The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 346: Hot Pursuit

Chapter 346: Hot Pursuit

After the encounter with the builder drones, things went much smoother.

Ferro still had to restrain Star at times, but by not attacking they managed to duck out of sight and wait out the machines.

That was one problem solved, but another problem made itself apparent as the hours stretched by.

Brrbbrgll...

Ferro’s stomach groaned. As light as Lawre was, carrying him for so long was draining, and Ferro hadn’t exactly thought to bring food when he was grabbing his things to escape.

"Ugh, quiet that thing," Star said, peering around a bend at a group of drones that were passing through a wall of light.

"Have you ever been hungry in your life?" Ferro was sitting with Lawre collapsed next to him.

"Of course I have. But I only need to eat if I don’t get enough mana, or to maintain my cover, and you graciously fed me right before we came inside."

"More like before you came inside." Ferro muttered. That crazy, unplanned session had left him somewhat drained, instead of energized like when Star put mana into him. He cleared his throat before speaking up. "I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the end carrying Lawre... Not with as long as we’re taking." He looked up, trying to gauge if the Djet looked any closer than it had.

"Well I’m not going anywhere without that key. As you’ve no doubt guessed, it needs contact to work, and I can’t exactly make contact with it."

"Why tell me this now?" Ferro asked.

"Because I figure at this point you and I need to come to some sort of arrangement if we’re going to make it through without the kid."

"I said I’m not leaving him."

"This is the perfect place for it, though. Deep enough he won’t be able to set his father on us, but not so deep that he has zero chance of survival. Whatever that thing dosed him with clearly isn’t wearing off anytime soon."

"Then this would be a good time to rest for a bit and see if it does wear off. You’re acting like some sort of stereotype, trying to get me to pick evil."

"Options are options, kitten, and you know I prefer adults. But if you’re set on waiting here instead of making the pragmatic choice..." Star went up to the wall next to Ferro and leaned on it. "We might as well have some fun." Using his tail, he guided Ferro’s face to look at his crotch. Then he licked his lips.

"Gods damn it, Star, I’m not in the mood."

"Well, what else are we going to do until the kid wakes up?"

"How about we look around? Since you’re being so trusting, I can stay here with Lawre while you find us some food."

"Not a chance. The moment I leave you might run off, I’d rather carry the kid and continue than waste time."

"Great, so it’s decided then," Ferro turned to rest his head against the wall.

"You little shit! You were baiting me, weren’t you?"

"Would it kill you to perform some labor?"

Before Star could answer, a rumble began in the floor. The entire labyrinth shook, and a warbled alarm sounded. A voice began to speak from everywhere.

"Warning: Dimensional cavitation detected. Heat dispersal rotation commencing. Please stand clear of moving plates."

"What’s it saying?" Ferro shouted as the voice began to repeat itself.

"Something about heat, it’s speaking too fast."

"Should we run?" Ferro started to stand when the world shook and screeched.

"I don’t think that’s an option anymore."

Everything started to move, and when they looked to the outlet for the dead end they were in, they saw that everything was rotating, accelerating so fast that the walls passing the gap became a solid blur. The screeching died down, leaving an eery hum and the whooshing of air.

The section they were in wasn’t moving, but sparks were flying above them and some rained down on Ferro, their heat biting his arms as he covered his head.

Star tried to reach towards the flashing, speeding walls, only to wind up with one of his claws filed down to a nub. "Well it’s not an illusion," he scowled at his dulled nail.

"What could have set it off?"

From far, far away, came a shout. "Ferro! I’m coming for you! Give me back my son!" It was quite impressive how far the man could project his voice. "Ferro!!!"

Ferro swore, "It’s Lanoch, but why is he coming after me?"

"You did steal his key."

"I didn’t steal Lawre!"

"Well~" Star chewed his lip a bit as he seemed to hide a smile, "I may have borrowed your appearance when I escorted Lawre out of the camp..."

"Fucking asshole!"

"Oh so now you’re in the mood?"

"You set me up!"

"Well, I was pretty sure you were going to betray me when you didn’t come back with the key."

"You betrayed me first!"

"I was acting completely within the bounds of our Oath."

"An Oath you screwed me on from the start, you fucking djinn!"

"Why get mad now? It’s not like he’s going to find us. He doesn’t have a key. And I thought we already, mmm, pounded out our differences?"

"Why you -"

As much as he hated to admit it, Ferro knew Star was right. He tried taking a few short breaths before sighing. And that was when he noticed a new problem. "Is it... getting hotter?"

"A little, but not uncomfortably so. It almost reminds me of the lava outside of Tzal..."

"Well it’s not ’comfortable’ for me at all," Ferro looked around. He grabbed Lawre by the wrist and started dragging him deeper in, to the very end of the culvert. It was cooler, but not by much, and by the time he managed to prop up Lawre, the heat at the back was higher than what it had been near the exit.

Ferro panted as uncomfortable became unbearable. His fur started to foam with sweat as his instincts tried to make him look for some way out. Reaching for his magic, he tried to condense some water, but it was boiling hot and not of a high enough quantity to produce some kind of shield...

"Star..." he coughed. "I need help."

"I’m not exactly at my peak. Why don’t you just do what you did before when you got away?"

"Not enough water..." He coughed twice.

"Do you need water for it?"

Did he?

Heat, or "thermal energy" as the note-taker in his book called it, was just particles of its medium moving fast. It was always transferring itself, but because of magic, it could be accumulated. Manipulated...

...and maybe sent elsewhere.

As he continued to pant heavily, he raised a hand. He imagined the heat in the air like a series of rapidly moving balls - exactly the way the note taker described - striking each other, slowing with each impact. The spell began to cool the air as heat began to collect above his hand, holding furiously to the image as he gathered and gathered, forming a pocket of air where the air inside would take more heat than was natural from the air outside.

He felt it working, but he still needed to send it elsewhere, and so he aimed it straight up and gave the collected, heated air only one outlet.

What left his hand was not just heat, but light as the confinement began to ignite the air with a soft, blue-white glow.

Star rounded on him when he saw this. "Could you not cool off in a way that lead’s Lanoch right to us?"

"Gotta aim out," Ferro said between pants. "Or I’m gonna... I’m gonna -"

He lost his concentration and the spell faltered. Blacking out for just a second, he saw the world sideways and realized he’d fallen over.

It was too late.

The heat had built too rapidly, and he realized that the pain he was now feeling on his hands was the burning off of his fur.

It became hard for him to hear anything, and keeping his eyes opened was growing painful.

He blinked, and saw that Star had his back turned, and was gesticulating up the hall. The reason why became apparent as a pair of dark figures approached... or perhaps it was one dark figure? Ferro’s vision was getting blurry.

"Stay back! I’m only going to warn you once!" Star shouted as he backed towards Lawre and Ferro.

He saw dark light and heard the sounds of spellcasting as Star began to fight, but the world was getting dark, except for the falling sparks.

Raising his arm, he blindly cast a single spell. A bolt of mana, as simple as he could make it. If he’d known that he hit his mark, he would have felt despair at seeing the spell break uselessly against their body. But the world was going away, and taking him with it.

And then he blinked, and the world was gone.

In the moment just before Ferro lost consciousness, he thought he felt... cold.

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