"Come one, man~," the smoking man said.

"MORTAL! YOU MUST HAND HIM OVER!"

"EVERY TIME HE USES AN ABILITY HE BURNS THROUGH YOU VERY SOUL!" exclaimed Darby.

"That's wicked, man~,"

"Stop resisting, man~"

"IT'S THAL'S DOING! THE MONSTER MADE THE MORTAL TRUST HIM! THAT'S WHY THE SMOKE ISN'T WORKING!"

Alex looked at Thal and back up to the smoking man.

JohnWillStab and Jordan were building card-castles.

"...I ...I don't know... he can't be all bad..." Alex looked over to his friends for advice but they were both under the influence of the smoke.

The man pointed his wand at Alex and fired a single shot of bright green light which coiled in mid-air and flew into Alex, burying into the arm holding Thal.

He dropped the Thal, the large sword hitting the tiled floor.

"Fuck!" Alex exclaimed as he rushed over to grab the sword only to have another projectile burry in his arm, swirling around his bone and leaving the arm an agonized pulp.

"NOT MY FUCKING ARM AGAIN!" Alex exclaimed.

"Sorry, man, I really hate to do this...~"

"But if that sword is who blunt-bro says it is...~"

Thal saw the scene unfold, Alex's arm battered, his opponent a demon king and his other companions poisoned by the smoke.

"Thal... I'm kind of... struggling here..." Alex said reaching for him with his other hand which too was shot with the swirling green projectile.

"..." Thal didn't reply for a while as Alex's arm dripped blood onto the ground.

"I'll try and grab him with my teeth!" he thought, naturally, Thal could sense his thought.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" He burst into a fit of laughter.

"That's right, assholes! I'm the demon on destruction and despair!"

"YOU'VE ALL BEEN FOOLED!" he exclaimed before laughing once more.

"WHAT?! YOU FIND A SWORD IN SOME MIDDLE OF FUCKING NOWHERE AND JUST PRETEND IT'S ALL NORMAL WHEN IT TALKS TO YOU!?" demanded Thal.

"Please! As if I'd even want to hang out with a group of idiots like you, the trap, mister second-hand-smoke and of course the cat-eared-tard!" Thal exclaimed.

Alex's hand retracted,

"My body's moving on its own!" Alex thought.

"Looks like he finally knows the truth, man~,"

"Thal's screaming must have brought the mortal back to his senses..." Darby noted.

The smoking man walked up to the blade as Alex sat on the ground a meter away from it.

"This is it, man~," he moved his hand towards the sword, tendrils sprouting from Darby grew over his hand and down to Thal.

"Wait! Don't!" Alex shot a small bolt of blue fire at that bearded man.

"The smoke isn't working on him, man,~" the smoking man looked over to Darby.

"Hmm... the hold Thal has over the mortal must be strong!"

With one arm barely resembling an arm, Alex pitifully crawled over to Thal, with his other hand he picked him up.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, RETARD!?" Thal demanded,

"Not cool, man~," the smoking man said shooting another projectile at Alex, his hand exploding into blood but still clutching onto Thal.

Alex stood up and broke into a sprint away from the man, he held onto Thal and took a sharp turn to the left.

"Stop it, retard! You're just throwing your XP away!" Thal exclaimed.

"If you're really that evil then you're not getting an easy way out, you're going to help me make things better for once!" Alex exclaimed as he saw a green projectile fly past him and explode a small hole in the wall before him.

Alex turned into a room and with his remaining strength kicked a cabinet in front of the door.

He reached for his shirt and began to tear it apart.

"What are you doing?!" Thal demanded.

Alex used the long strip of shirt to tie his mangled hand to the blade.

"Alright, now I'm good," he said looking to the rattling door.

"Are you that desperate to die!? Just let me go! I've the demon of -" he was cut off by Alex.

"I've seen enough tv and anime to know what you were doing!" Alex said not taking his eyes off the blade.

"No bad guy yells bout how bad they are before death... especially not when they can still use a mortal or an underling for a chance to survive..." replied Alex with a grin.

His arms slowly began to stop bleeding.

"Let's make a deal! If you help me get all of us out of this... me, John, Jordan and the cat... and you of course... I'll set you free!" he offered.

"Idiot... I am a demon king..." Thal sighed.

"Yeah, well, I had a bad reputation too! Why don't we get that fixed, buddy?" Alex said desperately.

"Fine..." Thal relented.

"Fine, what?" Alex asked expectingly.

Thal let out a loud sigh.

"Fine, buddy..." he said awkwardly.

Through the door burst an explosion of smoke and a projectile aimed for Alex's head.

With a quick swing, Thal jumped up with the speed of a demon and blocked the projectile.

Alex and Thal fought as one, with their skill combined they ran out through the door and into the smoke.

Alex's mind sharp and focused, the smoke had no effect.

The man appeared before him, "Hand him over, man~," With a single slash, Alex severed the man's hand as the blue azure flames illuminated the smoke.

"Not cool, man...~" sighed the smoking man as he stood back seemingly unphased by the bleeding.

"MORTAL!" Darby exclaimed as Alex turned to slash at Darby himself, his blade slicing his form in two as bright light began to appear from the cut.

"NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" within seconds, Darby turned into a puff of crimson flames and disappeared.

"Blunt-bro! No~" cried the man as the smoke disappeared.

"We did it, Thal!" Alex exclaimed turning towards his blade.

"Somehow... we did it..." Thal breathed a sigh of relief.

Their attention turned to the bearded man scrambling on the ground for what remained of Darby.

Alex walked up to him and as Thal burst into flames Alex buried the blade into the man's back.

"That's what you get for trying to murder my buddy,"

Alex proceeded with the cruel execution before the man was visibly passed out, then he severed his head.

"Alright! Let's go find the others!" Alex exclaimed before turning back towards the hall where Jordan and John should be.

"Fair enough..." Thal sighed.