Pyre sighed as he followed Palan through the halls of the academy. He had taken off his blindfold when he entered the building. The fourth floor had been scorched by flames. Had the whole building been on fire? A frown appeared on his face. Hopefully, his laboratory wasn’t injured by the flames. There were some sensitive materials inside that probably would probably explode upon contact with fire. As the duo turned a corner, a voice entered Pyre’s ears.

“Rotate and recharge.”

It seemed like the headmaster was alright—for now. Pyre glanced at Palan’s face. It was hard to tell what the demon was thinking, but he suspected it wasn’t anything pleasant. Maybe the headmaster didn’t do anything too drastic to Raea and knew where she was going. That might save his life.

Palan’s footsteps quickened. Even though he weighed over a thousand pounds, Pyre couldn’t hear him walk. They arrived in a classroom that was used to accommodate over a hundred students at a time. There were twenty angels inside: five of them were using orbs to hold back the flames, another five were recharging dull orbs, and the remaining ten were waiting while drinking odd-colored potions. The headmaster turned his head when Pyre entered.

“Pyre?” the headmaster asked and furrowed his brow. “Your blindfold.”

Pyre shrugged. “My friend”—he emphasized the word—“here has some questions to ask you. I think it’s best if you comply,” he said and gestured towards Palan. “Seriously.”

The headmaster and the secretary exchanged looks. Wasn’t that the demon Raea told them about? “Hello, honored guest!” the headmaster said and bowed towards Palan. “How may I help you?” The other angels looked at the headmaster with odd expressions on their faces, but they didn’t say anything.

“Where’s Raea?” Palan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Lady Raea told me to inform you that she went to fight the rebel army,” the headmaster said, still keeping his head lowered. “I tried to convince her not to leave, but she experienced an evolution and lost her mind to wrath. These black flames are a result of that.”

Palan was silent.

The headmaster continued speaking. “I promise you, we did our very best to take care of her,” he said. “She was given food three times a day, although she didn’t always eat her food. We let her do whatever she wanted, but to keep up appearances with her parents, we had her do a few puzzles during her stay.”

“Can he be trusted?” Palan asked Pyre.

Pyre chuckled and looked away. “Rachel,” he said. The secretary looked at him. “Where did Raea go?”

“The headmaster was telling the truth,” she said. “Raea tore a hole in the ceiling and flew outside to find the rebel army. She said she wanted to kill all of them because they owed her a life.”

Pyre turned to face Palan. “She’s an angel of kindness,” he said. “She doesn’t lie. Raea really must have left the academy to find the rebel army. Do you know why she’d do that?”

Palan didn’t answer the question. “Where’s your laboratory?” he asked.

“It exploded,” the headmaster said before Pyre could answer. “Half the floor disappeared. What the hell were you keeping in there?”

“Fuck,” Pyre said and sighed. “It looks like I can’t help you with my inventions. Ah, I worked so hard on those.” He asked the headmaster, “Did you save any copies of my work?”

“You’re the one who said, ‘don’t enter my lab, you senile old man. Things might self-destruct if you touch them inappropriately,’” the headmaster said and rolled his eyes.

“Why did you listen to me?” Pyre asked and snorted. “You should’ve disobeyed my wishes and made copies of everything! Where has your curiosity gone? You call yourself a professor? Kill him! Kill this blasphemer!”

The headmaster cleared his throat. “I call myself headmaster.”

“Where’s the rebel army?” Palan asked, interrupting Pyre while ignoring his order.

The headmaster looked at his secretary. “Do we know?” he asked.

“All the letters that you chose to burn were ordering you to head towards the west,” Rachel said. “But don’t worry. I’ve already sent the excuse of ‘the school’s on fire, sorry’ to the guardians.”

The headmaster nodded, ignoring the criticizing looks of the angels who were putting out the flames. “The rebel army should be to the west,” he said. “Either they’re behind the checkpoint, assaulting the checkpoint, or they’ve already gone through the checkpoint. Raea left two days ago. If she headed directly towards them, she’s probably confronting them or the checkpoint guards right now.”

“Why couldn’t she just stay in place?” Palan asked in a low growl. A tail wrapped around the dejected Pyre who was still moping about his laboratory. Palan charged towards the back of the room, which was west, and kicked down the wall. He entered a hallway through the newly made entrance, and kicked down the wall opposite him as well. Soon, there was a tunnel leading outside of the building on the fourth floor. Palan crouched at the edge, and leapt off, using his powers to soar through the air.

“My god,” the headmaster said as a bead of sweat rolled down his back. “Her demon’s more violent than she is.”

“It’s a good thing he believed you about treating her well,” his secretary said. “You liar.”

“I didn’t lie. I just distorted the truth,” the headmaster said and snorted. He glared at the surrounding angels. “What are you all gaping at? Back to work, the buildings not going to unset itself on fire!”

Outside, in the sky, Pyre let out a sigh as his limbs dangled below him. “You didn’t kill him,” he said to Palan. Pyre raised an eyebrow. It was his first time seeing Palan so nervous. Well, it was understandable. Most demons had a lot to lose if their contractor died. He wondered what Palan would lose.

“I can always go back later,” Palan said. “Every second I’m away from Raea is another second she has to do something stupid. Knowing her, she’ll use all the seconds. I don’t have time to play around with twenty greater angels.”

“I guess it was just their lucky day,” Pyre said. A tear fell from his face due to the wind blowing in his eyes. “Ah, my lab.”