After enjoying their lunch break, eating the provisions that they brought with them and talking amongst themselves about topics that I had little interest in, William prepares to head out to fetch the car battery. Even though extracting the battery could easily be done by one person alone, Cassandra, Johnathan and Seth agree to go with him as a safety measure. He opens the duffle bag again and pulls out an adjustable wrench and slips it into his pocket.

  “I’m going to need the keys,” he requests.

  You need the keys to get under the hood?

  “The hood is secured by a latch, which is undone by a lever inside the cab and we locked it before we left last time,” he explains.

  Very well, is there anything else you will require? I ask while I send Rose to collect the vehicle’s keys and bring them to William.

  “Well, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d really appreciate some help from either Igneous or Marble. They don’t have to come all the way out to the car with us, but if you could at least have one of them wait down by the stairs to bring the battery up, that would be great. Car batteries are kinda heavy and I don’t fancy the idea of trying to lug it up those stairs myself,” He suggests.

  That seems reasonable, I will have one of them wait for you in the lobby.

  “Thank you. I assume the car is still in the same place?”

  It is.

  “Great, we’ll be on our way then,” William announces.

  As the four humans make their way down the stairs, Jenna takes a seat on the couch next to Mark.

  What will you two do?

  “I’m happy to just relax here while we wait for them to come back,” Jenna says.

  “I’d like to have a rematch against the one that bit me,” Mark declares.

  Do you really believe you would fare any better this time?

  “For sure. I was caught off guard last time, but now I know what to expect,” he reasons.

  “Was that imp really able to teleport?” Jenna asks.

  “Come on Jenna, we already told you that it did,” Mark retorts.

  “I know, but it’s kind of hard to believe when I didn’t get to see it for myself,” Jenna replies.

  “Even that William guy said he’s seen it, didn't he? But you don’t even believe him?” He chides.

  “Look, I’m sure you’re probably right, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to confirm it. Would you have believed it so easily if you hadn’t witnessed it? Even you originally only described it as ‘moving so fast you couldn’t even see it,’ it was John that suggested it was teleportation,” Jenna rebukes.

  “Well, whatever. The point is, I think I can win this time,” Mark insists.

  Really? Do you have some kind of strategy in mind to overcome his teleportation?

  “Sure, all I need to do is predict where he is going to teleport to,” he says.

  “Oh, is that all?” Jenna comments sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

  What he suggested is theoretically possible. It is exactly what Violet does when she fights against Coal. But she has a lot of experience fighting him and I have not ruled out the possibility that mana may be involved in her ability to make those predictions.

  Meanwhile, this human has only fought Coal once and from the way it was described, it could hardly even be considered a fight. Nor have I ever seen any indication that he can even perceive mana, let alone utilise it in any way whatsoever.

  I advise against challenging Coal again. You will not win.

  “You think I won't be able to predict his movements, right?” He prods.

  Yes, that is an accurate summary of my opinion.

  “We’ll just have to see, won’t we.”

  What exactly makes you so confident?

  “I have a special strategy in mind, but revealing it beforehand would defeat the purpose,” he assures.

  I could simply refuse to let him fight Coal again and there would be nothing he could do about it, but then he might not let the issue drop and instead keep trying in the future. Then again, if I do allow them to fight, it might break him out of this delusion that he could actually stand a chance against Coal, either that or it might just make him even more determined to keep trying.

  He does appear to be quite confident though, perhaps I should not completely dismiss the possibility that he might actually have some plan in mind, as unlikely as it may seem.

  Would you mind healing him again if he gets too badly injured? I ask Rose after explaining the situation.

  She looks him up and down with narrowed eyes.

  “He’s not very bright, is he?” She asks.

  No, I do not believe so.

  “Fine, if I must,” she agrees with a resigned sigh.

  I cannot sense Coal within my domain at the moment. He and Violet went up to the roof after Igneous and Marble had finished shooting. I can tell that Violet is still up there and I have not noticed Coal come down yet so he is probably there too.

  Is Coal with you? I ask Violet.

  ‘Yeah, he’s here. Do you need him for something?’ She replies.

  There is a human here who wishes to challenge him.

  ‘Okay, I’ll tell him. We’ll be there soon.’

  He is on his way. If you move out to the hallway, we can hold the fight there again.

  “Hell yeah. Time for some payback,” Mark cheers.

  He takes his wooden sword and heads out to the hallway.

  “What could possibly go wrong?” Jenna comments as she and Rose follow him out.

  Coal and Violet soon enter from the stairwell, with a few other imps following shortly after. Seeing Mark standing ahead of him, sword in hand, Coal grins and snaps his teeth at him again.

  “So how’re we doing this?” Mark asks.

  The same as last time. Move a little further down the hallway so you and the spectators will have a bit more room and then I will have Violet signal when to begin.

  They move down the hallway until they are about half way between the doors to Rooms 1 and 3. I quickly inform Coal of the new rule before they start.

  No biting this time. Do you understand? Do not bite.

  “No bite,” he acknowledges with a dissatisfied frown.

  I instruct Violet to give them the signal when she is ready and she takes a position in the middle of where Mark and Coal are staring each other down. She raises one hand up and looks between them, then chops her hand down through the air and quickly moves to the side to avoid being in between the two combatants.

  Coal does not hesitate to dash forwards at full speed, while Mark holds his sword in both hands and waits. Just as Coal is about to reach Mark, the human takes one step forwards and the charging imp vanishes.

  Mark reacts immediately, spinning around in a flash and winging the sword at roughly Coal’s neck height with incredible speed. With a real blade, an attack like that would surely be lethal. Even with a wooden sword, I might still be concerned about it causing serious injury…if Coal were actually there. But instead, the sword passes harmlessly through empty air as the imp drops down on Mark from above.

  Coal manages to position himself to land on Mark’s back and quickly wraps his arms around the human’s neck. Mark reaches up with one hand to try to pry the imp’s hands from his throat, but Coal grips tighter in response, the tips of his claws pressing into Mark’s neck enough to draw blood.

  Mark begins to panic and drops his sword, using both hands to pull the imp’s claws away. While he does succeed in getting those claws off his skin, Coal responds by digging the talons of his feet into Mark’s back, causing the human to cry out in pain.

  I think I should intervene before this escalates further and Mark ends up with more serious injuries.

  STOP! I command both of them.

  I add a little more force to it than I normally would, though I know that will cause additional discomfort to the human. Coal hesitates, perhaps unsure of what to do since the word was in english, so I give him some follow up instructions.

  Please let him go now.

  Coal removes his claws from the human’s back and stops trying to tighten his grip around his neck. His body goes limp but since Mark is still holding his arms, he does not fall off immediately.

  Between the pain in his back and the headache he is likely now feeling, Mark has dropped to his knees. When he notices that the imp is no longer struggling against him, he lets go of his arms and Coal drops to the floor, then immediately teleports over to the spectating imps to celebrate his victory.

  Mark reaches for his sword again, but winces in pain, though he does not let that stop him. He stands up, only a little shaky, and spins around, searching for his opponent again.

  The fight is already over. You have lost.

  “No way, I can still keep going,” Mark insists.

  You are able to ‘keep going’ only because this was a training match. If this were a real fight, with your lives on the line, Coal could have torn your throat wide open before you even had time to react.

  Mark reached up to touch the side of his neck where it was still bleeding and pulled his hand back to stare at the blood. It was not a concerning amount, just a small trickle, so there was no worry about Coal having nicked anything vital.

  “But you can’t just decide that the fight’s over like that,” Mark protests.

  The only way training like this works without anyone getting seriously injured is if all participants are willing to acknowledge when they have lost. If you cannot do that, then I will not have you participating in sparring matches like this in the future.

  “Fine, whatever. Can you have the other one heal me then?” He grumbles.

  ‘The other one’ has a name. It is Rose and you would do well to remember it if you intend to ask for her aid.

  “You’re being a dick again, Mark. It’s not a good look,” Jenna frowns as she reprimands him.

  “Alright, I’m sorry, okay? Can you please ask Rose to heal me?” He capitulates.

  If it was just the scratches on his neck, I wouldn’t have Rose waste her time on it, but there is considerably more blood soaking the back of his shirt. Not enough to think that his life is in danger, but still probably requiring some attention.

  Sit down on the floor please so Rose can take a look at your injuries.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Mark winces and groans as he lowers himself to the ground. I ask Rose to heal him, but instruct her that just stopping the bleeding will be sufficient and she need not go any further than that. Jenna also approaches to observe.

  “Any way I can help?” She asks.

  Lifting up his shirt so we can get a better look at the injuries would be helpful.

  Mark hisses as she carefully pulls his shirt up.

  “Sorry,” she quickly apologises.

  “It’s fine, just hurry up please,” he replies.

  As the injuries are revealed, a series of small puncture wounds slowly oozing blood, Jenna grimaces at the sight.

  “Ouch, that looks painful,” she remarks.

  “Yeah, it is kinda. Just a tad, you know. Anytime you want to get started on that healing would be great,” he replies sarcastically.

  Jenna gives him a light slap on the back of his head.

  “Don’t be a jerk,” Jenna chides.

  Rose places her hands on his back to heal him. After some intense concentration, she wipes some of the blood away with her hand to get a better look at the injury, causing Mark to flinch and complain. The bleeding has slowed significantly, but there is still a small trickle so she puts a little more mana into healing him until even that comes to a stop.

  When she is satisfied that she has done enough, she steps away from the human. Looking down at the blood that is now on her hands, she decides to simply lick it off, earning a rather perturbed look from Jenna.

  Standing once more, Mark groans as he pulls his shirt back down.

  “You couldn’t do any better than that?” He complains.

  She probably could, but I think she has done enough. She stopped the bleeding, at least, you should be grateful for that. I suggest you take it easy for the rest of your time here. If you tear the wound open and it starts bleeding again, I will not ask Rose to heal it a second time. Though you will be welcome to try and convince her yourself if that happens.

  “Somehow, I don’t like my chances,” he says, looking down at Rose who returns his gaze with a glare. “Well, thanks for healing me…again,” he tells her.

  “So was your secret strategy really hinging on the assumption that he would attack you in the same way as last time?” Jenna asks.

  “Yeah, basically,” Mark admits

  “So how did that work out for you?” She teases.

  “Shut up. If I’d been right, it would have been an easy win,” he retorts.

  “But you weren’t right,” Jenna continues to dig at him.

  “Whatever. I’m going back to the couch,” Mark says and the two humans head back to the room to wait for the others.

  “Am I going to have to heal that idiot every time he comes here?” Rose complains.

  I would hope that he has actually learned his lesson this time, but we will see.

  After their celebration of Coal's victory, Violet announces that she is hungry and is going out to find some food and the rest of the gathered imps follow her. She makes a quick detour to her bedroom to fetch her shield and promises to bring something back for Rose as she leaves.

  Rose stays with the humans to keep an eye on them. Jenna attempts to strike up a conversation with her a few times, but Rose has no interest in engaging. After some time passes, I notice Igneous coming up the stairs. As William suggested, I had him waiting in the lobby to bring the battery up. The four humans are soon also winding their way up the stairs.

  Igneous, unimpeded by the obstacle they face, makes it up much sooner. Standing up straighter than he usually does so he can carry the battery, he brings it over to the table and places it down with a loud thud.

  Thank you for your assistance with this. You can rest now, if you want. I do not think we will need anything more from you.

  Igneous nods and turns to leave the room. Jenna waves to him as he passes and Mark rolls his eyes at her. Igneous stops and faces her for a moment before nodding and continuing on his way. Once out of the room, he heads up to the roof to curl up in the sun.

  When the other humans finally return William notices the battery on the table and looks around the room.

  “Igneous didn’t stick around, I see?” He asks.

  No, I did not see any further reason for him to remain so I let him go back to doing as he pleases.

  “Fair enough. Do you want me to set up the charger for you now, or would you prefer me to just explain the process so you can do it yourself later?” He offers.

  An explanation is hardly necessary as just by looking at it, it seems pretty self-explanatory. The battery has two metallic studs protruding upwards, one has a red ring around its base with a plus symbol, while the other has a black ring with a minus symbol, these clearly correspond to the clamps on the charger. The most difficult part would likely be simply moving the battery, assuming that William was not exaggerating about its weight and given the sound it made when Igneous put it on the table, I am inclined to believe he was not.

  Having him set it up would save us the time and effort to do it later. He has already been to the core room before so there is not really anything to hide, besides my real core, which is easily done. There should not be any harm in just letting him do it at this point. And in the highly unlikely event that he does try anything untoward, the hellhounds will be waiting in the room next door.

  If you are willing to do it, that would be appreciated, but please wait a moment.

  Calla and her parents are hanging out with the hellhounds so it would be easiest to ask one of them to move it for me.

  Lily, can I ask you to do something for me?

  “What is it?” She asks.

  I need you to move my core into its hiding place. Take the box it is in as well.

  “Okay. Need to go move core, I come back soon,” she calls out to the other two imps.

  “I help,” Calla states and rushes over to her mothers side.

  Not wanting to be left behind, Calyx also follows and the three imps climb through the hole in the bathroom wall into the core room.

  Lily approaches my chair and lifts the black box holding my core off it. Eager to be of assistance, Calla also takes a hold of the box as soon as it is within her reach. Her ‘help’ probably does not amount to that much since my core is not so heavy that it would be a strain for a single imp to carry it alone, but it is the thought that counts.

  Together, they carry it over to the cabinet that hides the passage into the storage room. Calyx opens the door and crawls through, Lily then passes the box to him through the hole. He takes the box and moves it into an adjacent cabinet.

  Thank you for doing that. I tell them.

  “That all need?” Calyx asks.

  Yes, that is all for now

  “Okay, we go back now,” he announces and the three imps head back to their room.

  You can head over now. I inform William.

  “Excellent. Cassandra, do you mind bringing the charger over and I’ll take the battery. The rest of you just hold tight here for now, we won’t be long,” William instructs.

  He and Cassandra head over to the core room and bring the items over to the desk, with Rose following to keep an eye on them, as expected. With the radio equipment and the generator, there is not much room for the battery so he places it on the floor. The charger is smaller so they manage to fit it on the desk next to the generator and luckily the cables are long enough to still reach the battery.

  “Asking us to wait before, was that so you’d have time to hide the real core?” William asks, eyeing the chair with the fake core.

  It was.

  “Understandable. So, the charger is pretty simple, I assume you probably don’t need too much explanation,” he says as he plugs it into the generator and attaches the clamps to the battery.

  That was my conclusion.

  “Great. You see this little red light here?” He points to a small light on the charger, “When it turns green, that means it’s fully charged.”

  While he was setting things up, I noticed Cassandra glancing around the room, though it looked like she was trying to be subtle about it.

  “Now that that’s done, what do you say we get to doing some magic?” William suggests.

  That is what I have been looking forward to.

  “Great, so who will be the students this time?” He asks.

  Just Rose and myself.

  “You don’t want us to teach anyone else?” Cassandra inquires.

  No one else understands English so it will be easier with just the two of us for now.

  Of course, even if they could understand, none of the imps are actually capable of using magic, but there is no need to let the humans know that. I still have not ruled out the possibility that the hellhounds actually use magic to control fire, but even if that is true, the human’s knowledge may not translate well to what they can do.

  “Will you finally be joining us in person?” William queries.

  That will not be necessary.

  “How do you intend to participate in the lesson without actually being present?” He questions.

  I am able to use magic anywhere within the dungeon. I need not be physically present.

  The two humans look at each other and William raises an eyebrow.

  “That’s not normal, is it? I haven’t studied dungeons extensively, but I’ve never heard of dungeon controllers being able to do that,” Cassandra states.

  “Nor have I, though I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on the matter either. But that seems to be a rather unusual ability you’ve got there,” William replies.

  I would not know. I do not know what is considered ‘normal’ for a dungeon controller. I only know what I have been able to discover through my own experience.

  Although now that I do know that it is unusual, I wish I had not revealed it. Perhaps I could have realised it myself if I had given more thought to why all of the attackers thus far have always seemed so unprepared to deal with my attacks.

  “Is something wrong?” Rose asks, noticing the sudden shift in the human’s tone.

  I may have revealed some information to them that we would have been better off keeping secret for now.

  Her usual glare deepens as she peers at the two humans.

  “We could kill them. If they die before they have the chance to tell anyone, then there won’t be a problem,” she suggests.

  Cassandra must have understood enough of what Rose said to realise that it was a threat, because she reaches for the gun at her side. Rose lets out a light growl in reaction to the movement.

  “Whoah, hold on now. What’s going on? I think we all just need to calm down,” William interjects, trying to deescalate the sudden tension.

  We are not going to kill them, that would only cause more problems. And please be more careful of what you say around Cassandra since she can actually understand you.

  Rose looks away with a huff at the reprimand.

  Please do not be alarmed, we are not going to harm you. But I will ask that you be mindful of what information you share about us and with whom you share it. We are all aware of the problems that can arise when things are shared with the wrong people.

  “Right, yeah. Sorry,” Cassandra concedes and moves her hand away from her gun.

  “Are you good?” William asks her.

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” Cassandra replies.

  “What did she say that had you so on edge?”

  “She…” Cassandra begins, but shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter now, I’ll tell you about it later.”

  “Alright, well now that I assume no one’s going to be killing each other, let’s head back to the other room shall we?” William advises.

  “Yes, let’s,” Cassandra agrees.

  When they arrive back in the room with the other humans, William claps his hands together.

  “Alright, we’re moving on to magic lessons now,” he announces. “I assume you will want to join us, Jenna?”

  “Definitely. I mean, if that’s alright,” she replies.

  “What about you three? Do you have something to do while you wait?” He asks the other three males.

  “Last time we sparred with the imps while Jenna talked about magic and Mark wanted to have a rematch with the one that bit him” Jonathan mentions.

  “Oh, he already did that while you guys were out,” Jenna remarks with an amused grin and Mark rolls his eyes.

  “Really? How’d that go?” Cassandra inquiries, peering at Mark, still seated on the couch, with curious interest.

  “He lost, quite spectacularly, in fact,” Jenna quickly answers before Mark is able to respond, barely able to repress a chuckle.

  “Shut up, it wasn’t that bad,” Mark retorts, glaring at her.

  “Bad enough that you needed to be healed,” Jenna counters.

  “He didn’t bite you again, did he?” William asks.

  “Nah, just dug his claws into my back,” Mark replies nonchalantly.

  “Do you mind if we take a look?” Cassandra requests.

  “Sure, I guess,” Mark scooches forward on the couch, wincing in pain a little as he does so.

  Cassandra moves to stand beside where Mark is sitting while William takes a position behind the couch. Mark leans forwards so they can get a better look, revealing the bloodstained black of his shirt.

  “That’s a fair bit of blood, you even got some on the couch. That’s probably going to stain,” William comments.

  It is hardly the first bloodstain we have around here.

  “Can you lift your shirt please?” Cassandra instructs.

  Mark slowly complies, carefully lifting his shirt to reveal the injuries and William leans in to get a closer look.

  “Wow, he got you pretty good there, didn’t he,” he says.

  “The bleeding has been stopped, but there appears to be some bruising around the wounds as well,” Cassandra observes, pointing out the slight purple discoloration to the skin. “How does it feel?”

  “Kinda like I was stabbed with several small, sharp objects. So you guys can all go off and do your things and I think I’ll just sit here for now,” Mark quips.

  “Well, it looks like you’ll be alright, thanks to Rose. Though you should probably still get it checked out once we return,” William assures him.