Page 103 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

Tony skittered up the wall to join me on the rooftop, where we watched a group of mages slip between the cracks of the city’s protective barriers, magics we hadn’t restored. Once inside, they glamoured themselves poorly. Even without my essence to sniff out their magics, I could’ve seen through these poor tricks before mastering the Pentacles of Power.

My guess was that the most elite forces had been wiped out during Lilith’s attack on the world, or they were still recovering from the ordeal. Not sure why I hoped for the latter. I wasn’t part of the Collective anymore. I didn’t like the way mages sought to control every aspect of magic in our world and sometimes the areas outside it. Still, I couldn’t slaughter these fools. Despite Tony’s insistent thoughts and subtle clacks of his claws.

I leapt off the roof and landed amidst the center of their apprentice-level formation.

“Seriously, how long have you lot even been out of the academy?”

None of them answered. Their faces were frantic and frazzled as they honed their mana, reinforcing their glamours like I hadn’t seen through this travesty.

“Guys, gals, and mage pals. I can see you.” I waved my hands in front of their faces. “Can you see me? My Diabolic features? You might not have heard of me. I’m Walter Alden. Legendary misfit. Bound to a devil. Only he’s not a devil. So much better. But I’m a devil. Sort of. It’s actually a really long story.”

With a thwack of my tail, I shattered the incantations one of the mages behind me traced. With a stomp of my foot, I overwhelmed their attempt to saturate the ground and lay claim to this terrain. With Tony in the wings, their familiars had already fled back through the cracks of this pocket dimension.

“Okay, enough of this.” I took a deep breath and exhaled fire. Partially for a new trick, I planned on winning Weather’s love, even if bribery seemed like the wrong way to win a pet over—I wasn’t above it. The other part of me liked showing off my advanced control over the elements.

In all my years as a mage, a legacy, a student, an apprentice, and an aspiring practitioner, I’d never shown mastery in a single skill from the Pentacles of Power. Now, I wielded each with ease alongside my Diabolic abilities. My devil powers.

The flames didn’t burn the mages, merely licked at their mana and burned away their glamours.

“I’m going to ask you to leave now.” I raised my clawed hands. “Collective forces are not welcome here. If they continue their attempts to infiltrate, they’ll incur the wrath of a Diabolic army. The same army which halted two devils.”

An exaggeration for sure, but no one knew how many Diabolics were involved in the battle against Lilith and Beelzebub. Honestly, fewer would believe five demons, a misfit hybrid, and one wicked witch managed to avert the end of the world anyway. Plus, with Corson, Satan, and Orias out and about, likely making names for themselves in all the wrong ways, it’d give the Collective reason to pause. If those were merely three members of our Diabolic army, they’d surely hesitate. Not that we needed an army at this point.

“He’s just one—”

I smacked their leader across the face with my tail, tracing an incantation with my tail tip in the process and conjuring ametallic seal that welded his mouth shut. He hit the ground face first with the heavy clink of the steel screwed over his lips.

“It’ll fade,” I said with a sly smile. “Sort of like dissolving stitches. Which, fun fact, that metal plate I spelled over your mouth was originally a medicinal spell created to help injured golems.”

Another mage lifted an enchanted sword, hacking at my back. With a simple flutter of my wings, I shook loose three feathers. One to slice through the sigils lining the sword, another to break the blade itself, and a third to hold to the mage’s throat.

“I’m trying to be nice. Show restraint.” I glared at their fallen leader, who struggled to counter the spell that welded his mouth shut. “If I ask again, I’ll simply send your corpses back with a finely written note explaining my demands.”

My shadow swelled over him, horns growing into gnarled horrors I intended to unveil if they didn’t accept my offer.

Their group leader froze. Each of them stilled. Their mana. Their breathing. Every muscle of their body stiffened, too frightened to even tremble.

“Leave or die.” I tilted my head, letting the light hit my horns; the shade cast darkness over my eyes and gave them what Tony considered to be the most menacing expression of all time.

It helped to have his thoughts synced to mine, feeling his words as a vibrant emotion in the back of my head. It also helped me register the attitude I gave those mages worked when their frantic faces fell into horrified expressions, and they fled without taking all their supplies.

“Oooo.” I retrieved one of the bags. “I wonder if the Collective sent them with anything rare. I feel like a mission of this caliber qualifies for unique artifacts.”

“Why is it you keep sparing Collective mages?” Mora asked, slipping through the hidden thread of her Diabolic webs she’d recemented throughout the city.

“Killing them only results in more mages sent in their stead,” I said, keeping my voice steady despite the fact Mora had a super startling presence and always managed to catch me off guard with her arrivals. “Sending them with a message—a warning—that’s what’s gonna stop Collective forces in the long run.”

“You say that, yet this is the fourth, no fifth, time you’ve intercepted my investigations on infiltrations.” Mora sauntered toward me. “It’s funny because you didn’t have a problem with me handling matters in my own fashionable choice the last month or so.”

“The last month or so, it seemed like a brutish but effective method.” I shrugged. “Now, it seems futile. The Collective would likely respond better to amicable treaties. We’ll begin with threats, sparing the forces sent to infiltrate and open for discussion. By the time we have negotiations on the table, our walls will be restored, and this topic will be moot.”

“Really?” Mora placed a hand beneath her chin, feigning deep contemplation and giving off actual irritation. “Right as Bezzy began joining my scouting missions, that’s when it became a futile effort? Hmm. Suspicious.”

“I’m sorry…was that a question?”

“The question is, are you really interfering because you think your plan will work, or are you simply shielding Bez from combat?” Mora asked, hands on her hips and attitude wafting in the air. “Are you worried he can’t handle himself?”

I wasn’t worried about Bez. I mean, obviously, I worried about Bez. But I wasn’t worried about how he’d fair against Collective mages. Well, maybe a bit. Not in such a patronizing way that Mora insinuated with her tone. I just didn’t want Bez rushing into combat to prove himself. He’d fought two devils. He’d survived Oblivion without the aid of a devil. Not a fully intact devil’s restoration. He didn’t have anything to prove.

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