Alexey led Dryad out of the broken aircraft, making sure she's steady on her feet. He looked around, assessing the situation. They were in an area with trees and shrubs all around them. The sound of the commotion still echoed in the distance. Screams and cries and all were almost deafening.

Since the demon was now visible to everyone, the townspeople who survived the disaster and saw that must be panicking and frantically scattered everywhere.

"Here. Sit for a while.. calm yourself down," Alexey said to Dryad, led her down under the tree.

She shook her head. "No. I want to continue. You said that we should use our chance. Then we have to go help the people!"

Alexey looked at her with a sad smile, "If you insist on being stubborn, I guess it's useless to say anything more..." After saying this, he turned back to scan their surroundings.

Dryad glanced at the giant demon that was standing tall from afar. Her expression hardened.
"It's not moving!"

Alexey followed her gaze to the giant demon, his eyes narrowing as he saw that it had, indeed, stopped moving. He looked back at Dryad, his expression thoughtful.

"Maybe it's weakened somehow, like you said. Or maybe something else is holding it back," Alexey said.

"You're right... It feels like something is keeping it back from moving! Let's take a closer look!" Dryad said.

Alexey nodded in agreement.
"Stay close to me," he said.

He moved forward, heading towards the giant demon with caution. He was on high alert, ready to defend both of themselves if needed.

When they were only a few meters away from the creature, Dryad stopped in her tracks, and Alexey did as well.

"What? Sense something strange?" Alexey asked with furrowed eyebrows.

A strange sound resonated between the trees, coming from a distance and growing louder with every second. It was similar to the sound of wind, but slightly different too.
Dryad looked up to Alexey and nodded,

"It's not just a simple wind. It's... like a surge of power. Let's follow its source!" Dryad said.
Then they started running to the direction of the sound.

Soon, they reached a clearing and saw the reason why. There stood Sir Alvard, in the middle of a faintly-glowing vortex. He closed his eyes, chanting some verse with a voice that barely above whispers.

Alexey and Dryad stopped as they watched in surprise, unsure of what to make of the situation.

"Sir Alvard...," Dryad whispered. "What is he doing?"

"No clue..." Alexey replied, "but I've got a feeling that we should stay back. We don't understand this situation at all..."

The demon was struggling to move. But everytime it moved its arms, its hands were pulled back forcefully with some unknown force. It let a frustrated roar, but to no avail.

Alexey and Dryad rooted on the spot, observing the scene.

"I see.. I understand it now...," Dryad murmured, beginning to realize what was happening. "Sir Alvard created magic to paralyzed that demon! That's why it was not so aggressive when we attacked it!"

"Not so aggressive, huh?" Alexey smirked, "That demon crashed our aircrafts!"

"It could be worse than that if Sir Alvard didn't help us from the very beginning! The damage would have been so much greater! Maybe he realized somehow that our aircrafts was trying to take down that demon, so he came out to help by paralyzing it! He bought us some time so that we could launch the missiles, " Dryad continued. "It seems so...,"

"Damn...," Alexey stared intently at Sir Alvard. "I never knew that my brother is this great. I mean, yes, I just remember now that he was... some kind of exorcist, but..."

"Exorcist?!" Dryad cut him off and looked up to Alexey with a surprised expression. "For real?!"

"oops.. Did I just reveal an Ace card?" Alexey scratched the back of his neck and averted his gaze from her. "Anyway.. it doesn't matter. What should we do now? Just watch? For how much longer he can hold this giant demon? He seems to be getting tired already."

Suddenly, a puff of black smoke appeared in front of Dryad. And as soon as the smoke dispersed, a two-tailed tuxedo cat jumped to her arms.

"Dervin!" Dryad catched the cat while he's still in the air, and cradled him. "It's you! You're not turned into dust! How's Haze and Eurys?!"

"I did it!" Dervin exclaimed happily, "I saved that red-haired guy!" He gave her a smug grin. "I did my best. I thought I'd die before I would do such a thing. But I'm fine now! We're all fine!"

Dryad hugged Dervin tightly, "Oh, wow!! Dervin! Thank you!!" she said excitedly, spinning around before placing the cat down. She stroked him softly under the chin, a warm smile graced her face, "Good boy! Thank you again!"

Dervin grinned until his eyes shaped like a crescent. His tails wagged wildly and purred at her sweet gesture.

Alexey sighed in relief and smiled as well. "Goodness.. What a revelation! Good job, kitty. How did you save them?"

"I teleport them somewhere safe!" Dervin answered, "It's the first time I can do teleportation without any vortex like before! How's that? Am I genius?Am I great?"

Dryad laughed and ruffled Dervin's fur gently, "Very much so, Dervin. That's amazing!"

Alexey squinted his eyes, "Teleport to... where? Don't tell me you sent them to some random place?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"It wasn't random! But to... " Dervin tried to explain, but then he stopped for a moment "Um... Oh.. well, I just teleported them somewhere safe! That's the point! That's good already! Better than die!"

Alexey rolled his eyes and wiped his face, "Oh yeah, I forgot you are an idiot! I bet you just teleport everyone to a remote mountain or desolate desert."

Dervin's tail went slack at his side. He gave Alexey the most annoyed look he could muster, "Boss, you drive me crazy... You told me to do somethin' , and when I did it, this is the way you thank me?!" the cat protested.

"Oh.... God." Alexey sighed, "My bad. I should thank you properly." He kneeled down and gave Dervin a pat in his head with a faint smile.
"Thank you, oh, my great demon cat. Nevertheless, you're right. That's better than dying. So, if you can come back to us like this, I expect that you must know how to bring us to their location. Right?"

Dervin gulped as he looked up to Alexey's deadly stare. Even though Alexey was smiling, his blue eyes seemed cold enough to instantly freeze someone in their place. The eyes that could pierce through the one's very soul

"I... I will try!" Dervin stuttered nervously. "Don't worry! My powers are great!" he added hastily, "Trust me on this!"

Dryad's smile dropped as she looked at Sir Alvard. She watched in awe as he chanted the holy verse. But she could see that he's struggling, his voice growing weaker and more strained with each passing moment. The light around the vortex dimmed a bit, and the whirling wind around them was not so strong as before. She knew that he's putting a lot of energy into holding the demon back.

"It's taking a toll on him," Dryad whispered, her voice filled with concern.

"No wonder. There's a price for every magic, Dryad," Dervin said. "I didn't know what he had sacrificed to create a power this strong. To create such magic is never easy like in a fairy tale book where you could cast any miracle as simple as turning over your hand. And then nothing would happen to your body after doing that? No! That's a fantasy story that is too good to be true! The reality is, magic always has a price. Always. It is never easy. At least, that's for humans. And even for some little demons, like me, for example."

Dryad stood up, her gaze lingered to the back of the head librarian whom she always looked up to. A sad expression crossed her face. If only she could do the same. She would have given anything just to cast a single magic to help him. Anything at all.
She shook her head and refocused herself,
"My grimoire.... Yes. I can do something to help!"

But her confidence shattered at once as she realized something. "Oh, no! I forgot my sling bag! It's still at the blimp!"

"What sling bag?" Alexey asked.

"There's my grimoire inside!" Dryad replied, almost crying. "The grimoire I hold when we're in Another world!"

Both Dervin and Alexey blinked in confusion at her words and then, realization dawned on them.
"Ohhhh..."Alexey whispered, "that thing.."

"Yes. It's Lesath Grimoire. I was so panicked that I forgot everything and left anything behind," Dryad said.

"W..wait.. wait a second. Lesath, you say?" Dervin tilted his head.

"It's the title of the grimoire," Dryad nodded. "Well, at least that is what's written on the first page. The only word that does not disappear nor can be erased."

"Ah, I see it now! So that grimoire is Lesath's property, then!" Dervin's eyes lighten up.

Dryad frowned, "what do you mean?"

"A-Ha! Let me tell you, it's not the title of the book! It's the name of the owner. So, summoning one's property is just the same with summoning the person himself. You just need to draw his sigil and then command it to come to you!" Dervin exclaimed.

"Wow... so, you mean I can just... make that grimoire to come to me? Here?" Dryad asked.

"Yup! And Dryad, you're lucky that I am Lesath's friend! So I know his sigil very well," Dervin chuckled proudly. "Come on! Grab a stick and let's draw Lesath's sigil on the ground!"

"Sigil?" Dryad arched her eyebrows.

"Yes. A sigil. It's like a coat of arms or a specific symbol to each demon," Dervin explained. "Don't waste time! Go grab a twig or something! Don't worry, summoning a property doesn't need blood ink, so I won't scratch you like before," the cat giggled.

Dryad nodded. And they soon got to work. After a few minutes of drawing the symbol on the ground, Dervin looked up at her with a triumphant smirk.

"Done! Now, touch the sigil with your palm. Good. Close your eyes and imagine the thing you want to summon. Think about every detail," Dervin instructed. "You have to strongly imagine it. And then, command the grimoire to come, um.. just speak to the grimoire as if you're talking to your great great ancestors... you understand?

"What?" Dryad frowned, but then nodded and did as he said. "Okay. Let's try."

Once again, she closed her eyes, concentrated, and pictured in mind the thing she wanted to bring into reality. And suddenly, she felt something happening. The drawing sigil on the ground glowed bright green. And slowly, a black shadow emerged from beneath.

"Lesath Grimoire, I command thee with all my heart to come to me!!" Dryad said firmly as she opened her eyes, stared intensely at the glowing sigil.
Soon, an item emerged from the black shadow. It worked! With a bright smile, she quickly catched the grimoire and the light dispersed at once.

Sir Alvard flinched as her high-toned voice reached his ears. All this time, he didn't realize their presence at all. But now he knew that he was not alone there.

"Dryad? Is she here? behind me?" Sir Alvard asked himself.
But he could not turn around, he had to keep chanting the verse or the force to hold that demon would loosen. He shook his head slightly and focused back on the demon but his composure slipped for a moment, almost losing balance. He regained his footing quickly, though it's clear that he was pushing himself to the limit.

"He's losing strength," Dryad whispers, her eyes wide with worry. She turned to Alexey "We have to do something! You stay here and watch our back, okay?"

"Right. Be careful," Alexey nodded. His eyes followed Dryad as she ran towards Sir Alvard.

________________________________________

Sigil of Lesath :