“Start explaining now or I’ll plunge this deep into your throat. Don’t even think about running,” Vice said, baring his teeth.

“P-Paul, tell him, you used the flames to save me too, didn’t you?” Jason asked. Sweat ran down his forehead whilst he shivered on the spot.

“No, I don’t remember doing that…” Paul said as he glared at Jason.

The arcana in the surroundings suddenly thinned to the point that Vice could almost sense none of it in the atmosphere anymore. Suddenly, a torrent of it burst into existence rushed into Jason’s body. Before Vice could thrust his dagger into the man’s neck, a shock wave sent him and his companions flying backward. Vice’s body smashed into a large building with such force that he was left breathless. The rubble and bricks smashed against his head from above, and blood began to trickle down from his lips and head.

“Uhh, for fucks sake,” Vice mumbled as he got back up to his feet. He wiped the blood from his lips before augmenting all of his muscles with mana, bringing his physical capabilities to its fullest extent. Vice rushed toward Jason with his daggers in hand.

‘Huh? What is that?’ Vice thought as he looked at Jason. The man was undergoing a metamorphosis, his bones cracking constantly and contorting as his facial features and body shape changed. ‘Shit, I can’t allow him to complete that,’ Vice thought.

Vice pushed his daggers at Jason’s body, and with a loud clang, Vice was flung back to the ground. Only a tiny crack had been made into the thick red barrier that was surrounding Jason. “Guys, attack him with everything!” Vice shouted as he continued to jump into the air and strike with his daggers, each strike doing what seemed like no damage to his opponent yet the rebound hurt Vice immensely. Slowly Vice’s hands were numbing.

“No, we have to run!” Anne shouted.

“With the amount of arcana he’s ingesting we’ll be dead for sure before escaping from this place,” Paul said as he shot out dozens of arrows imbued with lightning. Each arrow crackled with a large amount of energy and created a blue sheen that spread out onto Jason’s barrier.

Favor waved her hands about madly until a huge torrent of water materialized underneath Jason. Fists made completely out of water struck the barrier, and loud booms were heard as they impacted against it.

“It’s too strong, we can’t stop him,” Anne said as she threw yellow bolts of energy at Jason.

BOOM!

Everyone was instantly flung back again when another shock wave resounded through the area. Vice was prepared for it this time and curled himself up into a ball before he impacted another wall. He shrugged off the bricks that covered him from head to toe before getting back up to his feet and running at his enemy. Yet, once he saw Jason again, he was stunned to a standstill, with his mouth wide open.

“To think a puny youth would have been able to see through my schemes and illusions. I applaud you for that, but now I have to make sure to kill you. If not just for my own pride,” Jason said, his voice now morphed into a thick and low tone. Each syllable he let out of his mouth sounded unnatural to Vice as if he had a hairball stuck in his throat. Jason was now more than double Vice’s height, and every aspect of his appearance had changed. His skin was dark red, with four horns protruding out of his head, and a thick red tail that was almost as long as he was tall extended from his backside.

“You should have just let me carry out my plan, that way none of you would have died. You’d just have cost those masters of yours a lot of their own wealth. Oh well, it’s too late for you to change the past. Once I kill you, I’ll make sure to keep your soul trapped in my realm for eternity, torturing you with the thousand fires of the nine hells,” Jason spat, saliva projectiles escaping his mouth and falling onto Vice.

Vice lost all control of his body and was pulled toward the tall devil. The suction force was too strong for him to resist. Vice frantically moved himself around, trying to grab onto something, but all he could see were the sleeping faces of his companions.

“PUHH,” Vice grunted as he was crushed in the hands of the devil. His lungs felt like they were on fire and the pressure put onto his ribcage made him sure that it would explode any moment. “AHHH,” he screamed as a red smog was pushed into his mouth, his insides felt like they were liquefying under the immense heat. Vice’s body shook uncontrollably, and his eyes rolled up into his head. The pain was too extreme for him, his head dropping as he began to lose consciousness.

“Let’s take out that soul of yours then. I’ll savor the things I will do to you soon,” Jason said as he grinned wildly. He stuck out his forked tongue and licked Vice’s cheek, thick saliva drooled down Vice’s purple face.

Jason thrust an ethereal hand made out of crimson mana into Vice’s chest and wriggled it around nonchalantly. The devil kept the hand inside Vice’s chest for minutes as he concentrated hard. Sweat began to trickle down Jason’s forehead and he furrowed his brows in annoyance. “Where is your soul? You must have a soul,” he mumbled. “What is this here?” he said when the hand made its way to Vice’s brain.

Jason examined Vice’s brain with curiosity, before creating an ethereal copy of himself and jumping right into it. A boundless ocean surrounded the devil, with no light source coming in from any direction. ‘Has he no soul? This can’t be right, what is this space?’Jason said.

“I better leave this forsaken space,” Jason mumbled before trying to project his body back out into the pocket dimension. “Huh, come on let me get out of here already!” he shouted.

“There’s no use, you’re stuck here with me now,” Favian said. He appeared right in front of Jason, who jumped back. “No need to look so startled, you’re going to stay here with me for as long as I wish it.”

“Shut your trap, you can’t contain me,” Jason shouted and began chanting a spell, allowing the mana to form onto his hands. Just as the spell was about to reach his palms, it fizzled completely.

“I told you, you’re staying here for as long as I wish it. Oh boy, there he goes again,” Favian sighed as the devil tried again to cast a spell, but to no avail. Jason continued trying to cast a multitude of spells, however each time it would fizzle out of existence.

“W- What are you? What do you want from me?” Jason asked as he cowered away from Favian.

“What do I want from you? Hmm, that’s a good question,” Favian said as he rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “Ooh, I know exactly what I want from you.” His purple eyes glinted ferociously, after which grayish-black shackles sprung forth from his hands, binding Jason completely.

Jason squirmed about in an attempt to release himself from the shackles, however, they were simply too strong and drained him of all of his strength. He slowly stopped wriggling about, and simply stared at Favian with fear.

“You had a chance to kill that imbecile of a student of mine, but instead you tried to infiltrate his mind and steal his soul… Bad move, really that was the literal worst move you could have ever done,” Favian said before proceeding to laugh like a mad man. “Ahaha, oh sorry where are my manners. Since you wanted to torture Vice, I think I’ll return the favor back to you. Does that seem fair? Oh, you can’t move your head to agree anymore can you, I’ll just take that as a yes then.”

Favian continued with a devilish smile on his face, “You’ll just stay here for eternity, don’t worry it will only hurt a little. Actually, that’s a lie. I will crush you into a pulp and heal your soul back to full, millions of times. You reaped what you sowed, you anus sniffing abomination.”

Favian tied his long purple hair into a bun and rolled up the sleeves of his long black robes. Large muscles were displayed, and the veins on them bulged as Favian prepared the torture for his enemy. Dozens of contraptions burst forth into existence with just the snap of his fingers.

“N-No wait, we can talk. This is all just a misunderstanding, please I-”

“Oh right, Vice, fucking wake up you snot-nosed little shit,” Favian shouted. The sound echoed into the depths of the ocean, and Vice was pulled out from the water before flying high up into the sky.