The Tale of how I got Pursued by an Angry Demon(Part.3)

"We must be getting closer," Musashi said as he stopped in place and took a whiff of the air.

"Why do you say that?" Graxia answered as she tilted her head.

"Well, Miyamoto blushed, whereas he's normally psychopathic... And also. I can feel it myself, I have this urge to fight, to return to my family," Musashi continued matter-of-factly.

"Great, it's almost kidnapping time," Miyamoto said with sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Don't be so crude, we're not kidnapping anyone. We're getting our friend back." Graxia continued.

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The demons in pursuit of Makono were attacking her without break between the two. Makono was keeping them at bay but it appeared as though she was outmatched.

"I'll admit your lasting longer then I thought," The scarred one said smugly. "I guess it's time to take things up a notch."

"Agreed," the other one said equally arrogant.

The flames they had blazing from their fists grew to expand down their arm as a sinister smile appeared upon both of their faces.

With speed turning him nearly invisible the scarred demon dashed to Makono and raised it's hand to strike only to have it caught and deflected. The other one threw a faint then immediately went for a gut punch before getting a well placed kick to his chest sending him flying back into a tree.

"Landed a hit," The unscarred one rasped.

Makono dashed to follow up but the scarred one intercepted with a shoulder charge knocking her back.

"Come on Bulbyr, stop holding back. If you don't, we will kill you."

Makono stumbled back and analyzed her situation.

"What? Fox got your tongue?"

"..."

"You know what, screw this. If your not gonna fight I guess we'll just return to Castle Lothrin. And while we're there, we might as well kill your friend Tokuma Jiroki. After all I'm sure our boss would agree after he learns that he's working with you. Or maybe he'll just go to Lothrin or Crann."

Makono growled in anger as flames began to pour off of her.

“Uhh, Blyth, you might want to-"

The scarred one interrupted the other and continued, "Oh. Did I hit a nerve?"

"Crann. He's still alive?" Makono said as she stared endlessly into the ground.

The scarred demon smirked as he realized that his taunts were working. "Oh, I forgot, he was the General of Lothrin's army who starved you and yours out isn't he? He's always had a bit of a history with his creative ways of killing people hasn't he? I wonder how he'll kill your friend. Boiled in oil? Fed to bugs while covered in his own bile, frozen to death. Oh I know a classic, he should starve him to death."

Makono seemingly warped to the scarred demon and lifted him by his throat. "Where is he? Where's Crann!?" She interrogated in a demanding voice.

Blyth smiled as the other charged at Makono's side in an attempt to knock her over.

However before he got close his body instinctively stopped and was forced to the ground, kneeling.

"Last chance. Tell me."

Blyth stuttered unable to respond as Makono's flames spread over his body fusing his clothing to his flesh as he struggled to escape, only to no avail.

"Too late," Makono said with no emotion.

An explosion of black flames easily visible from the road leading to Castle Lothrin erupted from Blyth leaving nothing but ash in Makono's hand.

She approached the other demon, staring down at it as she poured the ash out of her hand right in front of the surviving demons face. "Your turn. Tell me where Crann is, or you'll wish I killed you like I did your friend."

"I'm sorry, please forgive me Lord Bulbyr, I'm loyal only to you now. I'll do anything if you would only spare me." The other demon quivered as it groveled on the ground.

Makono lifted it's tear-soaked head with her ashy hand. "What's your name?"

"Fyr. My Lord Bulbyr." He replied trying to advert his gaze.

Makono cringed at the sound of her title. "It's Makono for one, and as for your job, first you'll tell me where Crann is. Then your gonna get me into Castle Lothrin, then finally your gonna go to Towyn and stay there until Lux finds something for you. If he decides to spare you. "

Fyr nodded hastily in fear.

The sound of clapping filled the air. Makono turned her gaze to see Miyamoto doing just that. "There you are," he said as he approached Makono. "The others are pretty close behind me so you might wanna go." Miyamoto then saw Fyr groveling on the ground and sported a crude grin. "Damn girl, didn't know you were into that stuff. You devil."

"Shut up. How close are they?" Makono asked.

"Well, right now is the potty break so elegantly titled as such by Graxia, but it'll be over in about five minutes, so I'd recommend hurrying with whatever this is. Also try to keep the fiery explosions to a minimum, it makes it real easy to find you. With that I'll leave you two love birds to your... activities," Miyamoto said before he left humming a song that Makono didn't recognize.

"Fyr. What's the quickest way to Castle Lothrin?"

"The Chained Demon uses a maze of teleportation circles to quickly get from one place to another, but it's never fun. The closest one is portal Delta which since portal Gamma isn't activated will take us to portal Alpha, which will then lead us to Beta, which will then lead us to Gamma then Delta again but since Gamma will be activated it will teleport us to Epsilon instead. Essentially, the way the portals work is that if you run into one without activated the one before it you'll get sent back to Alpha. There are also duds and traps that will teleport you into volcanoes and such. The way to decipher what's a real circle or not is with a symbol written on them which I know of course."

Makono understood very little of what her new subordinate said but what she did know was that her friends were right behind her and she couldn't let them catch her.

"Let's go," Makono commanded.

Fyr brushed a layer of leaves and dirt off of a large magic circle then stood in it with Makono.

Makono remembered what Lux said about teleportation and closed her eyes before teleporting, there was no noise of difference in smells or taste. Yet when Makono opened her eyes she was in a different place, still in a forest but in a different section of it.

Twenty-four times Makono teleported. Makono began to grow suspicious of Fyr, even though she knew that if he was manipulating her she could easily put him down.

Her doubts were undeserving however as she soon saw the tall walls of Castle Lothrin.

"Well, here we are, Castle Lothrin," Fyr whimpered.

With Fyr beside her, nobody dared even look at Makono so with her cloak up she had no problem sneaking in.

“Love may be blind, but I'm not!" A burgundy haired man with a bastard sword on his hip and a flat top kite shield in his hand, shouted at a pretty bronze-haired girl with a surprising amount of facial hair.

"Now or never Gurak," the girl said as she made a kissy face.

"Oh come on, I still have some hair in my teeth."

The burgundy haired man who Makono deducted was Gurak gave in to the pressure.

A group of people approached Gurak, a petite raven haired girl clutching a staff, a middle-aged man with once white hair that was now a disturbing shade of blood red. A scrawny shirtless elf with long jade hair and an elegantly carved wooden unstrung bow on his back. Finally she saw the whole reason why she came, a hero dressed in the most edgy attire imaginable, two dirks at his side and a ridiculous looking eye patch that still made Makono chuckle when she saw it.

Just as she went to approach him Fyr grabbed her arm, "Lord Makono. You can't, your deep in enemy territory, your strong I witnessed that firsthand, but even your not strong enough to take out the whole castle. You'd be overwhelmed like your father was."

Makono growled as she didn't have a good enough comeback.

"Besides you'd probably blow his cover, and that wouldn't be good for anyone," Fyr finished as he released Makono's arm. "I'm sorry Lord, but this is not the right time."

Makono watched the group walk through a gatehouse which was immediately shut behind them.

"There's a week waiting period before your allowed through there, fortunately for you though I have a voucher to stay at The Salty Hound for two."

A hooded figure took note of Makono's arrival as it watched her from the shadows. "Hmm, this could be troublesome, I know, I'll tell that instructor and once Gurak sees me," it whispered in a malicious voice.

As Fyr was talking to the bearded lady barkeep, Makono saw a pillar of spiraling black flames from the second bailey. It was obviously belonging to a demon, but power like that belonged to a certain type of demon, an especially powerful kind.

A demon belonging to royalty.