Everett Ailan's/Malefici's P.O.V
I didn't realize I fell asleep on my desk until I heard my window start to open. After jumping up and looking for the source of the scratching sound, I sighed.
"You know you could just use the front door, right? You live here, and Mom is still asleep."
He waved his hand around and turned back into a regular human. "I wouldn't be a hero if I used doors, or Villain in our case."
I started to fix myself. After leaving Justine and Arch last night, I barely got any sleep. I really did try to sleep for a while in my bed, but I just kept tossing and turning. So for once, I decided to do homework, which always helped me sleep.
"Does that really matter? It's 6:00 on a Friday morning!"
Everest now looked like a kid who got coal on Christmas morning. "What happened to you? You look like you haven't slept in days!"
I briefly looked in the mirror; I was a zombie. "I couldn't sleep last night. Where were you at?"
He walked out of my room, and I trailed behind him. "Something happened with Arch. I think the Devil User was out to kill her."
"What?! Are they alright?!"
"You don't need to worry about that. Justine is still asleep, and Arch is healing herself while also looking for other Heroes and Villains. On the other hand, we also met another Hero. Arch told me that it was the Mermaid User."
"Well? How did you guys stop him?"
He opened the door to his room and plopped down on his bean bag. "That other girl shocked him by using a link."
"He's battle partners with her?"
Everest nodded. "Arch was pretty shocked by that too. I was able to hit Demonaris hard enough with my cane after that, and now the Mermaid has him somewhere hopefully far away."
I sat on the floor and buried my face in my hands. I knew that Griffin was a part of hurting Justine last night, but what reason did he have for hurting Arch?
"For now, we leave Demonaris out of this monster business. He can't be trusted."
He rolled over onto his stomach. "Agreed. That guy is something else. Strongest dark magic I have seen in all the Villains so far."
I picked myself up. "I'll be out there in a minute, I just have to get ready."
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Lucy Rudolf's/Justine's P.O.V
I had to squint my eyes when I first woke up, since a bright light was glaring in my face. Once I sat up, I realized I was in my best friends room. Aurora must have taken me here.
What happened last night? I remembered being used as bait, and that 3 Villains were cornering me, but everything else drew a blank. I remembered seeing Malefici there, but why didn't he step in? Did he bail?
I shook my head. Malefici was a no-good jerk, but he does have his honor to worry about. He wouldn't let his stupidity get in the way of following the Laws of Magic. Something must have happened to him.
I knew it would be stupid to use the front door, wizard or human, since Aurora's whole family would be out there. I'd have to use the window.
After breathing a sigh of relief that I still had my wizard form, I crawled out of the window and started to jump over the rooftops. Wherever the rest of them were, it wasn't around here.
During my trip over the city, I briefly took a look at our damaged school. I almost forgot about Malefici destroying some of it yesterday. It felt like that happened years ago. There would certainly be no school today.
I journeyed further into town before sensing other Users. I'll admit, I crossed my fingers in hopes that it would be Arch or Malefici. Those other Villains yesterday were not people I'd like to meet again.
My heart nearly stopped when I heard someone two feet away call my name. "Justine! Your alright!"
Malefici grinned. "I'm so happy you're alright! I was worried sick!"
I looked at him skeptically. "You seem awfully caring today, is something wrong?"
"Wrong?" His smile disappeared. "The only thing wrong with me was the fact that you were gone, and now you're here!"
He reached out to give me a hug, and I took a few steps back. Malefici and I have only been partners for just under 24 hours. There was no way a demon like him would act like this.
I looked for any other signs of discrepancies. His appearance was spot on, but I noticed something no one else would have seen.
The amount of dark magic radiating off of him was significantly lower than what is should have been. This meant that either Malefici is losing a lot of magic at the moment, or this is someone else posing as him. Either way, it was bad.
This demon certainly didn't act like Malefici, and I looked around to see if I could find any of the others. Out of sheer luck, I found a certain demon hopping across the rooftops to my right.
I summoned my staff, and filled it with as much White Magic as possible. Once it fired, the poser was literally blown away into the old factory about 10 blocks back.
My staff disappeared, and my legs caved in.
"Maybe I should tone it down. I just woke up, and I'm already starting a fight."
"Who in the hell was that?!" Malefici spoke a little too loudly.
I breathed heavily as I stood back up. "You don't know him? He was impersonating you."
I looked up at Malefici, who was as pale as a ghost with dark bags under his demonic eyes. He cracked his knuckles and glared daggers as he walked up to where the impersonator crashed.
After realizing that this was the Malefici I knew, creepy and stupid, I sighed in relief. It felt nice to have someone I could somewhat trust be with me.
I watched as Malefici once again stepped in to take care of another Villain. He disappeared into the smoke, and he returned just a minute later.
He held the collar of someones shirt close to his side, and he dragged the lifeless body. It still had Malefici's appearance, but it was gradually fading away.
"Who is it?"
He threw the body down, and we watched as the mystery person transformed back into their real form.
The mystery person had lime green hair, and his skin was snow-white. He even looked a little translucent to me, but maybe I was just seeing things.
"It's that guy from last night." Malefici nonchalantly stated. "Wasn't he the one who attacked you last night?"
"Him, and a couple others. What is he?"
Malefici kicked the guy. "Judging by the way he looks and what he did last night, I'd say he's the Ghost User."
"A Ghost User? That doesn't seem very convenient to have."
"It's not." the demon clarified. "All he can really do is pretend to be others, possess people, and walk through walls. Not a very offensive character if you ask me."
"What should we do with him?"
He stared off into the distance as if he was searching for something. "To make sure that he doesn't do anything else stupid, we need to find someone to look after him."
"Are you saying we should find a partner for him? I'm not sure where the other Heroes are."
He faced me again. "I didn't say it had to be a Hero, but maybe it would be better that way. Who are the others you have met?"
To be honest, I've only met a small handful of them, which was really just Vitas and Arch.
"What about Vitas or Arch?"
He shook his head. "Vitas is the personification of life, and none of the lesser Villains are capable of controlling her but one. That User hasn't shown up yet. As for Arch, she's with Galifici."
I frowned. "Well, who else is there?"
Right as Malefici opened his mouth to speak, we both saw a nearby building shake.
"Looks like we may have found them." Malefici grinned.
I put my hand up. "You stay here and keep watch over him, I'll go."
I hurried off before Malefici could answer, and I reached the building in no time.