"Dervin, can you teleport that demon somewhere like you did to Haze?" Dryad asked while running alongside Dervin.

"Huh? I can teleport humans, but not a creature that big!" Dervin answered. "That's oversized!"

"Then, I must try to do it by myself."
Dryad slowed her pace a bit and approached Sir Alvard carefully, not wanting to disturb his focus.

He was still closing his eyes, and kept on chanting the verses. She grabbed his arm gently yet firmly, as if giving him a silent support somehow.

Sir Alvard's eyes fluttered open at her touch, and he glanced down at her. He was surprised to see that she was really there, but he could not say a thing. He could not stop chanting the verses, or the power would loosen. His voice is now even weaker, and it's clear that he's struggling to maintain his focus.

He narrowed his eyes at her, as if silently saying "Stay back."

She looked up to him with concern and shook her head. She noticed that his strength was clearly waning. Understanding what he mean, she said firmly "I won't stay back. I can feel that this is not just a simple magic to hold the demon back, right? What are you doing? What is the price for this?" Dryad asked.

Sir Alvard stared at her face, his eyes filled with a mix of determination and exhaustion. He took a very deep breath but he didn't answer her questions.

He was actually trying to weaken the demon by crushing the core of its heart from the inside, so that it won't be able to fight back anymore. This magic was incredibly powerful, but it came at a price. It was a slow process and it's taking a lot out of him, he didn't even know whether he could make it or he could die before it even finished. It's draining his life force, slowly but surely.

"What is the price for this magic?!" Dryad asked again. "Don't tell me, it costs your own life?"

Her grip at his arm tightening. She looked up at him sternly, disapproving of his silence.

Sir Alvard noticed her concern, but then he looked away. He knew that she didn't approve of his plan, but he didn't waver in his resolve. He could not just stand by and let the demon destroy everything. For the sake of everyone, he was always willing to give everything he had.

He gently brushed off Dryad's hand. Silently asking her to stand back.

"Sir, I'm not leaving your side! And I promise, I will not stop your plan either. But let me help you! I have an idea!" Dryad said with a hint of determination.

Sir Alvard looked back at her with surprise. A flicker of hope appeared in his eyes. He considered her offer for a moment, weighing the risks. He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes as if asking "You have something in mind?"

Dryad, again, understood his silent question. She nodded firmly. "I have an idea. But since you're being so secretive, I won't tell you my plan either!" she pouted. "Please, just hold on a little bit longer to buy me some time. Okay?" Dryad said again, her grip around his arm tightened even more.

Sir Alvard's gaze softened. He smiled weakly, and squeezed her hand back with his free hand. He nodded.
She nodded back and let go of his arm. She took a step, a bit forward, facing the demon with the closed grimoire on the top of her left palm. She tried to focus.

"Pray tell... show me how to teleport this demon!" She asked the grimoire, and soon it magically opened with a whoosh of wind. The grimoire responded to her request, and a small light circle appeared in front of her. A soft light. She could feel the power of the spell radiating from it.

"Very well," a calm voice rang inside of her head. No idea whose voice it was. It's like a telepathy or something.
"I shall show you how to banish the demon, and send it to the unknown."

"Who's voice is it? Who's talking with me?" Dryad asked to the voice in her mind. But no answer came.

Instead, the circle on the grimoire began to glow brighter, and Sir Alvard watched intently as she prepared to do the next move.

A writing in golden ink slowly appeared on the blank pages of the grimoire. As she read the writing, it became clearer. It was in a language that only she could understand. Of course Sir Alvard could see the writing, but he didn't know the meaning. He watched with an expression filled with curiosity and confusion.

"So, that's how..." Dryad whispered.
Knowing what she has to do, she smiled. The writing vanished after that. While closing the grimoire, she turned to Sir Alvard once more and tapped his arm gently.
"Sir Alvard, please, hold on a little bit longer. Try to paralyze the demon as long as you can. I promise I will do my best to be quick," Dryad said softly.

He nodded between the verses he chanted.

"Come on, Dervin!" Dryad shouted at the cat and began to run closer towards the demon. Dervin obeyed and they ran together.

"I need blood as ink. much.. much blood. but it won't be enough if you scratch me, Dervin," Dryad said while running along the way, looking around in hope to find something.
"For God's sake where could I even find such things..."

"Um... Dryad!" Dervin called from behind.

Dryad stopped and turned around, noticing that the cat already stopped.
"Huh?" Dryad frowned, approaching the cat.

"This...." Dervin pointed at something under the rubble.

Dervin was right. There was something under there. A dark crimson liquid was flowing down from something in the darkness.

"God....." Dryad took a deep, ragged breath while closing her eyes for a moment. There must be someone dead under those piles of stones and debris. Or maybe not only one. What else could have made such a pool of blood? There must be more than two people under there. She wasn't scared of blood, but her chest tightened by the fact that there were people crushed to death by the collapsing walls.

Dryad opened her eyes and slowly crouched down to pray for a while, feeling sympathy to the fallen victims. Then she said in a whisper.

"I am sorry that this happened to you... whoever you are," her voice filled with grief. With her eyes fixed to the blood, she whispered, "Dervin, find me something to draw on the ground..."

"A wooden stick again, yeah? Wait!" the cat mumbled while looking around. He ran somewhere but came back again in no time, with a twig between his teeth. He dropped it beside Dryad.

She grabbed the twig with a slight trembling hand.

"Allow me to make use of this... Your blood will not go to waste," she said as if talking to the dead. She dipped the tip of the twig on the dark red liquid which flowed out from underneath. Then she stood up.

Facing the demon, she began to run again while creating a circle, surrounding the demon's feature.

Sir Alvard watched as she used blood as ink, and he furrowed his brow in confusion.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked in his heart. He never knew that Dryad had such a power. He shook his head a bit to get his focus back to the verse.

The giant demon roared in frustration as it felt the stronger verse paralyzing it. It tried to move again, but it couldn't even twitch a muscle. Sir Alvard stood by, watching as she continued to draw the circle around the demon.

"Good work!" Dervin shouted. "Keep going. We're almost there! I'll help too!"

The Demon was struggling even harder, and it could move its tail, leaving a crack on the cobblestone road. Luckily, Dryad could avoid it,

"Whoops!! Almost!" Dryad cried.

Sir Alvard saw her struggling to avoid the demon, and his heart skipped a beat. He tried to hold on to his strength. He coughed a bit and slowly kneeled down as his strength rapidly drained away. He quickly wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth but nevertheless, he kept continuing to chant the verse, his voice growing weaker with each passing moment. His breathing became ragged, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. At the same time, the demon roared because the core of its heart was slowly damaged by the holy magic, feeling the same excruciating pain.

Finally, after a while, Dryad and Dervin finished the blood circle. Dryad stood in one spot with the opened grimoire in her hand. She whispered something, and then completed the ritual with the last command,

"Thou art, shadow of Ashmedai, I banish thee from this land!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

The circle magically moved counter clockwise. And became faster each second, creating a strong whirl of wind. The demon struggled against the circle, its body writhing in pain. It let out a deafening roar, but the sound was muffled by the magic.

Sir Alvard's eyes widened as he saw the circle glowing and the demon reacting to Dryad's spell. He looked at her with a mixture of surprise and hope.

"Is that... will it work?" he asked, his voice filled with uncertainty.

The demon slowly sank to the ground, its struggles weakening as the magic took effect.

But before the demon completely sank, it moved! it seemed to regain some of its strength. It tried to reach out, fingers stretching towards her with a malevolent intent.
Dryad was not so fast enough that the demon brushed her body away. She hit the wall, and as if it was not enough, the demon tried to catch her again.

Sir Alvard gasped in shock and horror as he saw the demon's hand reaching for her. He tried to stand up straight.

"No!" Sir Alvard shouted. He managed to cast one last verse, and the magic he cast was strong enough to finally restrain the demon. The demon's hands, which were reaching out towards her, were now firmly bound to the ground.

Dryad froze when the demon let out one last, anguished cry before falling completely still, defeated. Now all of its body sank as the teleport worked, bringing the demon to the unknown place.

The blood circle stopped moving. All the magic lights disappeared and the wind became normal. Everything calmed down.

"Is it... is it really over?" Dryad asked.

Dervin ran and jumped to her arm, "we did it!! Meow!!"

She looked down at Dervin, a mixture of relief and exhaustion on her face. "Yeah! We banished the demon!"

Sir Alvard smiled faintly while slowly closing his eyes, collapsing onto the ground. His breathing ragged and heavy.

"Well done, Dryad...You saved us..." he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"What a shortcut! Instead of crushing the demon from the inside like I planned, she banished the demon to a different dimension," he said in his heart, impressed by her clever solution. He chuckled weakly.
"Teleportation, huh? that's not something I can do. I feel like a fool now..."

Dryad and Dervin ran back to where Sir Alvard was. From afar, she smiled and waved,

"Sir Alvard!! Did you see that?!" her voice reached him.

Sir Alvard tried to sit up, but his body was still weak and he couldn't move very quickly. He watched as Dryad ran towards him, a smile on her face.

"Dryad..." he said, smiling back.

As the realization sank in, his expression turned to one of concern. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen to Dryad after she banished the demon. His mind raced with possibility as he looked over at her.
"Will she be alright? Will she be able to handle the price of the spell?"

He was worried. But look at Dryad! She was just fine. He still felt the chest pain like hell, as the after-effect of the magic -- the sharp, stabbing pain that only got worse when he breathe deeply. But Dryad? Yes, she was clearly exhausted, but looked so much fine, better than himself.

"Everyone! We did it!" Dryad said again as she came near, slowing down her pace.

Sir Alvard frowned, "Everyone?"

"Yeah, girl. That's awesome!" said Alexey from behind. Two thumbs up.

Sir Alvard quickly turned his head as he heard a familiar voice behind him, and saw Alexey standing there, guarding him all the time. A shock expression crossed his face. He froze, not sure if it was just imagination or real.

Alexey rolled his eyes and sighed , "God... Now I'm getting tired of that kind of look. Everyone see me as if I am a zombie," he whispered, wiping his face.

______________________________________