Tora! Tora! Tora!

“Did I miss the plan?” Sato asked, getting up, having caught his breath, and joining Idalec and Prix shortly after Luna and Sunya were also standing by the tree line,

“I mean, the spell itself is nothing that impressive.” Idalec shrugged, recalling the one time he used it. “People colloquially called it-” Idalec paused, ‘If any of them are mages, this might raise some uncomfortable questions.' 

"Have any of you studied magic before? It’d be easier to cast with two people.” Idalec inquired

“I have,” Luna smirked as everyone else stayed silent,

“It’s fine, I can cast it alone, Captain." Idalec breathed out, “It’s called White Grate; the only problem is that it would knock out everyone in Letin, not just the demons."

“What does it do?” Sato asked, “Would it actually knock them out, or do they zone out or something?” Sato looked at Idalec smugly, hand on his chin

‘What can I even say?’ Idalec thought, looking at Sato, ‘he’s just too innocent.’

“I want you to test it on me,” Sato smirked. “You know, it’s probably not even that bad.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Idalec warned half-heartedly,

“It can’t be that bad,” Sato repeated, opening his arms wide, ready to embrace anything that came at him,

“Brace yourself,” Idalec said, sitting down and crossing his legs, one palm facing up and one facing down. This spell centered around the caster, so they have to be mindful of casting distance. ‘Who’s around me again, Revrho, Prix- right, I have to use her real name… Sunya and me.’ Idalec sat there focused, thinking of the four people to exclude from the spell before the spell snapped.

The second the spell activated, Sato’s mind was flooded with an overwhelming white strobing light that didn’t cease even after he shut his eyes; his ears got filled with white noise, aperiodic scratches of a thousand different nails on a chalkboard caked on top of the roaring sound, and his head pulsed with a sickening migraine feeling like it was about to burst. “AHHHH!” Sato screamed; the spell was so loud in his ear that his own blood-curdling screams didn’t even register to Sato.

“SATO!” Prix yelled, as Idalec stopped casting the spell,

“That,” Sato said, feeling his heart nearly beating out of his chest, his hands sweaty,

“Why did you have to scream so loudly?” Prix glanced as a pair of demons were squinting in their direction. “It couldn’t have been that painful, considering you cried more over that demon girl yesterday.”

“It’s perfect,” Sato said, looking up from the ground at Idalec, who had opened his eyes,

“There are no real side effects since the spell is completely mental; it wouldn't even injure anyone,” ‘directly.’

“Ok,” Prix whispered. “So, Idalec, you cast a spell over the town; hopefully it’ll keep the guards distracted long enough for,” Prix pointed at Sato, Luna, and Sunya, “you three to capture all the demons.”

“Kill all the demons.” Luna nodded,

“No, we will capture all the demons. You are not going to kill them.” Prix shot back,

“YOU can go capture them if YOU want to.” Luna mocked Prix,

“It will be hard to capture them if they flail around as Master Sato did, Princess Prix,” Sunya said meekly,

“It wasn’t that bad. I didn’t flail around that much.” Sato said, getting to his feet, hands still slightly jittering.

“It was pretty bad.” Luna laughed

“Fine, but try and capture them first.” Prix relented a little,

“With what?” Luna snarked,

There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone looked at Prix, who in turn had no answer. “They’re the enemy, yet still we must show them mercy,” Prix whispered under her breath; Prix relented. “Let’s free Letin.”

“Ok.” Sato rubbed his hand on his blood-stained shorts. “So do I have to take a pill or something to not be affected?”

“I'll take care of it,” Idalec said, imagining all five of them and excluding them from the spell. “How far is the next closest town?”

Prix looked around. “It’s at least ten kilometers away? Why.”

“I’m casting the spell,” Idalec said as he cast the White Grate with a ten-kilometer radius in mind.

“Let’s get them!” Sato yelled out, taking the lead, hand raised, sword not drawn. Luna ran after Sato, overtaking him, running on all fours; Sunya hung behind Sato.

One could tell within a second when Idalec cast White Grate; the reaction was instantaneous. A thousand twisted voices of men, demons, and creatures, all kinds of creatures from the wolves in the forest, the worms in the ground, the farm animals, and the birds. All of them felt the effects of the spell, except, of course, the hero’s party, which Idalec had excluded from feeling the spell's effects. Anything that could hear or see felt the same levels of pain that Sato did.

Prix’s hand instinctively covered her ears to try and dampen the thousands of voices screaming their lungs out all around them; screams came from behind them. “Isn’t this supposed to knock them out?” Prix wasn’t even under the spell's effect, being able to see and hear perfectly.

Sato, Sunya, and even Luna were surprised by the near-simultaneous screams coming from in front of them. “Come on!” Sato yelled, one hand to his ear and one grabbing his sword.

Luna had already reached the patrolling guards, and a quick bite to the jugular did the first one in; pouncing on the second one, Luna similarly killed him before vanishing into the screaming town.

“Luna! Only kill the demons!” Prix shouted, hands cupped.

‘The one problem with this spell is that it’s hard to keep concentration.’ Idalec quipped as he continuously imagined Prix, Revrho in her current cat body, Sato, Sunya, and himself over and over again. A second passed with every cycle; this wasn’t exactly a strenuous spell on mana so much as the mind. Another second passed, and another, and another…

“-Idalec, you have to stop. STOP already!” Prix’s voice barely made it to Idalec,

‘What is she saying?’ the thought flashed through Idalec’s mind without him breaking concentration on the spell,

“STOP! Can you hear me?” Prix cried, shaking Idalec, breaking his concentration and his list of exceptions, causing, for a brief moment, Prix, Luna, Sato, Sunya, and Idalec to feel the spell’s wrath, before ending in less than a fraction of a second. “AHH!” Prix said, letting go of Idalec,

“Please don’t do that when I’m casting magic,” Idalec said, standing up. This wasn’t the first time Idalec felt White Grate’s effect, but it was still unpleasant.

“We got them,” Sato said. He was standing with Luna and Sunya just beyond the tree line, Sato’s sword lying flat on his shoulder, leaking blood onto his right side. Luna's paws were soaked with blood; even Sunya had blood on one of her paws, which she was licking clean. “Is there a spell to get rid of ringing ears?” Sato gave a thumbs up to Idalec and Prix.

“There isn’t,” Idalec said simply,

“Damn,” Sato swore, lowering his hand. There were still faint screams coming from all around, but the noise levels had substantially dropped. “Let’s go!” Sato motioned for his party to follow him into Letin.