It was the middle of the night, and Lhori was sitting in her allocated room and looking impatiently at her watch. She kept fidgeting with her fingers as she had to do something with her hands when she was nervous. The door opened, and Noah came in.

"So?" she asked fervently.

"It seems all is in order. Not many people still up, just those on guard duty. Haven't seen Michael or Robert anywhere, they are probably resting too. If we are going to do this, now is the time."

Lhori stood up and stretched her hand toward him. He hesitantly took her wrist and unclasped the metal bracelet.

"No turning back now," he said with a weak smile.

"Thank you, Noah," she said quietly looking into his eyes. "I mean it."

"You'll thank me if we get out of here alive," he sighed. "Are you ready? You think you can summon him without any ritual drawings?"

"Yeah, I did that once. Let's see."

                Lhori took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After Noah took off the magic blocker, she could feel Lucifer's presence not far away. She tried to ignore it, though her heart was aching to run to him right now. It took her a few seconds to clear her mind and calm her racing heart.

"Mammon, the avatar of greed. Heed my call. I need you now. Come to me."

                A cloud of yellow smoke erupted filling the room and when it dispersed a tall white-haired demon was standing there.

"Yo, Lhori! What you've been thinkin dragging me here like that, eh?"

"I'm so glad to see you Mammon," Lhori sighed and hugged him tightly.

"Woah, you can't just hug me out of nowhere like that!" he protested, but he hugged her back. "Are you ok? I've heard what happened."

"I'm alright," she said, pulling away. "Look, Mammon, I need your help, and there's no time to lose."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, seeing her serious expression.

"I need you to make a racket. Something to distract everyone and take their eyes from dungeons; for long enough so we can sneak in there and break Lucifer out."

"What?! So, you wanna make a bait out of me? That will cost ya!"

"I'll repay you for that, I promise," she said impatiently and gestured to Noah, who handed her a map. "Now look at this. The dungeons are here, so we need you to go the other way, ok?"

"Is there anything worth checking out here?" Mammon asked.

"What? Like, sightseeing?" asked Noah confused.

"No, you dumb human!" scoffed demon rolling his eyes. "Like treasure!"

"Oh. We don't really have a treasury here... But maybe armoury?" he said and put his finger on the map. "There should be quite a selection of magical artefacts that we confiscated along the way."

"It will do, then," said Mammon with a grin, folded the map and put it into his pocket. "Ok, I'll be off then. Racket you said, right? I can do that, no problem."

"Mammon, wait," Lhori stopped him, grabbing his elbow. He looked at her, surprised. "Please be careful. This place is crawling with demon hunters. Don't let them catch you, ok?"

"Lhori, dear. I am the Great Mammon," he said with a grin. "There is no such thing as enough demon hunters to stop me from rummaging through that armoury full of forbidden magical artefacts. Wait for my signal. You will surely hear it," he added and disappeared behind the doors.

"I seriously have doubts about letting the avatar of greed lose here," said Noah massaging his temples.

"Well, we don't have much choice. He'll be all right. He is highly skilled in both making a mess and running away."

"I'm not really worried about him," scoffed Noah. "Oh, before I forget, give me your wrist, please."

"What for? You're not putting that blocker back on me," Lhori said, narrowing her eyes.

"Really, Lhori?" asked demon hunter rolling his eyes. "You think that I would trick you after I let you summon one of the most powerful demons here?"

"Well, you can't blame me for being cautious," she hissed. "You did trick me just a few days back, didn't you? What's with the bracelet then?"

"It hasn't been enchanted yet, so it's just a piece of metal," he said clapping it around Lhori's wrist. "But if we run on someone they won't get suspicious if they see the bracelet on you. See, it's not dampening your magic, does it?"

"No," she admitted, taking away her hand. "And you're right. It's a good idea."

                Suddenly the loud explosion rattled the whole fortress.

"Damn, that was one huge distraction," said Noah, his eyes wide. They heard shouts coming from the halls and heavy steps of people running toward the source of the commotion. Noah gestured for her to stay still and carefully looked out of the door.

"Ok, the halls seemed to be clear, let's go," he nodded at her, and they cautiously left the room and started walking toward the west wing, where the dungeons were.

                As expected, they did not meet many demon hunters, and when someone was there, they were usually running in the opposite direction, ignoring them completely. They managed to reach the stairs to the basements without any incidents. Noah turned to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Now starts the hard part," he whispered. "The guards stationed in the dungeons are still there for sure. I expect three or four of them sitting in the main lobby, and probably another two in the cell block. Are you still good with the plan?"

"Yes," she said nodding, trying to calm her voice to hide how nervous she really was.

"You can do it, Lhori," he reassured her. "I know you can. Just focus on your spells, and it will all be well. And remember, if anything goes south, you just turn around and run. I'll hold them back." She nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Ok, let's do this. We don't have time to waste," Lhori prompted him to move.

                They descended the stairs in silence. Lhori was repeating the incantation of the curse over and over in her head, bearly noticing her surroundings. Fortunately, her body seemed to remember the way down well enough, so she didn't slip.

                When they were close to the main lobby in the dungeons, Noah gestured for her to stay back. She nodded, and he walked inside the well-lit room. Lhori stuck her back to the wall and slowly sidestepped towards the place, staying in the shadows.

"What are you doing here, boy?" grumbled a rough voice.

"There was some explosion in the east wing, haven't you heard?" Noah said excitedly.

"We did hear something," admitted another voice. "You know what happened?"

"No, but chief sent me here to check if all is well with the prisoner."

"I thought you said it was in the east wing?" asked the first voice suspiciously.

"Yeah, but you never know, it could be a diversion or something..." mused Noah. "I take it, nothing out of the ordinary here?"

                Lhori closed her eyes and evened her breathing. She let her senses wander; she could feel the presence of four people in the room next to her, Noah was one of them, so three guards then.

"The mists of the underworld," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Grant me your blessing. Feel those mortals: cloud their eyes and their minds. Put them at rest. Let nothing bother them until the first rays of dawn. Grant them sweet and peaceful dreams." Before she finished the last sentence, there was a thud of something heavy hitting the floor. Lhori opened her eyes to see Noah looking at her with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

"It worked," he said. "They're sleeping like babies."

"Are you surprised?" she asked.

"Well, you know... you said you've never cast any of those spells before, so I was kind of ready to fight anyway."

"Well, thanks for trusting in me," she scoffed. "Nevermind, let's go!"

                Noah took the keys from one of the sleeping guard's belt and opened the heavy door to a cell block. They cautiously went inside, but there was no sign of guards there. 

"Clear," said Noah after a moment, his voice tense. Lhori took the keys from him and ran towards Lucifer's cell.

"Lhori!" gasped the demon surprised when she started to fumbling through far too many keys.

"Shhh," she silenced him. "Be quiet. We're getting you out. But we need to hurry." She tried three other keys to no avail. "Oh, the hell, why would they need so many keys?!"

"Give me that," hissed Noah, snatching keys from her. He quickly looked at the lock and then fished one key and turned it without any trouble.

"I can't believe you found the right one on a first try!" she gasped.

"You'll praise me later," he retorted, opening the heavily barred doors. "Let's get him out of here."

                Lhori quickly ran to Lucifer and kneeled next to him, taking his face in her hands.

"Are you alright? Will you be able to walk?"

"Not in this thing, I'm afraid," he said, rattling his glowing chains.

"Let me take those off, then," she said and fished a small runic stone from her pocket, which Noah gave her earlier. She searched the chains with her fingers until she found a little lock with the exact size of the runestone. Lhori locked the rock into it, and with a soft click, some of the chains stopped glowing and fell to the floor with a loud clang. "Ok, one down, three more to go," she said encouragingly to Lucifer.

"Hurry it up," said Noah from where he stood to watch at the cell doors.

"I'm trying, but it's not so easy..."

                She was down to the last chain when an aggressive female voice pierced the silence: 

"The hell are you are doing, Noah?! Hands up, so I can see them!"

                Noah startled and looked surprised down the hall, his hand was on his pocket, but he reconsidered and put his hands up. Lhori gritted her teeth and kept on looking for the last seal with haste, sweat pearling on her brows.

"Come on, Lyn," said Noah calmly. "You don't have to point that thing at me. It's just me. You know me, right?"

"Like hell I do!" she spat. "Why all the guards are on the floor then? Do you want to say it was not your doing? Cut the bullshit!"

"Lyn, please, listen to me. We don't have to fight. You can just turn around and go back to your room and pretend you haven't seen anything," Noah said hopefully, smiling charmingly.

"Don't be an idiot! It is my watch! Keep those hands up!"

                There was a loud click, and the last chains fell to the floor. Before Lhori could move, Lucifer sprang to his feet and was next to Noah in a blink of an eye.

"You!" he said and pointed his finger at the woman down the hall, his crimson eyes shining with fury; his voice so powerful the air around him crackling. "Down!"

                There was a loud thud as something heavy hit the floor.

"Hey!" protested Noah and ran up down the hall. Lhori left the cell and recognized the female demon hunter they met the other day, lying lifeless on the floor. Noah was kneeling next to her, checking for a pulse.

"Relax, she's just knocked out cold," Lucifer growled. Suddenly he swayed on his feet and leaned heavily on the wall.

"Lucifer!" Lhori gasped, catching his arm to help him keep his balance. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I''m just a bit dizzy, that's all."

"You can't overexert yourself!" she scolded him. "Solomon said it would take a while for all your power to come back. So please, just focus on walking while we take care of the rest, ok?"

"Since when you got so bossy?" he asked with a smirk.

"Since I'm the one who is rescuing your sorry ass out of prison?" she teased.

"Mmmm, sexy," he murmured, pulled her close, and kissed her. She clung to him for dear life.

"Hey, lovebirds!" barked Noah with annoyance clear in his voice. "How about you stop eating each other's faces and we get a move on before more guards come?"

"Ugh, can we get rid of this annoying demon hunter already?" Lucifer groaned, letting Lhori out of his embrace.

"No, we can't. He's the one that made this prison break happen, so be nice, ok?" Lhori scolded him. "Let's go!"

                They managed to leave the dungeons without incidents. All that's left was reaching the summoning room safely. It wasn't far, so Lhori was growing more optimistic with each step they took. She was holding Lucifer's hand, and his presence was doing wonders to calm her nerves. Noah was scouting the route ahead, and he gestured for them to come when it was safe to go.

"It seems we are lucky," he whispered when they caught up to him. "There are no guards here."

"Where are all those guards anyway?" asked Lucifer frowning. "This place looks suspiciously abandoned."

"Well, we had to make a distraction," said Lhori, not looking at him. He narrowed his eyes.

"What kind of distraction?"

"Ugh... I summoned Mammon and let him loose..." she admitted. To her surprise, Lucifer laughed.

"Now that's explain everything. Not that I agree with your plan, but if someone can run the whole army of demon hunters in circles, it is Mammon. But I wouldn't rely on him for too long, so let's not delay any further."

"Agreed," said Noah and led them to the massive doors at the end of the hall. He tried the handle, and it opened easily. He looked at his companions with a slight surprise, but they heard the heavy steps sounds from the other side of the corridor, so they quickly fled into the summoning room.

                It was pitch black in there.

"Let me light those candles," said Lucifer, but Lhori squeezed his hand.

"No, I told you not to exert yourself. Allow me." She waved her hand, whispered the command and suddenly all the candles in the room lighted up simultaneously.

                And there, in the middle of the room stood Michael, in his glorious angelic form, huge white wings outstretched, a bright halo around his head, a charming smile on his perfect lips.

"Are you going somewhere? You didn't plan to just sneak out without saying goodbye, did you?"