??????? ?????'s P.O.V
I glared daggers at Luzor. "Already?"
"Malefici, I understand that you're upset, but you need to keep your head in line. The Grand White Wizard has probably gotten a hold of her user by now, which is a big problem for us."
"Do you know who it is?"
"No, idiot! If I knew who it was then I would have no use for you! You need to find who it is before she learns too much."
I crossed my arms and sighed heavily. "I don't get it. What's so special about this "White Wizard" anyways?"
He whipped his head around and knocked me off my feet. "This "White Wizard" is responsible for destroying my plans 500 years ago! She was the one that killed my previous user! This person that she chose will have power equivalent to you, maybe even greater!"
I frowned as I pushed myself back up. "It'll be fine as long as I get stronger too. It's been what, a month since I first got these powers? I obviously have more experience than whoever this person is!"
He narrowed his eyes. "It's not just about you and this mystery person, Malefici. There are others like me, and they too will pass on their magic to someone they deem worthy of it. I have already discussed with Sullivan about who your battle partner will be."
"Sullivan, who is that?"
He looked up at the dark red sky for a moment. "He is a Vampire, and a good friend of mine."
He cut off the conversation without a second thought. "Just looking at you gives me a headache; leave already."
I wanted to shout something rude in return, but I realized that it would have gotten me no where. Luzor would just chew my head off again if I did anything, and I didn't want to go to school tomorrow looking like I fell down a flight of stairs.
So instead, I turned my back and left, leaving Dark Space once again for Earth.
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I returned back to the warehouse I broke into earlier today.
After climbing through an already cracked window, I started to tumble over the roof of another building. "Jeez, I need to be more careful. Even after all this time, I still can't stick a landing!" I grumbled.
I hid in the dark shadows of the rooftops while simultaneously looking over the edges. It was my job to look out for the White Wizard, since she was the only thing standing between me and my prize.
For some reason, my breathing started to act up, and I fell over myself and onto my knees, gasping for air. What was happening? I never had breathing problems, and I was the almighty Malefici! If anything, I should be healthier right now than I was as a human!
I looked around to see if anything seemed out of place, and I was right. A girl stood near the edge of a rooftop and peered lazily over the side. A normal person would have been like "Oh my gosh! Get away from there!" or "Somebody help her!", but I could tell that she wasn't planning on doing anything stupid.
She was obviously one of the Heroes, a higher ranking one if she was responsible for my sickness right now. She resembled the sun in some sort of strange way.
When she turned to look at me in the eye, I started to feel dizzy. I tried to remember what Luzor said to me about all of these rankings. Life, Angel, and the Knight were the strongest out of all the Heroes, so she could have been one of three things.
"You're Life, aren't you!" I struggled to keep my head up.
As if a wall had been removed, the sickness went away, and my breathing returned to normal. I used this chance to make a mad dash towards her, but by the second I got there, she was gone.
I was suddenly kicked into the nearest concrete building. I groaned and pulled myself from the rubble only to be kicked again by the same girl.
"Is this the one, Uro? He is the only one that the dark ones had transformed, so I am assuming they just recently started."
I frowned. "What are you going to do?! Kill me?!"
Life disconnected from what I think was her mentor. "First of all, you must address me as Vitas. I am Lead Commander of the Heroes, and I will not be swayed by the likes of anything you have to say." She said with a straight face.
I started to grow sick again, and I could hardly move. As I braced myself for impact, I tightly shut my eyes and threw my hands over my head.
Vitas shrieked from some outside force, and I opened my eyes to find what looked like someone wearing a devil costume. His bright red hair clashed with the dark red horns protruding from his forehead, and a long, spiked matching tail hung from his back.
He must have caught her fist. Vitas relaxed and released her hand. "It seems I have misjudged the situation. I will take my leave then." she said coldly as she quickly disappeared into thin air.
The sick feeling went away again, and I stood up to brush myself off. "And who are you?" I said bitterly. I could have handled this on my own.
He grinned wildly. "Demonaris, the Devil user. I noticed that you needed some assistance!" He bowed dramatically.
"Malefici, the Demon user. Don't expect any thanks from me."
He waved both hands. "Of course not. The only reason I came was because Hygoloch sent me. Can't have any of us dying just yet."
"Are we the only ones?"
His smile disappeared. "As of right now, yes. That's why we can't afford to lose anyone. The Heroes already have two hosts, Life and the White Wizard."
I crossed my arms. "I really don't understand why Death doesn't just hurry up and pick someone. I hate to say this, but we don't stand a chance against Life without a Death user."
He nodded in understanding. "I know." Demonaris' blood-red eyes narrowed. "The only reason Life left was because she knew she couldn't take us both on at the same time, since I am second in command, and I assume that you are no one to be toyed with either. We need to stick together in these forms, or else we could be in some serious trouble."
"Stick together?! Do you think we're five year olds? You know we're not completely hopeless like this, we do have a chance."
"Duh, I knew that you idiot! I'm just saying that we might have the upper hand if we had a better connection, like if we knew each other's human forms! Life and the Wizard probably haven't even met yet!"
I thought about that for a second. Luzor did tell me that Polori just recently chose her host just a couple days ago, and Life may not even know about it yet. Demonaris was onto something brilliant.
"Alright, but we're in broad daylight. If we're gonna be "friends" in real life, we need to move somewhere else."
His grin returned. He grabbed my wrist before jumping down the building and smashing straight through a window.
I glared daggers after brushing broken glass off my costume. "I could have done that myself you know."
"That would take too much time."
"Was that an insult?"
He turned the lights on across the room and looked over at me. "I'll let you decide for yourself."
Demonaris' horns and tail started to fade away, and his poppy red hair started to turn bleached blond. He reverted to his human form.
"My real name is Griffin Belpoint. If you need to see me for any reason, I'll usually be at Grimsilver University."
"You're a college student?"
"Yeah, why?"
"You looked pretty stupid, I thought you would be in middle school, at the most."
"Haha, very funny. I'm 19, and I bet you that I am much smarter than you think. Now tell me, what is your real name?"
I frowned before reverting myself to my human form.
"My real name is Everett Ailan."