The Tale of how I ran Into a Change of Plans.

Upon completely sensing the aura of malice from Makono, Laif extended his arm in front of Nyx defensively as he slowly reached for his bow with his other hand.

"Come on Laif don't do something stupid." I negotiated in a cautious voice.

An ethereal string formed on Laif's bow in a instant.

"Why didn't you do that against the Tear Eaters?" Laif ignored my question as he drew his bow back.

Soon a golden ethereal arrow appeared on the bows nock as it pointed at me.

I raised my arms. but to be safe I conjured a mana wall. "Laif..."

Soon it became clear I wasn't the target as Laif released his arrow to my right, directly at Makono.

She shifted her head but as the arrow nicked her check she growled noticing how it didn't heal as normal blows would, she then began storming towards Laif before I halted her with much difficulty.

"Laif stop!" I yelled before turning to Makono. "Go upstairs. I'll handle this."

Makono nodded as she begrudgingly obliged walking right by Velacia. Laif fired another arrow at Makono only to have it blocked by my mana wall which shattered on impact.

The arrows he was firing were clearly stronger then his shots against the Tear Eaters but I recalled that after he fired about four dozen times his arrows got significantly weaker and he got exhausted, I came to the conclusion that I could outlast him in terms of mana without much difficulty hopefully ending the fight without anyone getting hurt.

"I've never seen anything block a Heroic Shot before, that technique is one I devised specifically to kill high rank demons and apparently even demon lords." Laif said emotionless as he nocked another arrow. "Move Eldin, even you can't block another shot, and I'd rather not kill you."

However Laif was wrong as I casted mana manipulation again preparing to stop another shot.

This time as he released the arrow I saw Nyx behind him supplying him with mana by placing her hand on his shoulder.

Without a doubt I could outlast Laif, but with Nyx refueling him, I couldn't know for sure who'd outlast who, because of that I needed to rethink my plans.

Again my mana wall shattered as his arrow impacted it.

"You blocked it again? That's impressive but you can't keep this up."

He wasn't completely wrong. I estimated I could block about forty more shots before feeling any exhaustion. However I couldn't even guess how long Nyx could supply him.

"Maybe I can't, but I won't need to." Once I finished talking I created a dozen decoys.

"Illusions, Nyx can you cast a large area of effect spell?" Laif asked calmly.

Nyx nodded then dozens of small needles made of light filled the room as soon as a decoy touched one it instantly dispersed until the room was empty.

"He's using Vanish." Laif said as he nervously surveyed the room.

After awhile of plotting to end the fight without hurting anyone I finally came to an elusive conclusion.

I appeared in front of Laif with my hands in my pockets.

"Last chance Eldin, your displays proved nothing, if you vanish again we'll just go right upstairs. Your illusions are useless, your shield is waning, your spatial manipulation won't help you either. Give up it's two against one." Laif said matter of factly.

"I'm sorry Laif, I really am. But if you draw that bow again, you'll lose something irreplaceable." I warned.

Laif must've misunderstood my threat as he pulled his bow's string, as the bow bent it snapped at it's middle.

Laif clutched the bows pieces in his hand, from what I gathered the now was a momentum of his village so by 'breaking ' it I got Laif's undivided attention.

"You gave me no choice Laif, I can fix your bow, but only if you listen to me," I didn't have a spell to mend wood or anything, but I could dispel illusions at will. "I'll start with the small stuff, My real name is Tokuma Jiroki The Rogue Hero..."

I began explaining everything after we took a seat around a table, Laif and Nyx were confused but listened well, meanwhile Torrikkusatu was basically drooling as though he was watching a movie while Velacia continued to tend the (fortunately) very empty bar.

"Your part of the Towyn resistance, here as a spy for Lux, Lothrin's son?" Torrikkusatu said as he clapped his hands. "That's very... Interesting."

"That's right, you saw The Chained Demon talking to Our Instructor, their obviously on the same side, not to mention I was explicitly told so when Cut approached me. I'm not asking you to join us, but we have a common enemy. And it won't stop there, once The Chained Demon is eliminated Lothrin will just find more demons to take their place, it wouldn't be difficult for him since it's that or be hunted by his forces. We have to take down the whole organization, however their numbers greatly outnumber ours, so instead of a frontal assault I propose we take Lothrin down from the inside, as we are fighting him the rest of our forces will assault the outer walls hopefully drawing most of the enemy forces out of the castle." I ranted with hardly a breath between my words.

"...Wha?" Torrikkusatu asked as he nonchalantly picked his nose.

"Essentially after we free Gurak, you can either stay here as an enemy, or you can join us as a friend." I said as a breeze in the closed off room blew by, dramatically flapping my cloak, the absurdity of it was enough prove that a certain profession activated.

Laif looked for an open window to find the source of the wind, to no avail.

Looking at Laif's bow I dispelled my illusion making it appeared like I fixed it.

"Give it the night, we've still got four days before Gurak's scheduled execution." I offered.

I felt my explanation soothed everyone's mind, it didn't appear Laif was still after Makono so I called her back down where we shared a incredibly awkward meal.

Torrikkusatu finally broke the ice. "Wow, it's pretty hard to believe the demon lord is this cute. I love those ears, can I pet them?" He asked with his mouth full of chicken thigh.

"No." Makono replied bluntly.

"Oh come on, just a widdle?" He teased further.

"Still no."

Torrikkusatu sulked back into his chair solemnly eating his food.

"I have to admit, if not for that putrid aura your emitting I'd have never guessed you were the demon lord." Laif said in a professional voice desperate to dismiss the awkward cloud that formed over us, before taking a sip of his beverage.

"Hmm, that so?" Makono replied briefly as she nonchalantly continued eating making the veins on Laif's forehead bulge due to being ignored.

"Couldn't you be a little more... I dunno, alive?" Laif asked hopelessly.

Makono touched her hand to her chin in a perplexing motion. "No."

Throughout the entirety of the meal Nyx didn't bother speaking to Makono, which was most likely for the best since Makono would've probably just ignored her anyway. Whereas Velacia just stared at her, constantly scrubbing at the same mug.

In what felt like seconds the Sun had sat and the full moon rose. I found myself drawn to the balcony outside of my room gazing at it. That was probably because I couldn't sleep and video games didn't exist in this world.

I began to think about the prison bust, I could probably have done it alone using my illusions and vanish but I couldn't trust them not to turn Makono in.

Paranoid thoughts filled my head until I passed out on the balcony only to wake up later and walk to my bed.

In the morning I noticed everyone else was already awake and downstairs, I followed after to see a unexpected surprise.

Around Velacia's shoulder was Gurak's arm which was like the rest of him, broken and battered.

"Did you guys break him out without me?" I asked curious but relieved at the same time. I looked around for awhile before I realized something was off.

"I'm sorry El- I mean Tokuma. What did you expect I'd do?" Velacia said as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Where's Makono?" Even though I asked I already knew what happened, they decided to turn Makono in after all in exchange for Gurak. I could feel the archdemon in me coming to surface I'd been good so far but this sent me over the edge.

Laif and Nyx stood in front of Velacia, Nyx pointed her staff at me whereas Laif nocked an arrow of mana. "Cross, calm down, we can just break her out."

The heat from the white flames swirling around me began to boil the glass of water in front of Torrikkusatu who was now on his feet licking his lips.

"We aren't doing anything." I growled through my teeth as my flames began to die down. "Your gonna leave, I don't care where you go, as long as it's not anywhere near here."

Gurak struggled to hold himself up as he spoke."Towyn. We're going to Towyn." He rasped.

"We're joining the resistance?" Laif asked but as he looked at the exhausted Gurak he didn't argue.

"Eldin, when your breaking your friend out, look out for the psychologist, there's more then meets the eye with him." Gurak warned before falling unconscious.

Laif and Velacia took Gurak's unconscious body on their shoulders then proceeded to leave with Nyx beside them.

Torrikkusatu on the other hand approached behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "So, when do we leave?"

I stopped short of dismissing him when I saw the determination in his eyes. "As soon as possible."