events from being stuck in this school. What better way than going out and seeing it for ourselves?"

She appeared stubborn as I told her this. Torn from following the rules and learning more like the student she was.

I sighed at her. "Look Cassandra. I'm going," I said strongly, "There are two things you can do. You can let me pass, or you can come with me. What is it?"

A growl escaped her throat as she rethought her choices. "Fine. Then, I'll go with you," she said in a proud voice. "I told you, you're not leaving my sight. So says Cassandra, The Hero of Justice!"

Yeah, whatever...

"Okay," I said dourly as I made my way towards the eastern wall. "But you can't do that annoying laugh." The two of us made our way across the courtyard.

"You mean this laugh? O-ho-ho-ho---MMPHF!"

I clapped my hand over her mouth again. "KNOCK IT OFF!"

Without saying a word more, the two of us crossed the grassy lawn of the courtyard. Upon reaching the wall, we checked to see if any guards were near by. Once we saw the coast was clear, Cassandra cast a Levitation spell. In a swift motion, we lifted off the ground, floated over the wall and just as quickly landed outside the school walls just before the first peek of sunlight lit the sky. As soon as we landed on the sidewalk the cobblestone street, we quickly ran towards the main street of Saillune.

With the full rising of the sun, life burst all over the once common city of Saillune. Street music filled the air along with the several cheers and chatter of people. Children ran joyfully down the streets. Ribbons and balloons were tied to the ends of the buildings in colorful celebration. At the sides of the streets, several vendors of many kinds were all over the place. They were selling stuff from artwork to the latest tomes of magic. Several were diverse, telling me that they came a long way to sell their goods here.

When we first arrived, not a soul was on the street. Cassandra and I headed for an Inn and ordered breakfast from their restaurant. It was a good way to burn time until everything started. At nine o'clock, that was when it all began to liven up.

As the festivities reached their full bloom, the two of us set off down the busy main street. Aside from Cassandra sticking to me like goldfish poop, everything seemed just fine. On certain corners, street performers would put on shows. I personally found the clown the most amusing attraction. They even had a theater group placed at the town square.

"This is so great!" I said aloud as I stretched my arms out. "Its beats that boring old academy on the weekend!"

"I still don't agree with coming out here," Cassandra pouted.

I looked over my shoulder to her. "Come on. Don't tell me you're not enjoying this?" I asked.

She huffed and faced another direction. "Well, I for one am not proud of sneaking out of school and for dragging me with you," Cassandra said.

"Oh?" I countered, "And who was the one who wasn't going to let me out of their sight, miss truth and justice?"

Challenged looks clashed between us for a moment. Then as quickly as our quarrel started, we backed away. "Humph! Your incorrigible, Zane."

A laugh escaped me as I looked back to the shops and vendors. Just then catching my eye, I spotted a large vendor's tent with a magic circle on the tent. "Cassandra look! A magic shop!" I shouted to her and ran towards the awning of the shop. The entire length of that block was lined with merchants of magic items and tomes of different variety. Right in my department of interest.

"Welcome, welcome," hailed the merchant behind a bright violet counter with several objects spread about. Following up behind me, came Cassandra who stopped at my side. "What can I interest you fine youngsters today? We are having a twenty-five percent sale on all objects this weekend! If magic's your wish, then this is the place for you."

"Wow," Cassandra awed as she glanced at some of the magic scrolls on the table. "They have spell scrolls for spell amplification!" She continued to examine the table of the merchant, then moved on to the others inside the awning.

Finally! I got her to loosen up around here.

While she went off to the other tables, I slowly examined each item that peeked my interest. Most of them were books, stacked neatly upon a large bookcase that the merchant probably hauled out of his shop. Most of the books' subjects I have already found in the library. Then after scanning the shelf, I found a book that peeked my interest. It was a tanned colored book with painted illustrations on it, depicting the images of several gods and demonic creatures by the looks of them. On its spine had written Gods and Demons beyond the Chaos. After briefing the book a bit, I tucked it under my arm to buy later and proceeded to the other items.

After what felt like a half hour of looking around, the two of us left the tent with our purchases in hand.

"What did you get?" Cassandra asked as we tolled through the street.

Looking into my bag, I examined what I bought. "A book on gods and demons of the worlds beyond and a moon crystal talisman," I told her. "What about you?"

"A couple of amplification scrolls!" Cassandra said cheerfully. I was glad she finally stopped nagging me about sneaking out of school. "They may have been expensive, but they're practical and can seriously boost my white magic spells."

"You see, you're enjoying yourself already," I teased her, causing the priestess to give me a grumpy stare.

"Yeah, well don't get too smug, Zane," She said and pointed at me in her heroic pose. I rolled my eyes as she began to lecture me. "Next time, I will not be swayed so easily to commit a criminal act with you."

"Playing hooky isn't a criminal act!"

She didn't listen as she caught another stand nearby. On it was a grand display of sweets and treats. "Oh, candy!" she jumped up and went towards the stand. With a sigh and a rumble of my stomach at the sight of the sweet display, I slowly followed her to the stand.

We got ourselves a good sweet treat. It's a festival isn't it? A little indulgence never hurt anyone. Anyway, Cassandra bought a stick of cotton candy while I bought a box full of fudge for later. No sooner had she bought it, she began to nibble on the fluffy soft sweetness of spun sugar.

"Mmmm... yum!" she cheered, "And we still have money left!"

Letting her enjoy herself, I opened my box of fudge to take a small taste for myself. I broke off a tiny piece and was about to pop it in my mouth.

"Oh-no!" Cassandra cried and yanked the back of my cloak. Her tug made me stagger backwards and sent my piece of fudge flying above the crowd. She continued to pull me violently towards the sweet stand we had just left. "Hurry!"

"Cassandra! WHAT are you doing?!" I cried as she pulled us behind the stand.

"Get down!" she hissed venomously. She knelt to the ground and yanked me down with her.

I fell face first on the stone street as I hit the floor. With an annoyed groan, I pushed myself up from the street and looked at her crossly. "What?" I asked her. Peeking over the edge of the table, Cassandra pointed towards the crowd down the street.

Directing my gaze towards the direction she pointed, I looked through the crowd. Suddenly, my breath hitched as I saw a small group of people together in the distance. Walking down the street was Ms. Magdalene, the school headmistress, Master Zolis, and a few other teachers from the school. My body felt stiff at the sight of them.

"You see," Cassandra said to me, giving me a crossed look herself. "This is all your fault."

I gave her a narrowed glance, then directed my eyes back to the teachers coming our way. "Will you relax," I said calmly. "We'll just stay hidden here for a bit until they pass by. Now if Master Krots was here, then we'd be in trouble."

Just then from the constantly moving crowd, coming up behind the group I spotted my werewolf teacher Master Krots. I gulped as I saw him. Sure we could avoid being seen, but he would sniff us out like a dog finding a bone.

As soon as Cassandra saw Master Krots too, she turned to me with a sour scowl.

"Okay..." I said feeling ridicules, "I think we've done enough enjoyment for one day, don't you?" Nodding in agreement, Cassandra got up and sprinted for the closest corner. Acting quickly, I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head and followed her.

We ran onto another street of the festival grounds and stayed close to the sidewalk. Cassandra turned around to check if our teachers were coming. Out of dumb luck it seamed, we found Ms. Magdalene turning the corner towards us. Propelled by her simple figure alone, Cassandra sprinted towards me while I led ahead.

"What are they doing here?" Cassandra asked as we ran, "Did they noticed we were gone?!"

"They probably just came out to see the festival as we did! But if we get caught, their trip is not going to be a recreational one!" I said as we ran down the path.

While we ran down the sidewalk, our band of teachers walked leisurely though the street and the crowds they passed by. Finally finding another corner, I ran towards it with my cloak flapping behind me. "This way!" I called to Cassandra. Grabbing the pole of a drainpipe at the wall, I swung a few inches off the ground and turned the corner. Hitting the wall, I pressed my back against it as Cassandra followed after me. She too rested against the wall while I peeked back at the street where the festival was. Still a good distance away, the group of teachers and the headmistress still came our way. They probably didn't even intend to come our way but they were.

Come on, Karma! What did I do to disserve this?

"There coming this way," I said as I pulled myself from the wall and onto the sidewalk of the street.

Cassandra looked for herself and then quickly came to me. "What now?" she asked as I thought for a way out of here. The street I was another part of the festival as we stood before an inn. I looked all around, hoping to find a good place to hide. Then as I looked up, I caught the glimpse of an open window two stories above our heads.

"There! Right there!" I said and pointed to the window.

"What!?" Cassandra asked surprisingly.

I looked at her strongly, turned back to the corner then back to her. "We don't have time to argue," I said. Quickly she nodded and stood by my side.

"Okay, Levitation!" With my words, Cassandra and I were lifted off our feet and rose upward. Luckily unnoticed by the people below, we floated up to the open inn's window with a gentle glide. As soon as we reached equal height of the window, I quickly reached for the window and drifted onto the windowsill. Following behind me, Cassandra gentle knelt on the windowsill as the levitation spell faded. As Cassandra jumped into the empty room, I quickly grabbed the window frames and closed the window shut.

Knelling low the windowsill, I looked to find that the teachers had just turned the corner. We had escaped just in time. I watched with a held gasp of air as the teachers slowly walked by. As soon as they passed the window and tavern, I let myself breathe and slumped away from the window.

The empty room was a two-bedroom accommodation with a simple oil lamp on a nightstand. The two of us, Cassandra and I sat on the floor with our backs against the walls. Both of us were giving deep breaths, relieved that we had escaped from our unknowing pursuers.

"Can we..." Cassandra panted as she leered at me sourly, "...go back now...?"

With a nervous chuckle and a hand on my knee, I nodded to her in agreement. After a couple of seconds recovering from our little chase, the two of us exited the room and proceeded towards the stairs. No one was there so we didn't have to explain what we were doing up there. The less contact with the proprietors of the inn, the better. As we reached the stairs, not a single sound was heard. No chatter, no dinning downstairs, no drunken idiots in a brawl with one another. It was still, quiet.

"Not a lot of business today," I said aloud as we walked down, "Not even a mouse squeak."

Cassandra darted her eyes about the staircase as we descended towards the lobby. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this..." she slurred uncomfortably.

Before long we reached the main floor of the inn and tavern.

Okay, now this is just ridiculous!

The entire room was completely empty. No people, no bar tender, no customers, nothing. The only things in the room were the tables and chairs that any restraint would have. With open ears, I didn't even hear anyone anywhere. Not even from the kitchen through the doorway nearby. Now that we were listening, we couldn't even hear anything of the festival outside. This was just plain freaky!

"I'm not liking this..." Cassandra whispered to me in another slur of unease.

Gazing around the room again, I stepped into the room. "Hello? Anybody home?" I called out. No one answered. I glanced back to Cassandra. She gave a small shake as she looked around her. "Helloooo."

Suddenly from out of nowhere, a low creepy laugh appeared in the room. We all froze at the sound of it. Someone was here. Cassandra came up behind me as the laugh echoed off the walls. I looked into the single empty space of the room, sensing something somewhere near by. "He-he-he. Good morning," the low voice spoke from somewhere around room. I slowly dragged my eyes about, but didn't find a soul. "It's a pleasure to meet you... Zane Cosmon."

Just then, a strange shape suddenly began to immerge from the floor. I backed up in surprise as something was simply... rising out of the floor like a ghost. It was as black as a shadow and moved just as fluidly. After a moment or two, the ghostly figure stood before us in the center of the room. The person was wrapped in a black cloak and shroud that touched almost every part of his body. Its hands were in red bandages that stuck from his cloak. Its face was completely shrouded under the hood. When it looked up to me, its face was covered in a demonic dragon mask, adding more to his ominous appearance.

Cassandra and I looked nervously at the spooky person who appeared before us. I doubted this was your average customer here for a drink.

Chapter 2: Mysteries! Deal with Demons!

The three of us all stood there silently in that dank wooden room. Cassandra and I stood at the far end of the room while this weirdo in black just phased through the floor and scared the crap out of us. And he knew my name. How did he know my name?

As soon as he appeared my body shook with the instinct to be on guard. "Who--who are you?" I demanded. As I did, Cassandra stepped out from hiding behind me.

The masked figure looked at the two of us, unemotional under his mask. "Cutting to the quick I see," he said simply. "Very well. I am called Gigaros." Then he did something I didn't see coming. He made a polite bow of his head in my direction.

"Wait a minute!" Cassandra interrupted with a startled look on her face. "What exactly are you?" she demanded.

Another chuckle came from the masked man. "I am what your kind call... a Mazoku, my dear," he answered simply.

I saw Cassandra jolt with slight fear as the words hit her mind. I too was surprised by what he said. However Cassandra was on a far other level of panic. "A- A Ma...Ma-" And then she flipped.

"MAZOKU!!!" Cassandra screamed in fright. Despite that, neither Gigaros nor I moved while she panicked. With a yell, Cassandra ran around the room towards the door exit of the tavern. With a violent pull of the door, she yanked it open and was about to run though.

"Wait a minute, Cassandra!" I cried out immediately, "Don't--!"

WHAM!

To her surprise, Cassandra had run right smack into a brick wall that replaced where the outside should have been. Squeaks of pain came from her until she slowly fell backwards onto the floor.

I looked in disbelief as I saw the brick wall in the doorway. Slowly peeling my gaze away from Cassandra and the blocked exit, I looked back to the masked face of the Mazoku. "Warped space... isn't it?" I asked Gigaros.

Another chuckle came from the masked figure, telling me I was right. "Yes. It dealt with keeping out of any unpleasant interruptions," he said with a sly tone. "However, I didn't expect you to bring a friend. Oh well..."

A warped space was a special dark magic, which warped reality around a certain area. Mazoku were exceptionally capable of creating such powerful spells. With a warped space, one can run around in circles forever. Oh I forgot to mention. Mazoku, are technically demons.

My glare sharpened at the Mazoku. "You are defiantly bright for your age. I can see why Alpha had such a hard time dealing with you," Gigaros said leisurely.

ALPHA!?

I immediately brought my hands together, preparing to cast a spell.

"Calm down now," Gigaros cooed and raised his arms up in a yielding gesture. "I'm not here to fight. You can relax."

Curious to this guy, I lowered my hands. At that time, I saw Cassandra finally arise from the floor rubbing her head. A dumbfounded look was etched on her face as she looked from me, Gigaros and the wall before the door. Regardless of Gigaros's assurance, I still kept guarded as he stood there. "What do you want then?" I asked him.

Gigaros then tilted his head up a bit towards me. "I just came here to talk," he said simply. The way he was conversing with me was as if he and I were two old friends. Still, the simple fact that he was a Mazoku sent a chill down my spine. "That's all."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "To talk?"

"Yes," he replied. "If I wanted to hurt you or your friend, wouldn't you think I'd done so by now?"

He got me there. Cassandra shot me an unsure glance from the other side of the room. Breaking away from his place in the room, Gigaros approached a nearby table. He pulled out a chair from it, and then looked back to me. "Come. Don't be shy," he said, "I won't bite."

Wisecracking jerk!

Finally clear of Gigaros in her way, Cassandra quickly sprinted across the room to my side. "Zane," she whispered harshly to me, "I seriously don't like this guy!"

"Gee, really?" I said sarcastically. "But I don't see any other options we can do here."

She shot me a crossed expression of disagreement. With a sigh, I tried to reason with her. "Listen, I wanted answers and this guy probably has them. I'm not going to sign my soul away or anything, so relax. Just play along and keep your eyes open."

Before she could protest me, I quickly walked away towards the table Gigaros was. As soon as I stood at the table's side, the Mazoku sat himself down in the chair opposite me. "Please, have a seat," the dragon masked Mazoku offered. Playing along to his wishes, I pulled out a chair and sat down. Close by stood Cassandra as she kept her eye on Gigaros for any threatening spell work.

On the table stood a kettle and two cups. Now with me sitting across from him, Gigaros brought his elbows on the table and rested his chin upon his hands. "I guess the first thing I'd like to say though," he began calmly, "is how impressed I was from your previous battle. Blast Bomb of all things and without any kind of amplification items as well. You're truly talented for a human."

Flattery will get you anywhere, huh?

I didn't let him coax up to me so easily. He knew Alpha, plus he saw the fight between us. I kept a serious look at him. "Were you the one who sent Alpha after me?" I asked.

Another chuckle came from the masked fellow. "Sort of. I, along with my colleagues did hire him to retrieve you," he admitted plainly, "However, we gave him strict orders not to harm you. For that we apologize upon his attempt."

"So how is the flea-bitten jerk doing anyway?" I asked, deciding to play along with his buddy-buddy chat for the moment.

"He's fine," Gigaros declared, "There's no reason to worry about his well being."

Acting kindly, a surprising gesture for a demon who is in league of the same people who wanted to kidnap you, Gigaros lifted up the kettle near us. "Tea?" he offered.

"I prefer hot chocolate," I countered, not particularly wanting his hospitality. Suddenly, he waved his hand over the spout of the kettle and a bit of steam came into existence from it. Against my wish, Gigaros poured the kettle into my cup. To my interest, hot chocolate came pouring out and into my cup. Even behind his mask, I could tell that the guy was giving me a sly smile. I stared at the cup, not touching it. Gigaros tilted his head as if in confusion, as if questioning my silence.

"Now how do I know this isn't poison?" I said curiously. "If you're the one who sent Alpha, you could be trying to kill me while my guard's down."

As we talked, Cassandra kept shifting her eyes from Gigaros to me like a referee. If Gigaros were to try something, she would go all 'hero of justice' on his Mazoku butt.

Gigaros gave a sigh under his mask. "Now Zane, be reasonable," he cooed in a self-confident slur. "Alpha did tell you that he was ordered to take you alive, didn't he?"

I nodded disappointingly. "He did."

"Then you should know that killing you isn't my intension," he said. "If it was, you would have been dead long before now."

Letting his words sink in, I reached for my cup. Bringing it up slowly, I blew on it and took a gentle sip. It was indeed hot chocolate. Not feeling dizzy or sick as it went down my throat, I lowered the cup back down. "Thank you," I said respectfully to him. After that, he lifted up the kettle and poured himself some.

"My pleasure," he said and picked up his cup. "Now, let us talk. I'm sure you have many questions."

I couldn't believe the golden opportunity. With the teachers giving me that 'we can't tell you for your own safety crap' this was the best thing yet. Still, I had to keep in mind who I was dealing with. This was one of the once who sic Alpha on me in the first place. If I could be confident on anything, I was sure a Mazoku's moral was anything but ethical... you know if they have one. Who knows?

"I'll be blunt," I said simply as I lowered my cup to the table. "Why are you after me? Why were you trying to kidnap me?"

Gigaros sipped at his cup, which was a strange sight as he drank with his mask covering his mouth. Creepy... He then held the cup with his elbows still on the table. "To remove the wool over your eyes, my boy. To let you see the truth."

I can't say I'm not a sucker for that fortune-cookie garbage, but he peeked my interest. "What do you mean?" I asked. Also interested, Cassandra silently looked on and listened.

"Let me ask you a question Zane," Gigaros asked me this time. "Have you ever cast spells that went, how should I put this... awry? Stronger than you thought they were? Stronger than they should normally be?"

He hit the nail on the head as I took a silent breath of surprise. "Y-yeah. They do. One time I accidentally blew up a whole warding field with just a fireball. But that shouldn't have happened," I explained.

"Have you ever asked your teachers why this happens to you?" he asked.

I lowered my gaze slightly. "Recently. When Alpha was around, I did. But they said... they couldn't tell me for my own protection."

I sensed Gigaros leer at me through the holes in his mask. "Would you like me to tell you?" Against better judgment, I ended up nodding to him. His gaze was glued to me, as if trying to see past everything of my being. "Zane... you have a grand gift. I've seen how you used your magic against Alpha and saw many things to prove my point. You used an illusion spell and cast a fireball at the same time, yes?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Did you know a normal human can't cast two spells at the same time?" He mused. My eyes snapped open wide with attention. Cassandra also gasped as she heard that. "Illusion needs grand concentration, yet you were able to pull off a fireball at the same time. I also know of the reputation that you received. A twelve year old mastering the Dragon Slave spell. Not bad for a human."

Okay, now he's just kissing up to me!

"Quit your false praises," I spat at him, "Is a freakin autograph all you want?"

The glow of his eyes in the masked narrowed at me seriously. "I do not jest with my compliments. Didn't you ever question why your abilities are so vast? Do you wonder why your teachers... chose to leave you in the dark for so long?"

Just then, unable to take her being silence anymore, Cassandra slammed her hands hard upon the table between us. Her bang caused the cups and teapot of hot chocolate to wobble a bit. "I've heard enough!" Cassandra shouted, her voice booming with a brave tone. "We can't trust him. He's going to make you think our teachers are the bad guys now!"

Gigaros let out a sigh and lifted a hand before the mouth of his mask. "This is an A-B conversation, my dear," Gigaros quipped smoothly. His hand began to glow with a low aura. "And I 'C' to it that we are not interrupted." With his words, he waved his hand across Cassandra's mouth.

Cassandra was just about to shout again, but suddenly nothing came out. I looked at her with amazement as she attempted to say something, but not a sound was voiced. She noticed too as she kept trying to scream, but kept a perplexed look as she couldn't hear herself.

"That will keep her quiet for the time being," Gigaros said calmly. The way he treated Cassandra was no different as if he had just shooed away a fly.

Looking from Cassandra, I turned back to the Mazoku. "Wow. Can you teach me that spell? I kind of like it," I joked with a small laugh. My laughter didn't last as Cassandra suddenly nailed a strong hit on the head. I rubbed my head as I watched her silently walk back to her spot next to the table.

A small chuckle came from Gigaros, which I hoped was from my joke and not for any sinister acts he would pull. "That is only the smallest thing that we can teach you," he said as I looked back to him. "Zane, the Blast Bomb, the overly powerful spells, are not just of your magic alone." He reached out his arm across the table to me. "They are also from something else. A grand power that dwells deep inside you." He then touched me right in the chest, indicating his point.

"The power has been suppressed inside you your whole life. Those powerful bursts of power that get you in trouble are that of the power desperately trying to get out." Gigaros removed his hand.

"You still never answered my question," I changed the subject defensively, "Why did you try to kidnap me?" As we talked, Cassandra was flailing her arms and mouthing out words that never made a sound. She was defiantly trying to voice her opinion, but thanks to Gigaros's mystery spell, he wasn't going to care.

"To free you, Zane," he answered positively, "To help you discover and release this power! What sleeps within you has been past down to other generations before you. Not by blood, but by fate. Zane... what dwells within you... is a power like that of the gods."

As he spoke, I found myself being awed by his words. A power inside me? Like that of the gods? Odds were he was trying to make me lose my guard, but what if he was telling the truth. He wasn't lying when he said my spells went awry in power. And it did make sense. If power were built up within me for so long, why wouldn't it try to break free when I used my magic? But what was this power?

"Your teachers kept this secret from you your whole life," Gigaros continued, his words becoming more motivated. "They hid it from you because they were afraid of what that power would bring. They hid it from you, punished you whenever it happened to slip out and told you it was for your own protection. What they really are doing to you... is suppressing a very part of your being!"

I cast my eyes away from him, not liking how his words stung. But what he said was true there too. My teachers and the headmistress did say they couldn't tell me why I was being targeted for my own protection. I was starting to grow angry at the thought. As Gigaros said this, Cassandra was now waving her arms about and shaking her head, doing whatever she could to get me to stop listening.

"You won't reach the path you desire if the ones who are teaching you, try so hard to hold you back! You know what I say is true! The power within you is meant to be discovered and is meant to be released!"

Man, the demon can talk!

"Come with me Zane," Gigaros finally got down to the bottom line. "And I promise you the freedom you so craved... and the greatness you are destined for."

A long silence hung throughout the room, totally if you include Cassandra trying to 'mime' her protests. I cast my gaze to the table and my cup. His words sure hit his mark in my chest, causing me to really reflect on all that was happening. It was confusing.

Then, I gave my head a good shook, clearing the cobwebs of my head after that lengthy chat. Even if what he said was true, he was a demon. Not really known for helping others so fluently. My mental guard and suspicious stare came back to my face as I looked back at him. "How do I know I can truly trust you?" I asked him venomously.

"Why would I lie?" Gigaros replied.

"Here's why? A proverb," I said and looked him square in the eyes of his mask. "Never trust a masked man!"

A laugh came from the Mazoku again. He then leaned over the table and in my direction. His face was only a few inches from my own. "This old thing," he teased, "Well, if I showed you what was under here, you'd probably wet yourself."

Oh, you're a scream...

"But all jokes aside," Gigaros said as he sat back in his chair and folded his hands together. "If I was to in anyway deceive you, we wouldn't be here discussing this affair like proper gentlemen."

I looked back down to the table, seeing the steam now gone from my hot chocolate. "What your offering is very short noticed--"

"I wouldn't ask you to make your decision now," Gigaros said conscientiously, raising his hands again to signal his sincerity. "Give some time to think about it. I shall give you till afternoon tomorrow for your decision."

"You're not giving me much time to think, you know," I said.

"My apologies," Gigaros said and sat up from his chair. "But I too have orders as well. Tomorrow is as much time I can spare you."

He has orders as well? How high are these forces after me?

I kept my gaze on him as I too stood up from my chair. The unease in my heart was throbbing, making my skin jump. "I must depart for now. Tomorrow, come back to this inn... I shall await for you at that time." Gigaros then turned around and slowly walked towards the exit. "I look forward for our next encounter."

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

With my shout, Gigaros stopped and turned back to me. "What about her?" I said sternly as I pointed a thumb towards Cassandra. She was now going crazy trying to signal us with silent screams. If they were hearable, her voice would probably be heard all across town.

Gigaros gave an amused huff as he looked at Cassandra. He must have found her panic amusing. "I thought you liked her this way?" he asked in a joking manner. I only answered him with a crossed look and placed my hands on my hips. Taking my silent demand, Gigaros gave a sigh. "Very well..."

Raising his bandaged hand up, he waved it over his view of Cassandra. No sooner had he did, a gasp-like sound escaped my friend's mouth. Looking surprised, Cassandra gave a few coughs to check she could actually audio them. Realizing she could speak again, she just allowed her first sound to be a sigh of relief.

"I shall take my leave now," Gigaros said as he turned back around and approached the brick blocked door. With another wave of his hand, the bricks vanished, giving way to the bright light from outside. "Oh, and one more thing," he said as he was about to walk through the bright doorway. He turned his head and looked at me from over his shoulder. "Choose wisely, Zane Cosmon. Your decision tomorrow will ultimately determine if we are friends... or enemies..." His words sunk in clearly but I upheld my strong look.

"Have a pleasant day..." he said and then walked through the exit. Stepping into the bright sunlight, he vanished completely, disappearing with the same ghostly method as he appeared with.

Finally regaining her voice, Cassandra gave a loud shout of frustration. "Oh no, you don't! Come back here!" She cried and ran after him.

"Cassandra, wait!" I shouted and ran towards the door as well.

Unable to stop her, the two of us ran though the doorway and were greeted by the blinding sunlight. The sound of the bustling crowd immediately greeted us as we were blinded, throwing us into even more confusion. As soon as my eyes grew accustomed to the bright light, I opened my eyes. Walking around us were the busy and joyous crowd of Saillune. Cassandra and I looked in awe and disbelief as she looked for Gigaros. It was pointless though. Somehow I doubted that Mazoku are accustomed to using the front door, if you catch my drift.

After scanning the moving crowd, Cassandra speechlessly looked to me with a confused look. The same went for me as I was lost for what the hell happened. Simultaneously, we turned back towards the entrance of the tavern entrance. Inside was a rowdy bunch of customers that were not there before. It was as if they sprung into existence as soon as we left the room which contained the warped space.

Dumbfounded, Cassandra and I looked at each other. Not knowing what to say at that moment, we both headed down the street back towards the school. Neither of us talked for a great long time.

The low sun in the western horizon lit the sky in a grand shade of orange. I sat there watching it for so long I had forgotten all sense of time. So much was coming in and out of my mind, only to reenter my head again. Even surrounded by the warm tranquility of the setting sun, a chill crept upon me.

Gigaros had really freaked me out. After Cassandra and I had snuck back into the school undetected, I immediately parted for some time to think. It was my first time meeting a live Mazoku and I was grateful I was alive to tell the tale. Also the fact he could create a warped space as if it was nothing only led me to believe that he wasn't even exercising even half of his power. And what he said continued to wrap around my head. I had some strange power that affected my magic? And he said it was as strong as that of the gods!

I couldn't be sure whither or not he was being truthful with everything he said, but my heart wouldn't stop throbbing with anticipation. Why would Gigaros go though telling me all of this and to what gain? And what exactly was this power? I became unsure of myself than I ever though possible. The actual question for a moment popped into my head... 'What am I?'

"You know," a friendly voice said from behind me, "you really shouldn't be up here."

"I know," I said without turning around. Without a doubt, it was Cassandra alright. She was levitating slowly upon where I sat, being careful to not fall off the small perch. The two of us were on the slated edge of the schools bell tower. It was my favorite spot to think because no one came up here at that time. Below us on the tower's wall was the large clock of the school yard, ticking away with the afternoon hours.

"How're you feeling?" Cassandra asked curiously. Still I didn't face her as I stared at the setting sun.

"I'm...not sure," I said slowly, "I don't know what to make of what is happening to me. He says I have this strange power and it makes sense because how powerful my magic is. Still... it doesn't make sense."

Slowly pushing herself to the edge as I had, Cassandra sat beside me. "Gigaros?" Cassandra guessed.

I nodded in agreement. "As intrigued as I am of what he had to say, he scares me." I caught Cassandra nod in agreement as well. "He was so powerful, and it didn't even look as if he was trying."

A long silence came over us as the sun sunk in the sky another inch. Finally giving out to her nervousness, Cassandra spoke. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Zane," she broke in loudly. I quickly turned to her to see a strong, stern look on her face. "You can't go with him! His intensions are not good, I know it! If you go with him, I will surely lead to evil deeds and possibly your doom!"

Cassandra's justice senses strike again!

I dug into my thoughts again and spoke my thoughts aloud for Cassandra to hear. "Gigaros wants me to join the Mazoku race, but I don't know why. However, he said it has something to do with a hidden power I have that is like the gods, or something like that." I clicked my tongue in thought. "And for whatever reason, I'm so important to them that they want me brought back alive."

"For whatever the reason," Cassandra said crossly, "It can only be for no good!"

There was no way disagreeing with that. That feeling in my chest was telling me this reeked of something horrible. But no matter what I'd do, in the end more goons like Gigaros would still come after me. And with my teachers refusing to tell me what the heck was going on, it seemed to me to only put me in even more danger. And that wasn't all...

"Tomorrow I'm going back to the tavern."

"WHAT?!" Cassandra cried, almost falling off the roof in surprise. "Did you even listen to me? He's evil, plain and simple! How dare you even consider joining the Mazoku, you--"

"Would you relax," I told her loudly, grabbing her attention. "What, do you think I'm stupid!?"

"Then why are you going back?" she said angrily as if she was about to beat me in the head again.

Giving her an equal tone of voice I looked directly at her. "For two reasons: One, what makes you think if I just avoid this, Gigaros will just go home and all of this will just blow over? Second, I still have unanswered questions." There was no way I could run away from any of this. Plain and simple!

Another moment of silence passed as Cassandra thought it over as well. Then finally, Cassandra stood up and to my dismay, made her hero of justice pose with her fist out towards the sunset. "Then it's settled!" she shouted proudly, "We set out tomorrow morning to confront the masked face of evil!"

"Oh, no you don't," I said sternly, "You're not coming. I'm going to confront Gigaros myself."

Cassandra immediately dropped her 'hero of justice' act as the words hit her. She then glared at me sternly. "Oh, yes I am, Zane Cosemon! I'm not leaving you alone so they can tempt you to join their side of evil!" Cassandra said.

"I'm serious Cassandra." I turned back to the sunset with a worried look. "Gigaros isn't like the monsters the upper classmen fight for combat practice. He's an actual Mazoku. This is really dangerous! We don't know how powerful he is!"

"And going by yourself is going to improve your odds of survival?" Cassandra asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't you get it?" I practically shouted at her. "Gigaros wants me alive! He could care less about you! Get it!"

Still standing, Cassandra was now the one to give me a serious look. "I do get it! But I'm not about to let them get what they want! Gigaros, whatever his plan, must be stopped and I plan to do whatever I can to stop him!"

"Cassandra..." I was about to protest, but she then pointed at me and made her heroic pose.

"I know the risks, but I'm involved now and I plan to help you!" she shouted valiantly. Then what I didn't expect, she jumped into the air and began to levitate up higher. Flying to the very top of the tower, she landed and balanced herself on the very tip of the tower. She gave her heroic pose again towards the sunset. "No force is too evil! No threat to dangerous! And no evil shall ever withstand the valiant fist of justice!"

Sigh... there's no stopping her...

"You realize you'll get in trouble if someone sees you up there," I quipped to get her to stop. "You know, with you announcing aloud and all."

My words struck like an arrow as Cassandra immediately let out a squeak of embarrassment. Almost falling off the tower, Cassandra quickly jumped off, grabbed the pole of the tower's tip and slid back down. It was priceless when I can catch Cassandra in an act after she goes on blabbing about justice and all that. Finally, after having calmed down, she slowly levitated herself beside me again.

"Are you sure there is nothing I can do to talk you out of this?" I asked her tiredly.

Flashing her overly cheerful smile, she shook her head. "Nope!"

I sung my head forward with a sigh as I thought about what to do then. "Okay then," I sighed again. Lifting myself up, I stood before the sunset as it sunk totally below the horizon. "We'll get up same time tomorrow and sneak out again for the tavern."

"What about Gigaros?" Cassandra asked curiously.

A confident smile came to my face. I hade made up my mind of what to do. "I'll think of something. I always do."

Chapter 3: Fight!: Showdown of Shadows

The sound of the bustling tavern was rather loud for the midday on a Sunday. I guess a lot of guys were prepping their nerves for the working week ahead. A lot of men were ordering drinks and meals about for a while. Still, no amount of ale would be enough to ease our minds. Besides, we were too young to drink.

The morning had started off just like the last one. Before sunlight, Cassandra and I met near the east wall and levitated together over it. With no time to dilly-dally, we made our way strait to the tavern and ordered a lengthy breakfast. Cassandra and I kept our guards up as we ate, looking for any sign of the masked Mazoku. Concealed among our persons, we came prepared. As I requested, Cassandra brought her new amplification scrolls just in case we needed them. Against a Mazoku, I was sure we were going to need all the power we had.

"Remind me why we're just waltzing into the dragon's den here?" Cassandra asked through a hushed voice.

"Because running away isn't my style," I said calmly and took a bite of an apple. Swallowing, I waved it at her in a calm gesture. "Besides, he'll just find us eventually. I like to think of this as... a preemptive strike."

Cassandra rolled her eyes at me. The hour of his arrival was close. Grown nervous, Cassandra reached a roll from the bread basket and practically gobbled it down. I couldn't blame her. I was nervous too. The fact I didn't have a solid plan if the worst was to happen didn't calm my nerves any easier. No matter how much we learned about Mazoku in school, we had never dreamed if we were ever going to fight one.

"So," Cassandra asked as she swallowed the last of her bread in her mouth, "You never told me your plan. What is it?"

She looked at me closely as I swallowed another bite of my apple. "Oh yeah," I spoke calmly, "Don't have one."

"DON'T HAVE ONE!?" Cassandra shouted and threw herself back. With her shout, Cassandra accidentally fell off her chair in surprise. Some people began looking at us as she scrambled back up to her chair. A crossed look was on her face as she turned to me. "Zane!"

"Jeez! Just kidding," I said in hopes to calm her down. Finally regaining her cool, Cassandra sat down calmly and rested her arms on the table. After I had seen the looks of the other customers go away, I leaned in closer to Cassandra. "Listen, truth is we have no idea what Gigaros is capable, so no plan is going to help us there. We just have to wait and then think on our feet."

"Okay," she said and immediately jumped into a cheery tone and smile. "We're dead."

This time I was the one to fall over.

This girl has no faith in me...

Irritated, I climbed back up to the table. "Listen you! I--"

Suddenly an eerie silence came into existence around us. Apparently Cassandra noticed too because she had a confused look on her face. Confused as well, I looked around to see the customers of the tavern around us. With the creepy silence, frozen images of the people began to fade away as if they were ghosts. Turning into wisps of smoke, the entire tavern became empty like it was when we first met Gigaros.

"He's here..." Cassandra whispered as she stood up from her table. There was no doubt in my mind she was correct. Quickly getting to my feet, I looked around to find the place empty and frighteningly silent. The only table left was the one me and Cassandra had been at as we looked around.

Looking around, Gigaros was nowhere in sight. What's the point in inviting someone if the host doesn't show up?

"Where is he?" I asked as I looked around for him.

"My, my," a familiar voice echoed through the room. Cassandra and I both jumped in surprise as our host's voice called out. "Aren't we early this morning? And to think I was worried that you wouldn't come."

Hearing the voice, Cassandra and I turned around to find him. He was resting against the doorway of the backroom with his arms across his chest. The eyes of his mask gleamed at us as he looked our way. We both backed up as we saw him, surprised by his surprise appearance. Official note: Mazoku love to show off. J

"Gigaros," I said simply as if I was addressing an old foe. "You should know I'd come. So don't act all surprised. It's not fitting for one of your kind."

Sensing my bitter tone, Gigaros pushed himself from the doorway and walked into the room. Leisurely taking his time, he walked into the central area and then stopped a good distance away from Cassandra and me. "So," he began in a business like manner, "Have you decided to join the Mazoku race, young Zane Cosmon?"

A heard a faint growl of detest from Cassandra as she listened to Gigaros. Placing an arm in her path, she calmed down as I stepped forward. "I've made my decision," I said clearly. With a quick glance to Cassandra, I quickly faced Gigaros with my mind set. "I'd decided that I will not participate in your group's activities!" Cassandra woke a confident smile of relief as she heard that.

Gigaros just looked at me. His look didn't change and he didn't even move. "Really?" Gigaros asked in an intrigued tone. After you'd turn down someone, you'd think you'd get more of a reaction. Jeez... "Can I ask why?"

"I don't feel comfortable with your offer. Plain and simple."

"But why," he asked still as cool as ice, "had I not promised you to unlock your inner power?"

A smirk came across my lips at the thought. "I'm twelve, Gigaros, not stupid," I said confidently and took a step closer to him. "You told me that this inner power had something to do with the gods. Correct?"

"I did."

My smile became bigger. "That question was nagging at me all night as I thought it over. Why would the Mazoku race want to aid someone in unlocking a power that is that of their sworn enemies?" I asked rhetorically. Had Gigaros hadn't had that mask, I would want to see his expression. "The Mazoku race and the gods have been enemies since the dawn of time. Your utter opposite. There is no way a Mazoku would want to help aid someone come into their power like that if they knew it could be used against them!"

Gigaros still remained silent. I'm no mind reader but I bet I caught Gigaros there.

"On top of that," I continued proudly and as if I was Cassandra, pointed at him. "I may be an average sorcerer, but I'm also a priest with loyalty to the gods! And if I went with you, all I have learned, experienced, and dreamed of will be for nothing!"

I think Cassandra had rubbed off some of her justice on me after all J

I wonder what Gigaros was thinking. He just stood there, staring at me with that frozen gleam of his eyes behind that stupid mask. The silence between us, even for Cassandra was unbearable. Then finally, Gigaros lifted up his head from his hooded form.

"And nothing can change your mind?" the Mazoku asked simply.

Lowering my arm back down, I just flashed him another confident smirk. "Pretty much. I've been told never to go anywhere with strangers," I joked at him. Ah, I love mocking evil. "Besides, you're the type that...I'd rather die than join up with."

A strange tension filled the room as Cassandra and I awaited Gigaros to respond. He just remained still like a statue, seeming to take my words in. I'd hope I had thrown him off just a bit. Well, no turning back now that you told evil it can go to screw itself.

After a moment of though it seemed, I caught a sigh come from our masked Mazoku. "So your mind's made up," he breathed, "how vexing..."

Oh, cry me a river. You'll get over it mask-boy.

"I had hoped we could come to a mutual agreement... but perhaps I had expected too much from a human such as you," Gigaros said in a rather grim tone, "Oh well, can't say I didn't warned you."

"Excuse us?" Cassandra spoke up. She clearly sensed the forbidding change in Gigaros's tone.

Gigaros then stood fully erect and dug his glowing eyes right at me. "I had told you your decision would indeed affect weather we were allies or enemies," Gigaros said coldly. "Since you chose to walk against us... then I have no choice but to take you back by force."

This time it was my turn to sigh. "Like I didn't see this coming," I grumbled within Cassandra's ear-reach. Glancing towards her, she gave me a nod, telling me that she was on guard. "I had a feeling it would turn out like this," I said confidently and faced Gigaros unafraid.

A snicker came from Gigaros, unmoving in his black cloaked form. "My, aren't we confident," Gigaros chuckled in a mocking gesture.

Taking the hint, Cassandra and I got ready and prepared to cast our spells.

"Let's rumble!"

With the gunshot of my voice, Gigaros made his move. Surprise shot though me as I saw his movements. He moved like a shadow as he sprinted across the floor. With his cloak, he appeared to be like a ghost as he flew right at me.

"Flare Arrow!" I cried and let them fly.

From my hands appeared a volley of several fiery arrows right for Gigaros. In small explosions of fire, they crashed into his path. With that, I immediately ran to the side of the billowing cloud of the explosion. To my dismay as the smoke cleared, the cloaked black figure still stood. All I did was stop his advance. Clearly seeing me through the smoke, Gigaros came after me.

Bringing his bandaged hands together, the Mazoku created a ball of black energy. He threw it in my direction like a bullet and it zoomed through the air towards me. With not enough time to let lose my new spell, I quickly ducked out of the way and the ball just grazed me with its demonic energy. Just as I thought I was safe, the ball came back around like a boomerang and headed right back towards me. Turning around to see it, I threw my hands out. "Fireball!"

The fireball jumped out of my hands and struck smack into the ball of darkness. The spells suddenly erupted in a powerful explosion, grazing me with a fiery heat. As it threw me back a bit, that was all the opening Gigaros needed. Gigaros quickly leaped in front of me with another ball of dark matter ready. It looked like he got me.

But he forgot one thing...

"Elmekia Lance!"

Cassandra.

From behind her cover of the thinning smoke, a lance of light shot at Gigaros. Hearing the spell just in time, Gigaros lunged out of the way and the lance of light missed its mark. Getting back to my feet, I saw Cassandra as she ran though the smoke to my side. Gigaros had retreated a small distance away from us. I guess he was surprised by Cassandra's attack.

Standing proudly, Cassandra raised a finger at the Mazoku and laughed in her annoyingly proud laugh.

Here we go again...

"I bet you thought I wasn't worth remembering, Gigaros. You fool! If you think I would let you go completely unopposed with your evil plan, then you are gravely mistaken!" Cassandra lectured.

"Now is not the time!" I shouted at her.

"Hm, idiot," Gigaros grumbled and in another dash of his shadowy form, he leaped into the air. With his hands poised at us, several needles of dark matter came into existence and flew at us.

"Get back!" I shouted. By a hair, Cassandra and I leaped back as his needles shot into the ground. We landed a few feet near the front of the tavern as Gigaros easily levitated to the other side of the room. With his shroud of black, he looked more and more like a ghost.

"Silly children," Gigaros cooed in a mocking tone, "You're making this so much harder than it needs to be."

"Oh, put a cork in it, Mazoku boy!" I shouted defiantly. With a sudden plan in mind, I turned to Cassandra. "Cassandra, cover me!"

"Right!" she said and charged head on for Gigaros. With Gigaros still unmoving from his spot, Cassandra ran until she got to the center of the room. "Burst Rondo!" She cried and threw a clenched fist towards him. A ball of red light shot forth from her hand, then suddenly scattered into smaller balls and converged right to Gigaros.

Gigaros braced himself against the annoying attack, only blinding him for a moment. "Foolish girl, that was pathetic!" Gigaros shouted as the smoke cleared. Cassandra still charged at Gigaros, preparing for a head on charge.

"Now Cassandra!" I cried out, "Get back!"

Hearing me, Cassandra immediately jumped high into the opposite direction. With a mighty leap, she had thrown clear to the far wall of the room. Confused, Gigaros's gaze widen as she jumped away... to find me with my hands glowing, prepared to blow the hell of him away. Finishing my chant just in time, I raised my arms forth.

Here goes nothing!

"Blast Bomb!" I cried and prayed my spell would work.

With my cry, several balls of light flashed into existence around me. Throwing my arms towards Gigaros, the lights came swarming his way. I heard a shout of surprise from Gigaros, followed by a loud bang as the balls of light crashed into him. With a mighty flash, the entire side of the room was engulfed with fire. It was as if half the room had been transformed into a cavern of fire as my spell erupted.

It worked! Yes!

At that time, Cassandra ran to my side as she watched the inferno blaze. "Did you get him?" She asked as the flames began to die down a bit.

As we watched, the flames lessened enough to see the other side of the room again. Just then from the flames, a black silhouette appeared walking in our direction. Stepping out of the dieing inferno, Gigaros raised his hands up and then began a non-motivated clapping of his hands. "Now that was fun," Gigaros quipped as the flames behind him quickly turned to smoke. "I'm impressed you can cast such a high level spell."

Cassandra and I fell silent as we saw him. His stature was still unfazed as he stood before us.

"No way!" I shouted in disbelief, "How could you escape the Blast Bomb?!"

"Why so surprised?" Gigaros said and stopped clapping. "Surely you know what I am. Mazoku are beings with no concrete form. Sort of like high-density ghosts. No blade can hurt me, and such elementarily spells have no effect on me."

We backed up a step in surprise. "What now, Zane?" Cassandra asked in a hushed whisper.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!"

"Try as much as you want," Gigaros said and approached closer to us. "In time, you'll grow tired and eventually have no will left to fight. Just like all my other victims."

I spat in his direction. "Don't count on it!" With a daring dash towards him, I prepared to cast a spell. At such a close range, he couldn't dodge it so easily. "Elmekia Lance!" I shouted, and fired my lance of light at him.

Taken by surprise, Gigaros quickly leaped to the side, but not before my spell nipped his side. I caught a slight gasp of pain from Gigaros as he jumped aside.

"What!?" Gigaros shouted in surprise. With his waving cloak around him, Gigaros leaped a good distance away. Not letting up, I chanted another spell to fire at the unlucky bastard.

"Blam Blazer!" I shouted and fired my spell.

A blazing blue light came from my hands and shot in Gigaros's direction. Just then with a grunt of detest, Gigaros became a blur and vanished. The spell just shot to the wall and shattered into several shards of light. I came to a sudden stop as I lost track of him. Could he have teleported?

"Zane! Behind you!" Cassandra called from afar.

Immediately turning around, I caught the glimpse of a blur before me. Then, right in front of me floated the masked jerk. He was probably smirking under that mask. I quickly turned around as he reached out for me at his close range. He was going to grab me and that would be it. The end...

That would have been the case if I hadn't had my second spell ready in hand.

As I turned to confront him, I then revealed the blue glow of my hands poised point-blank right at Gigaros. A smirk was clear on my face. "Got you!" With my shout, I launched a second Bram Blazer. Unable to dodge at such a short distance, Gigaros got hit right in the center of his torso.

Blasted in the gut, Gigaros went skidding across the floor on his feet. The blast propelled him on until the magic bolt disintegrated, discharging its spiritual energy into the Mazoku. Gigaros gripped his chest in pain as smoke drifted from the spot. I heard him swear under the sizzle of the spell I cast as he regained his bearings.

"Wasn't counting on that, were you?" I mocked Gigaros as he caught his second wind. "What, you didn't think students of Saillune's sorcery school wouldn't know a spell or two that would hurt a Mazoku?"

Gigaros growled at me from under his mask. "Damn your mockery...Don't get cocky over a lucky shot," he snarled at me, the demon within him now clear in his voice.

My smirk gleamed brighter as I took a glance elsewhere. "Why shouldn't I? This fight is just about over."

Removing his hand from his wound, Gigaros gave a dark chuckle. "Over, ha! You think I'm going to let go of my warped space around us and let you waltz out of here? You fool!" Gigaros boasted as he raised his hands out to cast another of his dark spells.

"The only fool here is you, Gigaros!" I said sternly. His eyes of his mask flickered with slight misunderstanding. "While you were so preoccupied with me... what do you think my friend's up to?"

Gigaros's eyes lit up brighter in surprise. Apparently, Cassandra was right. He was too wrapped up on me he never noticed what Cassandra had been cooking up. "What!? You wouldn't!" Gigaros roared in disbelief as he turned around.

Standing in the back of the room was Cassandra. With her arms to her side, holy light glowed around her. Her eyes were closed as she chanted her white magic spell. She had been gathering power all this time, preparing to use it in one mighty spell. Just as I had hoped she would.

"Now Cassandra!" I shouted aloud.

Her eyes shot opened as she brought her arms across her, the bright light still clinging to her form. With the glow as bright as her annoying righteousness, Cassandra cast her spell. "Flow Break!" she cried in a triumphant burst of energy.

Throwing her arms out, a powerful gust of air swept through the room. The light that had once surrounded Cassandra had disappeared and now spread onto the floor, creating the points of a hexagram with her in the center. The light of the hexagram shined bright and pulsed with holy magic. Just then with another pulse of light, the air gusted again and a sound like shattering glass surrounded us.

With the wind, the sound of startled people suddenly appeared. In that instant, the entire emptiness of the warped space lifted as the people we once saw before reappeared before our eyes. It worked. Cassandra's Flow Break spell restored the balance of power within the area.

You see, when magic is used it causes an imbalance of power, such as Gigaros's warped space. Flow Break worked to restore the balance, canceling out all of Gigaros's current magic. And with us being in Saillune where White Magic is amplified from the city's layout, Cassandra's magic was strong enough to break the warped space.

Surprised, the people around gawked at us to find two kids and a masked weirdo appearing out of thin air like that. Perplexed himself, Gigaros looked around to find the other people around us. With me on one side and Cassandra on the other, we had him cornered between us and the mass of people. It was one of those awkward moments where you'd normally walk away from the person who's embarrassing you, followed by the saying 'I'm not with them.'

A stunning silence came over the crowded room as the drunks of the bar dropped their goblets and looked at us. The eyes of Gigaros darted from side to side, seeing all the people around him. He'd wouldn't be able to fight to freely now.

Swearing under his mask, Gigaros immediately turned around and took off running. Taking to a hasty retreat, Gigaros ran onto a table where a couple were, kicking their meal up into the air and jumped towards the door.

"Hey!" Cassandra called after him. Her fists were tight as I swear her blond hair stood up with anger. "You're not getting away this time!" With her overly valiant cheer, Cassandra ran after him. Gigaros bolted out of the door with Cassandra close behind him.

Before I knew it, I was the only one there. Every one of the customers and workers there looked at me with utter confusion. "Uh..." I spoke as I thought of something to say. "Thank you! We'll be here all week! Toddles!"

I mentally kicked myself for my lame excuse. With no time to explain, I quickly ran around the tables in my way and ran out of the tavern in pursuit of Gigaros. As I left, I heard the sound of the tavern ironically return to its bustling, rowdy state.

Chapter 4: Terrorize!: I hate giant bugs!

The crowd of the street was still alive with the last day of the street fair as I ran after the bleak image I could catch of Cassandra. She was running down main street as I attempted to catch up with her. The way she was sprinting through the moving crowd was as if she was a blood hound running after a rabbit. I discovered what's worse than Cassandra annoying with her justice act... was her when she was in an angry fit.

Finally reaching up to her, I ran by her side. "Darn, he's fast!" Cassandra growled angrily through gritted teeth. Looking through the moving crowd, I caught the silhouette of Gigaros's black cloak. He stuck out plainly but with all the people around it would be easy to lose him.

"Keep after him," I told Cassandra, "I'll keep an eye on him from above!" With her nod of agreement, I took a strong dash ahead of her. Swiftly jumping between moving people, I chanted my spell. "Raywing!" With a hard jump into the air, wind suddenly surround my body and lifted me higher up. Before long, I was flying over the crowd among the tops of the buildings. Really, no joke!

With my flight spell around me, I quickly flew to the top of a nearby building and landed on the roof. Looking below, I found Gigaros as he ran through the crowd, rudely shoving some civilians out of his way as he did so. I would had thrown a fireball at him, but with so many people around, I'd end up barbecuing innocent bystanders with him. With a plan in mind, I chanted another spell as Gigaros got ready to run pass the building I was on.

"Lighting!" I cast and threw my hand in his current path. A ball of bright light shot forth from my palm and zoomed down towards the crowd. Just then, the light hit the pavement right in Gigaros's path and erupted with a large flash. The crowd shouted with confusion as the harmless flash startled them. Seeing the flare, Gigaros skidded to a stop. Taking no more than a second to find another escape, he took of to his right towards a deserted alleyway. Just what I wanted.

"That way!" I called out to Cassandra and pointed towards the ally. Seeing me, Cassandra ran to the ally. With that, I took off again and took flight to follow Gigaros.

Watching from above, Gigaros was running through the twists and turns of the allies. Flying slightly ahead of him without him finding me, I landed on another building close by. As he turned another corner of a building, I jumped off the ledge. Falling down a narrow space, I quickly cast a levitation spell and began to descend slower. Landing with a tiny thud, I began to cast another spell.

Just as I predicted, Gigaros appeared from the opening of the alleyway. As he was about to turn into it, he stopped to find me with my hands aglow.

Special delivery! Courtesy of Zane's Spells Inc!

"Thunderball!" I cried.

A ball of yellow light and flickering lightning bolts shot out of my hands and like lightning itself, hit Gigaros full on. A giant blast of electricity exploded as it hit. With the mighty blast, Gigaros was sent flying backwards into the alley wall, leaving a rather large crater in it as he fell off. Had he not been a Mazoku, the blast would have killed him.

Staggering back up, he immediately ran down the other alley and disappeared around the corner where I was. I quickly ran after him. As I turned the corner after him, I was joined by Cassandra as she came up behind me. Running side by side, we chased Gigaros through the cramped ally. Finally reaching the end of the maze of alleys, Gigaros ran out of it into an empty street. He ran up a stairway which led up the hill of the city.

Chasing after him, we immediately climbed after him as he sprinted tirelessly up the steps. Turning corners and further up other steps we followed him, until he reached the top and disappeared over the edge. A few seconds behind him, Cassandra and I sprinted as fast as we could and finally reached the top.

Whew!

At the top of the stairs was a large platue of the hill, laid out in cobblestones. As we reached the top, I stopped running and dropped my hands to my knees in exhaustion. "Damn, that monster's fast!" I gasped between pants. Cassandra herself stopped to catch her breath for a moment. Regaining my breath, I looked around.

We were in a deserted sightseeing spot looking over the city. Over a small stone railing was an obscure view of Saillune city. Around us to one side was a hill full of trees and small housing buildings on the other. The sightseeing spot was a clear dead end with no other path left to take. To my surprise, there was no one there. And by no one there, I meant Gigaros wasn't there as well. Cassandra and I were all that was there.

"Wha-Wha-What!" I stuttered in disbelief. "Where did he go!?"

Cassandra looked confused as well as she looked around the circular area of the quiet spot. Indeed, there were no other paths leading in or out for Gigaros to take. He couldn't have doubled back because we were right behind him. So where the hell did he go!? "Could he have gotten away?" Cassandra asked innocently.

"No way," I said as I got to my feet and walked into the stone courtyard. "This was the only path up here! Where else could he have gone!"

Cautiously, I began to scan the area for anything suspicious. I was not about to call it a day just because that bastard got away. After all the junk he put us through, I was ready to Dragon Slave him into the next millennium. Still as I looked around, nothing stuck out that even looked like Gigaros. Cassandra looked around as well, keeping her guard up.

After a few moments, we found nothing. "Aw, geez! If he wanted to pull a Houdini, why didn't he just do so than make us run all this way?! Pompus jerk!" I spat as I kicked a bit of gravel elsewhere.

"Zane," Cassandra called with an unsure tone. Hearing her, I turned to find her. She was looking out at the city near the edge of the platform. With her eyes fixed at the view, she pointed out to it as I approached her. "Does that look normal to you?" she asked, pointing towards the sky.

Looking out, I looked to where she was pointing to. From above the central plaza of Saillune a small black dot appeared in the clear sky. From that dot, it became a cloud. Spinning around in a spiral like a growing tornado it grew bigger, spreading its black clouds further into the sky.

"I'm not sure Cassandra... DOES A GIANT BLACK CLOUD COMING OUT OF NOWHERE IN THE SKY LOOK NORMAL TO YOU!!!" I spat sarcastically.

The spiraling black cloud then drew itself closer towards the city. The black mass of a twister came closer, looking as if it would settle right in the heart of Saillune. Just then as the black twister came, energy bolts like black lightning sparked around it and the twister stopped in mid air. In the most bazaar of events, the giant black twister and the cloud with it slowly vanished... And appearing in its place right before the center of the town square was a large, dome-shaped creature. The creature was black and its back was smooth as if its hide was onyx. Turning around, it showed its head. Two antennas stuck out of its relatively small, round head. Its eyes were buggish. Its clear height was well bigger than the buildings which it surrounded. My eyes widen as the image finally struck my brain. It was a demon beast in the form of a giant beetle!

Great... My worst nightmare SUPERSIZED!

"Oh-no!" Cassandra cried in terror, "Someone summoned a demon beast in the middle of town!"

"I can see that, Cassandra!" I replied in sarcasm again. My anxiety mechanism.

"Isn't it beautiful," a voice chuckled from nearby.

Taken aback, Cassandra and I quickly turned around. "Zane over there!" Cassandra shouted and pointed to one of the nearby houses.

There on the roof of the closest house sat Gigaros. He sat there with a leg over the other as he watched from an even better view than we had. A glimmer of enjoyment and content was clear in the eyes of his mask.

"Gigaros!"

"Ah," Gigaros cooed contently, "What a lovely day for a rampage. Don't you agree Zane?"

I suppressed the urge to throw a fireball at him a moment. "What did you do!? What is that thing!?" I scolded at him harshly. Cassandra as well gave him a stern look of hatred.

Looking down at us, Gigaros chuckled to see our anger at him. "Oh, just a little parting present I left for you. I'm sure you grew tired of running me down this far. So I decided to reward your efforts with a little entertainment. I can see you've come to admire my pet as much as I have," he chuckled mischievously.

"Bastard!" I scolded, "Call him off, now!"

"But why?" Gigaros said sarcastically. He then looked back to the view of the city. "It looks like he's having such a good time. And those screams... those screams are just...... delicious."

Turning around, I glanced over to the view of the giant insect. From the distance, I looked as it lowered its head towards one of the buildings near by. Its antennas suddenly began to spark as energy shot between them. Suddenly with a loud screeching sound, a loud shockwave shot forward and struck the building. From the distance, the faint sound of screaming people echoed over the city to where we were.

A part of my heart began to throb as I heard the screams. Cassandra looked with teary eyes as the monster screeched into the air. Its wings flapped wildly, spurring another shockwave at the buildings. Turning back around, Cassandra faced Gigaros with a furious look. "Monster! How dare you!" Cassandra cried.

This time, Gigaros sounded a plain, clear laugh. "Can't help you there, my dear! I'm a Mazoku after all," he laughed. Then he turned to me. "So Zane, now you have two options." I gritted my teeth as I listen to the evil nutcase. "You can ether come after me ... or you can stop my monster from destroying Saillune."

Damn him! He set this up! If we went after Gigaros, the giant beetle monster would destroy the city. And if we went to stop the beetle, Gigaros would get away to where he was. But because he deliberately put so many people in danger by letting it loose, ignoring it was simply not an option. Lowering my head from Gigaros, I reluctantly made up my mind to go after the demon beast.

"Hm," Gigaros said in a snicker, "I thought so."

"I won't let you get away with this!" I threatened, infuriated.

Amused, Gigaros laughed and eyed me with his eyes. "Don't fret. I promise you we'll meet again. I wish I could stay and watch but I got other duties." Then in a mocking gesture, Gigaros waved at us. "Have fun." With that, he suddenly disappeared in a blur, teleporting clear out of sight.

Gritting my teeth, I felt like I could blow up with anger. That was just what he wanted. Mazoku fed off fear, anger and pain. And putting that giant bug in the city was like ringing the dinner bell for an all-you-can-eat buffet. Gigaros was enjoying every moment he had toyed with us and we fell for it.

"Zane..." Cassandra said kindly, shaking me back to my senses.

"Come on!" I shouted immediately to Cassandra and took off back to the stairs. "We have to hurry!" Hearing me, Cassandra ran a small distance behind me as we reached the stairs and ran down them towards the streets.

The streets were in total chaos as we came down from the hillside. As we reached one of the streets, several people were running the other direction in a panic. Screaming civilians flocked the other way as we made our way towards the town square.

Remember the simple days when you were supposed to run away from danger?

"How are we supposed to fight something that size?" Cassandra asked as we darted through the panicking crowd.

"How should I know? This isn't something they taught us in class!" I called back to her as we ran. "I'll figure out how to kill the thing when we find it!"

After running a few blocks, the fleeing crowd greatly decreased until the streets were totally deserted. Keeping our pace up, we ran around the blocks in our way towards where the monster was suppose to be. It wasn't long until we turned the last corner and entered the courtyard of the town square. As we entered the wide area, we slowly came to a stop. Both of us looked up in awe as we saw the creature.

It may have been me, but that beetle sure looked bigger close up. The monster was probably seven or eight stories tall and its frame was as wide as two buildings. It loomed over the far ends of the square with its back towards us. Unaware of us, it just slowly plowed forward through one of the smaller buildings in its path, rudely widening the town square all the more.

"It's humongous!" Cassandra cried in amazement as we looked at it rummage through the rubble like an animal with its meal. For an insect, it was pretty clear it wasn't very bright.

"Gigaros calls this a pet?" I joked in slight dismay and amazement. "How the hell did he paper-train that thing?"

"Zane! Now is not the time for jokes!" Cassandra squealed in a bit of a panic.

The large beetle let out another screech and raised its head to the sky. Its cry echoed over the buildings and sounded all throughout the city. Dispite its frightful cry, Cassandra and I still held our ground prepared to fight.

"Time to fry, bug-brain!" Cassandra cheered and stepped forward.

With a dramatic spin around, Cassandra's hands began to glow bright with power. As she chanted her spell, she eyed the insect confidently. "Ready, aim..." she spoke once she finished her chant. Whipping her cape about with her heroic pose, a ball of fiery light appeared within her hand. "Fireball!"

With a whip of her hand, she flung the ball right for the giant beetle. It flew a beeline right to the demon and struck its backside. The fireball erupted upon contact. The mighty explosion covered the creatures back and created a might flash before us.

"Bull's eye! So says the Hero of Justice!" Cassandra boasted over the fire and gave her annoying laugh.

Just as the flames quickly faded away, Cassandra stopped her sickening laugh. The bug still remained. It didn't even flinch as its large hide glimmered with the last of the fire's glow. Not even noticing the attack, the demon beast continued to move about in a lazy fashion in search to plow forward through the buildings.

Surprised, Cassandra stepped back. "Oh, boy. That didn't do it," Cassandra said meekly.

"Let me show you how it's done," I said confidently and walked past her. With her behind me, I faced the giant beetle. If a fireball wasn't enough, perhaps something with a bit more kick would do the trick.

Crossing my arms across my chest, I began to chant my spell. Reciting my spell, I felt the energy that at first was so hard to command come to me. And with that power, my hands began to tingle with the sensation of fire magic. Saying the last verse, I threw my hands forward and a fiery light swirled into existence between them.

"Blast Bomb!" As I shouted the power words, several balls of fiery light appeared in the air in front of me. With the ball in my hands and the ones around me, I flung my arms down and threw the balls of light towards my target. The air whooshed and wined as they flew and like a swarm of insects struck on the demon beast. A mighty explosion rang throughout the square as the balls of light erupted. The place where the monster stood was completely engulfed in a powerful inferno, filling the town square with the king of all bonfires.

I love that spell!!!

The flames began to dissolve away. But just when I though I smoked the thing, a large black object appeared from within the flames. From the dissolving flames, it stuck its head out and released another loud screech like a roar of anguish. The rest of the flames disappeared to reveal its full body, completely uninjured. As soon as it finished its screeching, its huge body began to turn around. Its head soon turned to us and eyed us with its bug-like eyes and gave another screech in our direction.

A cold sweat dripped from my face as I saw it look towards us. "Uh-oh..." Cassandra said in the same state of shock as I was. "I think you've just got its attention..."

Fully turning towards us, the beetle lowered its head and pointed its antennas towards us. Sparks of electricity began to dance between the two antennas like lightning rods as a low hum came from the beetle. Gritting my teeth, I realized what it was about to do.

"Get out of the way!" I cried to Cassandra, grabbed her by the cape and ran dragging her behind me.

Just as I leaped out of the way with Cassandra, the giant beetle let out another loud screech. With it, the electricity between its antennas finally shot forth in the form of a large lightning bolt. The single attack was as wide as the street we entered from as it shot by. The blast just grazed us as it flew by, shooting down the street and struck the building before it. The building jolted as the lightning struck, taking out a large amount of stone from the blast.

I looked in awe as the building got hit. That monster was full of surprises. At that time, Cassandra got to her feet. Her hair was hilariously standing on end from the electric shock that passed by. With both of us back on our feet, the beetle then turned to us, its antennas still aglow with a small charge of electricity.

"Get back!" Cassandra cried as her hair fell back down. With her cry, the bug fired another bolt of lightning our way. "Defense!"

Casting her spell, a shield of clear energy quickly surrounded us. Just in time, the lightning bolt struck the shield and simply discharged around the shield. With the attack gone, Cassandra let go of the shield.

Clearly annoyed, the beetle cried out and slowly began coming towards us.

"Split up!" I shouted and with that I began to cast a spell. "Raywing!"

As I took flight into the air, so did Cassandra as we separated to different sides of the town square. The beetle seemed to move its head slowly towards me as I flew across the courtyard. I flew to one of the buildings which surrounded the square as the bug slowly came my way.

"Elmekia Lance!" I cried and shot my spell forth. Landing where I wanted it, the beam of light struck it in the head. The beetle let out another cry as the spell sunk in, but before I could react, someone else hit with a spell also. From another building opposite me, Cassandra had begun casting attack spells upon the beetle as well.

The two of us cast spell after spell in sequence with one another. With our attacks we bombarded the demon beast from both sides. Too busy to know who to follow, the beetle could only stand there and get hit from both sides. But after a few minutes of casting relentless spells, the demon beast still stood. We might as well have been pelting rocks at him.

Just then, a low screeching came from the bug as we pelted our spell at him. He was getting angry.

With its cry, it large black shell of its back opened up to reveal two bug-like wings. It began to flap them in frenzy under the attacking spells and the screeching was suddenly becoming louder. Stopping my attack spells, I looked to find it was looking at me as the sound got louder.

I got the feeling I shouldn't be here right now...

Just then, a large sonic boom ringed from the insect towards me, along with a large shockwave. One step ahead of the monster, I quickly ran for the edge of the roof, cast my flight spell and flew away. Just as I left the building behind me, I witnessed as the shockwave of the sonic boom ripped across the roof. The tiles of the roof were blown away like a tornado's wind and shook.

Quickly getting away, I flew back towards the ground and landed. I looked to find Cassandra still throwing spells at it. Clearly pissed off, the large beetle turned around as fast as it could on its short legs and faced Cassandra, its wings flapping again.

"CASSANDRA, GET DOWN FROM THERE NOW!" I shrieked in alarm as the beetle took aim.

Hearing me, Cassandra quickly stopped firing her spells and ran to the far edge of the roof. Just as she did, the beetle made another audio-splitting cry and released another sonic boom. The shockwave struck the roof with a powerful slam and sent Cassandra flying forward just as she jumped off the roof. Thrown forward, I saw her quickly cast a levitation spell as she was thrown forth. Flying towards me, Cassandra let go of her spell and landed to the ground. "Nothing's working on that stinkin dung beetle!" Cassandra called out to me as she ran to my side.

Just then, the beetle leered its way towards us once again and gave an angry screech. "I think it didn't take your dung beetle comment too well, Cassandra," I said meekly.

With that, the beetle quickly hustled its big body towards us and opened its wings. It let out another low hum as the wings flapped wildly, building up for another sonic boom... and a big one by the sound of it. Alarmed, Cassandra quickly jumped before me and held her hands out to meet the demon beast's attack.

"Defense!" she cried out.

In a split second the crystalline-shaped barrier flashed into existence around us. At that exact moment, the demon beast released his shrieking and another shockwave along with it. The simple sound rattled the barrier around us as Cassandra struggled to keep it up. Then like a hammer, the shockwave struck the barrier. The barrier violently shattered apart against Cassandra's control and the shockwave came rushing in. The screech ringed in our ears as the shockwave hit us. The violent wind suddenly lifted us off our feet and sent us flying upward. Screaming, the two of us were thrown out of the town square and high into the sky over the city. Back down below, the monster gave another screech as if to give a victory cry as we flew away.

Still screaming, we quickly flew over half the town and began to fall towards the ground. The ground was fast approaching. Mustering all of my senses to stop screaming, I raised my hand towards the ground and cast a wind spell. "Bomb Di Wind!"

From my hand, a strong wind spun from my hand and quickly struck the ground. Falling onto it, Cassandra and I landed on the air mass and our freefall speed quickly decreased. However, it only did to minimize the blow of the fall as we still fell towards the street below. Screaming still, we fell to the road as if we had jumped down from a tree hard.

Wham!

I landed on my back against the pavement as Cassandra ironically landed on top of me.

Don't worry... the cement floor broke my fall...

"Can't... breathe..." I gasped as Cassandra lay across my stomach.

Realizing what broke her fall was me; Cassandra quickly looked to see me below her. "Oh- Sorry!" She cried and got off of me. With a much needed breath of air, I slowly rolled over onto my stomach to roll out the pain. Had I not cast my wind spell, I'd have much worse than just a sore back.

Hearing the screech in the distance, I slowly got to my feet to see the monster. We had landed on a hillside of the city, looking out to where the monster was. The street was deserted here as well as Cassandra and I looked. The beast raised its head up again and gave another echoing screech across the hills.

"Damn it!" I grumbled as the two of us watched the monster. "Its hide's too thick for our spells!"

With a sigh, Cassandra moved a lock of her hair behind her head in frustration. "You're not kidding... I tried everything. Isn't there any spell we can use to stop it?" She asked and looked to me.

My gaze slowly drew to the ground. "Actually..."

There was a spell that I knew would blast that bug to bits. It was the spell that I cast during my first year that blew up the school gymnasium. The one that Ms. Magdalene, the headmistress forbidden me to use again. And for good reason...

"... I think the Dragon Slave would do the trick..." I told Cassandra simply.

The Dragon Slave was the strongest of all spells that a human could cast. It drew its power from a demon lord of this world. Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu, the lord of all the monsters in the world. It's strong enough to kill a dragon. However...

Cassandra eyed with concern. "But..." Cassandra asked, clearly sensing my hesitance.

I gave grunt in her direction. "Cassandra! You know as well as I do how dangerous that spell is!" I said seriously. "If I cast the Dragon Slave here, I could end up destroying the whole city!"

"Then what are we going to do?"

I looked down to the ground again, trying to think of another plan. "I don't know," I sighed frustrated and then turned to the sky. "If only we could get it away from the city somehow..." Staring up at the clouds and blue sky quickly silenced me as I tried to think. The screeches of the monster still sounded as I tried to clear my mind.

Just then, looking into the sky gave me an idea. A smile finally came to my face.

"I got it!" I cried, surprising Cassandra with my shout.

"HUH! What? What is it?" Cassandra asked as she looked at me puzzled.

Turning to her quickly I leaned towards her with earnest hope. "Cassandra, did you bring your amplification scrolls?"

With a puzzled look on her face, Cassandra slowly dug into her pocket and pulled out the three small scrolls. "Well, yeah... We took them in case for Gigaros, remember?" she pointed out.

"Listen to me," I spoke clearly to her, "I need you to focus all your magic on a levitation spell."

The puzzled look on her face turned into sheer dumbfounded as she looked at me. "What? How's levitating us going to help?" she asked confused.

"Not on us," I shouted with anticipation and pointed out at the view. "On that!"

I was aiming for the giant black beetle.

"WHAAAT?!" Cassandra cried in fright and disbelief. "Are you serious?! I can't lift that huge thing!"

"That's why you're going to use the scrolls. Use all of them if you have too! We just need to get him high enough off the ground so I can blast him with the Dragon Slave!" I explained.

"But..." Cassandra had become hesitant, something I thought I'd never see. "But I never cast a levitation spell on anything but on me. I've never tired lifting something from such a distance before."

"Listen," I explained calmly, "you just have to focus. Concentrate and visualize what you want the spell to do. That's how I create my own spells. Please Cassandra, this is our last shot. We just can't give up."

Thinking it over, Cassandra remained quiet for a moment. Then, as if her personality had taken a drastic turn, she suddenly sparked a smile. Her eyes lit up with that annoyingly cheerful glimmer. "You're absolutely right Zane!" She said loudly. Her sudden perkiness caused me to step back. "Our strength may be insignificant against such a foe, but with the faith in our selves we shall grow strong for the sake of Justice! And if we fight with hope and courage, we shall strike Justice upon that Demon Beast!" With her speech, she gave that horrible laugh again.

And then he burst into flames...

"Yeah... okay," I said and waved my hand pathetically to calm her down. "Could you just cast the spell please?"

With a heroic pose towards me, Cassandra spun towards me and flashed me a thumbs up. "Okay!" she cheered, "Leave it to me!"

Taking a deep breath, Cassandra brought her hands together in a prayer. With what I guessed was a silent prayer, she began to chant the levitation spell under her breath. Opening her hands outwards, the wind began to move around us. "Levitation!" she cried aloud across the hillside. With her shout, the wind spun upward around us.

I could tell she was putting all her strength behind it. The look on her face was tight with concentration as she focused. With her hands out, she kept her eyes on the demon beast far away. I quickly looked to the demon beast in the distance. At first I didn't see anything happen. Then after a few seconds of her spell in effect, a saw a strong wind appear around the large insect. Slowly but surely the wind picked up and spun around the demon. A screech of confusion came from it was suddenly lifted off the ground a few feet.

"It's working!" I shouted with a smile on my face.

"Okay," Cassandra said intensely, still focused on her spell, "releasing the first scroll now." Holding the scrolls between her fingers, Cassandra cleverly let one unraveled from one of her hands. On the long parchment was a magic circle of runes and gold. "Levitation!" Cassandra cast again.

Once revealed, the magic circle suddenly began to glow and disappeared from the paper. The magic circle then reappeared right below Cassandra as she focused on her spell. As if in reaction to the glowing circle, the wind far away around the demon beast grew even larger. The insect began to squirm as the wind lifted it higher, now over the height of the buildings.

My spirits were lifting up as the large insect slowly rose higher with Cassandra's spell. "Keep it up, Cassandra!" I called out to her over the rushing wind, "I'll get ready for the Dragon Slave!"

"Got it!" Cassandra called back, still focusing on her spell.

Leaving Cassandra to do her part, I quickly approached one of the nearby buildings. Casting a small levitation spell of my own, I leapt up into the air and flew up to the roof. Quickly landing on the rooftop, I looked out as the bug was clear over the town square. Reciting the spell in my head, I prepared myself to cast it.

"Levitation!" Cassandra cried from below. She had unraveled the second scroll and the magic circle below her grew even brighter. The demon beast let out another screech as it swatted its wings trying to escape. It rose higher and higher into the air, gradually approaching where it would be safe for me to cast my spell.

I began to chant my spell. Throwing my emotion into the mix, I felt power start to come to me. "Darkness beyond twilight... crimson beyond blood that flows..." With thoughts of defeating the Demon Beast raging in my heart, I fed all the power I had to build up the spell. The last time I cast it, it was just a test-run. Now I was going to use it at full capacity. "Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows..."

The demon beast was lifting higher; now clear from the city's buildings. As it lifted higher into the air, a colossal energy came to me. It coursed through my body as I spoke the spell and gathered more power. From between my palms a small spark of red light came into existence, sparking with energy. "I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand...before the might gift bestowed in my unworthy hand!"

Just then from below me, another power came into existence within me. Caught off guard, I looked down around me. Surrounding me was a brilliant golden light. I was breathless. It was the same light that had appeared when I first pulled off the Blast Bomb spell during my fight with Alpha. The light began to flow around me, feeding me a holy energy that was lifting my spirits as I fed my emotion into the destructive spell.

Is... Is this the power Gigaros was talking about?!

"Levitation!" Cassandra shouted like a battle cry, shaking me back to my senses. Cassandra had released the last of the amplification scrolls as the circle below her glowed into a blinding golden array. With the wind surrounding the bug released, another strong gust blew around its prisoner. Given the third and final boost of magic, the demon beast was lifted up to the clouds high above the city. "Zane now!" she shouted, holding the wind spell with the last of her strength.

Forgetting about the golden light around me, I immediately focused back on the spell in my hands. From it, the small red spark in my hand quickly began to grow bigger and became a sphere of red light. "Let all the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power that you and I possess!" Then, taking me by welcomed surprise, the mysterious glow stretched out over my body. With it, the crimson red sphere of energy became brighter and wildly flickered energy around it.

"DRAGON... SLAVE!!!" I shouted and shoved my hands forth.

With my shout, the crimson red energy erupted from my hands in a mighty blast. From it a stream of blood-red light streaked through the air. Then as it shot over the city, it curved upward into the sky, aimed for the large beetle suspended high in the sky. Still levitating among the clouds, the beetle let out another screech as the crimson beam approached it. Gleaming brightly, the spell struck the beetle from its underside.

A crimson flash lit the sky as a mighty explosion erupted from where it struck. The clouds quickly parted with the mighty blast as the light of the spell engulfed the monster. Looking from below, I watched as the spell swallowed the demon beast and spread across the sky. Within seconds, the sky above became the color of blood with its mighty flash.

After a few seconds of seeing nothing but the frightful red, the spell finally parted and the blue sky once again returned. Deciding to get off, I approached the end of the roof and levitated to the ground. Once I landed, I found Cassandra looking up at the sky as the last of the Dragon Slave disappeared. Done long ago from upholding her levitation spell, she was just in awed as the spell took out the Demon Beast.

The Demon Beast was gone.

"We did it!" I shouted in joy, breaking the binding silence around us.

Finally realizing it herself, Cassandra finally gave a cheerful smile as she looked up at the sky. "Yeah!" Cassandra cried and flashed a victory sign towards the sky in triumph. "Victory for Justice!"

Excitement was broiling within me. We had saved Saillune from the clutches of evil. You can't say that's something to not be proud of. The only sour thing about this was that we couldn't tell anyone...

Oh well!

"We did it! We did it!" I cheered overjoyed.

Just then, Cassandra tapped me on the shoulder. "Uh... Zane?" Cassandra asked. Turning to her, my joy was suddenly squashed. She was looking right above us with a dull expression on her face. Out of curiosity, I looked right up.

"Uh oh..." I squeaked as a sweat drop dripped down the side of my face. The sound of a falling object could be heard as we looked up. From above, came down a rain of undeniable green goo. And not just above us, but the rain of slime was falling over all of Saillune.

Cassandra and I screamed as the goop spattered around us. Like frighten children, we jumped and ran as the gross slime came down, trying to not get covered in it. The slime rained onto the roofs with thick platters. With the most of unfortunate luck, I ended up getting hit by a large glop of the slime dropped right on my head, covering me with it. The rain only lasted for about twenty seconds, and then stopped all together.

"Eeewww! Bug guts!" I said in disgust.

As I looked to Cassandra, pecks of the slime had dotted her face. She looked at me with a crossed look. A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as I staggered a step back from her furious expression.

Okay... my bad... he-he-he...

"Well, this day was just lovely," Cassandra pouted sarcastically as we walked. "Usually on the weekend I study, relax and prepare for school. But NO... We had to chase a Mazoku half-way across town, fight off a demon beast and ended up getting doused in bug juice!"

I gave a heavy sigh and shook my head. "Please stop complaining," I groaned, "I said I was sorry about that."

The sun had already gone down and we were back inside the school grounds. We were barely able to levitate ourselves over the wall since we were so exhausted. The panic within town had calmed down greatly once we'd vanquished the monster. Rumors were going around how the demon beast appeared by a magic merchant accidentally mixing some stuff he shouldn't have. Hidden in the relative dark of night, we walked back to the dorm common room.

"So I guess," Cassandra said calmly after venting out her frustration. "After all that we hadn't learned anything..."

"I wouldn't say that," I replied, upbeat. Hearing me, Cassandra looked to me with surprise. "We know that the Mazoku race is involved in all this. We also know now for sure what they want is this power that I have. And it has something to do with the gods.

Cassandra remained quiet with thought as we walked on. "I now know what it is Cassandra," I told her. "It first happened when I cast the Blast Bomb spell during our fight with Alpha. And then it happened again when I fired the Dragon Slave. That light that surrounded me acted to amplify my spells tremendously. It seemed to react when I was under a lot of emotional duress."

"You really think it's a power from the gods?" Cassandra asked in wonder, "I never read anything like that."

"I honestly don't know what this power is," I told her calmly. A smile was on my face as I thought about it. How powerful I was once it came forth. And when that power appeared, it felt incredible. "But I know one thing. Somehow, someway, I'm going to learn how to control it."

A long silence fell over us as we reached the building of the dorms. Taking a heavy sigh, Cassandra stretched her arms out tiredly. "Well, this day surely has been a drag," she yawned.

Reaching the door, I gave a friendly chuckle. "Look at it this way," I said confidently. "It can't get any worse." With that, I opened the door and stepped inside. Just then as Cassandra stepped inside, the lights all of a sudden came on.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The two of us had screamed in a unified cry of fright. Sitting on the couch of the living area was Master Krots and Master Zolis. Upon the recliner was Ms. Magdalene with her staff in her hand. Also joining them were other teachers I recognized that were Cassandra's teachers. All of them had crossed looks on their faces as they leered at us. I felt a cold sweat drip down my face as I saw them all together.

"Good evening, you two," Master Krots, the werewolf teacher growled calmly as he looked to us. He held his paws together, leering his wolfish eyes over them at us. "Where've you been?" The casual tone of his voice sent a shiver down my back.

Cassandra just remained frozen like a statue. Forcing myself to speak, I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Us? Well, uh...Nowhere," I fibbed quickly, "You see, there's a very interesting story behind that..."

"Something to do with the street fair I bet?" Master Zolis spoke up, sounding stern in his voice.

Another jolt ran up my back. "What?" I smiled at him, trying my best to sound innocent and ignorant. "Why would we be there? That's ridicules."

"Almost as ridicules as a demon beast appearing in the city," Master Krots spoke. His eyes were peering right through us as he spoke. Damn, I hated when he did that! "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

Taking a glance at Cassandra, I saw her stake with nervousness. I quickly turned to the group of angry teachers. "Oh, so that's what it was!" I said, trying to sound surprise by the news. "I didn't get a good view from behind the school walls you know."

Just then, Master Krots gave a small chuckle. That was not a good sign. "And here's the interesting part," he slurred in a menacing tone, "According to a few eye-witnesses, the beast was destroyed by a boy who had cast a Dragon Slave spell. About your height... Same age... Any thoughts Zane?"

I swallowed another lump that had worked its way into my throat. "My, what evid--I mean coincidence!" I stuttered worriedly. The intelligent werewolf was wearing me down fast.

"Well then," Master Krots then looked over to Cassandra. "Perhaps Ms. Cassandra would like to voice her opinion of this." I heard an eep from her as she was called upon. Cassandra, the goody-to-shoes and valid Victorian of the class was defiantly not used to getting in trouble. That had changed ever since she had gotten herself involved with my problems. With her arms tight to her sides, Cassandra shivered in place under the werewolf teacher's stern gaze. "I'm sure such an honest student such as yourself would be so kind to share with us. Won't you?"

I could tell she was seriously stressing out under the pressure. I couldn't blame her. It had taken me a while to wheedle out of the inescapable power of Master Krots interrogation skills. But she was beginning to sweat from all the tension around the room.

Don't-do-it-Cassandra! Don't-do-it-Cassandra! Don't...

And then she cracked.

"AUGH! Zane and I were the ones to vanquish the Demon Beast!" Cassandra cried so loud I bet the students in their dorms upstairs had heard. She gripped her hair as if she had been driven mad not telling them.

"CASSANDRA!" I cried at her in bitter shock that she squealed on us.

Realizing what she did, Cassandra suddenly clasped her hands over her mouth meekly. "I'm sorry!" Cassandra spoke in embarrassment from behind her hands. "It just came out!"

Breaking us apart, the loud clang of a staff hitting the ground spooked us. Ms. Magdalene had struck her staff angrily against the floor like the ring of a gong. The look of her angry face was frightening as she quickly stood up. I could almost see flames shoot out from behind her like a devilish figure. "ZANE! CASSANDRA!" she screamed across the room.

I felt the sudden urge to desperately hug Cassandra in fright of the headmistress.

The both of us shrunk back towards the closed doors as she scolded at us. Before long, Master Krots got off from the couch and stood up. "I want an explanation, you two!" he growled sharply. "What were you doing out there?"

Keeping my cool the best as I could under the gazes of all these teachers, I took a deep breath. "Well... we saw the demon beast and... flew off to fight it!" That was brilliant! Simple, predictable, just like any magic-using, good citizen would do. "You can't be mad at us for that, right?"

Master Krots eyes along with the other teachers' narrowed at me.

Wrong.

"You specifically disobeyed me after I told you that you were forbidden to leave the school grounds!" Master Krots growled and came closer. He looked at the both of us with equal blame. "Though your efforts were admirable, you both snuck out of the school!"

A whimper came from Cassandra as she was about to speak up. "But..."

"No buts!" Ms. Magdalene snapped at Cassandra. We both looked down as she spoke. "You both will be punished for this!" Our heads dropped lower as she shouted. "No dessert and no access to the training room for a week, and detention for the remainder of the month!"

I sighed deeply as I dreaded the punishment. That was two weeks of detention! That stunk! However my reaction was a bit less than that of Cassandra's.

A low growl came from her as her head was still hung low. Looking over to her, I saw her teeth gritted angrily as her growl grew in volume. Then in an outburst, she shot her head up with anger burning in her eyes at me. "ARGH! YOU!" she roared furiously at me and lunged at the collar of my shirt.

Angry beyond reason, Cassandra grabbed me from behind me and began yanking and pulling at me from clothes to my face and hair. "I blame you for this! How could you ruin my innocent reputation?! I'm a servant of justice, not a juvenile delinquent like you!" Throwing her fit, I struggled to get her off of me, pulling away from her but she was as mad as a hellcat. At the moment, her rage was far worse than detention and Gigaros combined.

"How could you do this to an innocent girl!?"

"Who's an innocent girl?!" I shouted back to her.

"Me, you dolt! Me! Give it back!"

"Ouch! Get off of me!"

"Give it back! Give it back!"

"Give you what back?!"

"My INNOCENSE!"

"WHAT!?"

The cat-fit went on like that for quite a bit before the teachers finally came to MY rescue and separated us. So in the end, we ended up being sentenced to a long time of detention for breaking the rules. But strangely enough, after all that had happened today, I wasn't too worried. Telling a Mazoku to go to hell, spoiling his plans, and kicking his pet's buggy butt, was totally one hundred percent worth it!

Now Zane Cosmon must face his worst foe of all... a week of an angry, justice-starving Cassandra.

I'll take the demon beast any day.