Ariel, Shay, Quint, and Simone joined Lucas while standing over Sahro's body.
"Whew! No lie, my hands hurt from hitting this guy! He was pretty fucking tough! His body felt like I was hitting iron!" exclaimed Lucas.
"Yea, he did look like he was eating your punches. Have you not been training?" teased Quint with an air of condescension.
"I have been, I'm just that good at it, but I knew enough to beat this guy," responded Lucas.
"Just grab the gauntlets already so I can get rid of the body," said Ariel.
Just as Quint was about to grab the Astral Gauntlets, a portal opened up where Sahro's body is. A tall, blue humanoid demon walked out and picked up Sahro and put him over his shoulder.
"Look at the condition you're in," said the demon to Sahro, "Because you disobeyed our boss, you're dead now. What a shame you've brought upon us."
Quint charged at the demon, but the demon waved his hand and Quint was repelled. Quint looked confused about what just happened. Simone then fired a ball of psychic energy at the demon. The demon then waved his again, but nothing happened, the attack continued to pursue him, but he blocked instead.
He raised his hand and pointed a finger at Simone and said, "You? What is your name? How was your attack able to reach me?"
"Simone Flores! Who are you?" answered Simone.
"Uri…you will be my opponent in 4 days. Do make sure you reach me when you enter our fortress," said Uri.
Uri then waved his have across Sahro's neck and then Sahro inhaled and began coughing.
They all looked surprised at what had transpired.
"Get me off of you!" yelled Sahro while getting off of Uri.
Sahro hit the ground and was breathing heavily. He looked up and began snarling and said, "You're mine, boy. You're going to regret what you've done to me!"
Everyone is still shocked by Sahro coming back to life.
"Let's go! We have a meeting with the boss right now," says Uri while passing through the portal.
"I don't want to hear from that bitch right now," snarled Sahro as he stepped through the portal.
The demons stepped through the portal and it disappeared behind them.
"Did you feel that guys strength and he can bring people back to life!" said Lucas.
"That guys power, I can't explain it," thought Shay as she ran through everything that happened and tried to analyze it.
"He wants to fight me? But why?!" asked Simone.
"I guess he thinks that you'll be worth fighting. Maybe because that thing he did didn't work on you," answered Quint while smiling and patting Simone on her back.
"Ummmmmm.. Stop that," responded Simone.
Quint stopped patting Simone immediately and said, "You have your first rival. Congrats!"
"I don't want a rival though!" yelled Simone as she started to get nervous.
"The gauntlets were within our grasp, but we didn't get them! This is bad," said Ariel to Quint.
"Sorry about that, but we were closer to getting them. At least we know that we can kill one of those guys. By the way, what power does that demon have?" asked Quint.
"We have no idea. I tried looking up the Imperials information, but couldn't find anything. It's weird that they're well known, but we don't have anything in record about them," answered Ariel.
"Let's get back to training and Neak, you should join us. Your mom taught us something pretty neat!" said Lucas.
The group left and headed back to the mountains to train.
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In the fortress, Uri and Sahro exited the portal to Joan standing there with her demonic pressure weighing on them. Sahro's weakened state forced him to his knees.
Joan walked up to Sahro and said, "So, did you have fun?"
Sahro struggled to speak and finally said, "I thought I could get rid of them before they got here."
"Did you ever think that I had a reason for waiting? You and Tupp aren't strong enough to beat them, even with your Astral weapons. That's why we have to fight them after they face our factions and underlings. I was looking out for you two and ensuring your survival. You weakened our forces and our position against those humans. Now, for your punishment," said Joan.
"Please! Don't kill me!" shouted Sahro as tears ran down his eyes.
Joan then raked her fingers across Sahro's left eye. Afterwards, she reached into his left eye socket and pulled his eyeball out right from the socket. Sahro rolled on the ground screaming and writhing in pain.
"If you weren't as strong as you are, I would've killed you!" exclaimed Joan while looking down at Sahro with pure anger, "But you're needed. I should demote you to a faction member, but I'll give you one last chance. You fought that boy and died, make it right when he gets here!"
"Yes! I'll handle it," said Sahro while sobbing.
"Let that be a lesson to anyone who tries to betray me! I do not accept disobedience from my underlings! My orders will be followed! Under me, we will conquer the human world!" announced Joan.
"For the Imperials!" yelled out a random demon. The rest of the demons chanted that while the Four Imperials exited.
Tupp motioned for Miko to follow him into their meeting.
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Mary found everyone training in the mountains and inquired about the Imperial that showed up. They told her everything that happened.
"Mom, why don't you come with us to fight the Imperials?" asked Quint.
Mary frowned and said, "No. You guys can take care of it. You need to stand on your own two feet. I won't bail you out of anything, you don't grow that way. I could have easily did away with every Imperial who came here, but it's not my job anymore, it's yours. But trust me, if I'm really needed, I'll be there and you better not because the opponent will be way more than you all can handle."
"I got you. You're right, we shouldn't depend on you. We all agreed to the terms and we'll see it through," said Quint.
"I do have a question though. Do you have any idea what kind of ability Uri has?" asked Shay.
"I've honestly never came across anything like that. I wish I had an answer for you, but I know you're smart enough to figure it out," said Mary to Shay.
Mary then paused for a moment and walked over to Ariel and said, "Can I speak to you real quick?"
"Sure?" said Ariel confusingly, not knowing what Mary wanted.
"I did some research on the Astral Weapons… did you tell them why those weapons were created?" asked Mary.