As Theo's blood splattered to the ground, the dark red blood writhed as it shifted to a deep, black hue. 

The black pool stretched farther than it should have been able to, and a great, clawed paw emerged from the darkness.

This was the reason warlocks were so hated.

Theo's blood was an agent used to summon creatures from…well, he wasn't sure exactly where they were from. Regardless, he had no control over the summoning. 

His existence simply lent itself to evil no matter what his will was.

Of course, nobody believed Theo when he tried to explain the summonings were involuntary – Well, nobody except for Dullahan. 

And unfortunately for Theo, Dullahan was the absolute worst person to know about the nature of his magic. 

Scrambling claws on stone drug Theo's attention back to the present. 

An impossibly large wolf emerged from the ground, shaking its matted fur. It was an underfed creature with bones so prominent they threatened to stab through its pelt. It smelled of death. 

Its back was even with Theo's shoulders, and it showed its dagger-like fangs as it licked its chops.

'A paltry sacrifice,' The wolf's voice reverberated in Theo's mind. 

The wolf growled while its glowing gaze fixated on the trail of blood that Theo was attempting to stem with his palm.

'Then go back,' Theo responded with his thoughts. 'I don't want you pup.' 

Theo glared at the wolf before splitting his attention to Marie and the children.

Marie was adjusting her grip on her sword while taking advantage of Theo's and the wolf's distraction to weigh her options.

The wolf wound around Theo, lingering beside his wounded arm. Theo shifted into a defensive position. There was never any guarantee that the summoned creatures wouldn't turn on him. 

'You are stupid, Warlock.' The wolf snapped. 'Fighting a mage with a dagger. Only wish death on your enemy. Not yourself.'

Theo glanced back toward Marie who was in a defensive position and drew in a deep breath. He could sense that this wolf was fearsome, but…

While her expertise was fighting with enchanted bullets, Marie was proficient with the sword. 

He could trust her to survive a fight with this wolf while protecting the children, even if she didn't want to risk using her mana.

"Bye," Theo gave Marie a quick wave before dashing out of the dungeon with a strangled sound that was something like a laugh. 

It was ridiculous of him to attempt to play hero from the beginning. 

The best he could do was shove problems on others. Though Theo supposed that was a talent in itself as well. 

His other talent was getting out of trouble only to land himself in more trouble.

Several guards were running at him down the hallway with swords drawn. Behind them was a man with a staff – a sorcerer. The sorcerer clanged his staff against the floor and began chanting.

Someone with a more formal education in magic could predict what spell the sorcerer would cast and strategize based on that. 

Theo, however, was unlearned, so he aimed for the straightforward technique of attacking faster than they could chant. 

More of Theo's blood dripped to the floor and started writhing on the floor. 

It seemed like he was going to get a magical assist. 

Something dark and scaled emerged before darting forward and sinking its fangs into the sorcerer's leg. The sorcerer didn't get a chance to finish his chant as he collapsed to the ground with a series of convulsions. 

The remaining guards broke out of formation as they tried to pull the beast off their comrade.

While he may not like the summoned creatures, Theo was happy to take advantage of their temporary distraction to run away. His feet carried him through winding halls and up the stairs until he reached a large, ground-floor window.

Theo could hear footsteps chasing him, but he didn't bother looking behind him.

Instead, he quickly forced the window open and clambered into the snow. 

The snow was just deep enough to fall into the top of his boots. The ice melting in his shoes made Theo shiver as he glared at the snow-covered garden he had just entered. 

It would make it more difficult to run away if he was leaving behind clear tracks.

Occasionally a little bit of blood he hadn't managed to stop fell to the ground. But Theo waste time checking what manner of hell-beast he had summoned. 

Instead, he just pumped his legs faster. He was nearing the garden's edge when a familiar scream pierced the air.

Almost losing his balance as he changed trajectory, Theo turned around.

Three creatures resembling a cross between a bat and a vulture circled Marie. 

They were a strange cross between ridiculous and terrifying. They were like something that would make you wet yourself in a nightmare, but then you would wake up and wonder why you had been so scared.

Except it was real.

Which made it scary like the dream, Theo supposed.

Marie coped with the creatures, but their movements were fast and sporadic. It was difficult for her to land a shot on them.

Theo grimaced. 

She was a capable woman. One of the best in her field. She could handle a couple of hell-bats

…Still, he could see she already had wounds from her battle with the wolf creature…

Theo grabbed a shadow lurking under a rose bush and twisted it into a vaguely lanced shape.

Kill the hell-creature, Theo whispered to it.

The now-lance shivered with excitement. 

Theo threw it. It flew true, and one of the hell-bats hit the ground.

It was a stupid waste of time. Theo knew that. 

But occasionally, his impulses got the best of him, and tonight was one of those times. Yet, even in his impulsive state, Theo knew better than to take care of all the hell-bats for Marie. 

That would spell disaster for himself. Instead, he turned to run while Marie fought the rest of the creatures. 

He was horrible, leaving the woman who had once saved his life to fight some monsters he had summoned. 

But if he didn't – Theo shook the thought out of his head.

Theo ran to the small castle's walls. This lord's castle had rough, stone walls, so plenty of footholds existed. It was a pleasant contrast to the king's sheer, nearly unclimbable palace walls Theo had recently had to circumvent. 

Theo was glad about that. He didn't want to have to fight his way past the guards at the gates.

Unfortunately, the snow made the wall slippery. 

Theo almost fell twice before he pulled himself to the top of the wall, and his fingers were going numb from the cold, making the climb even more difficult. 

He spared a moment to glance back. 

Marie was running toward him now.

It occurred to Theo that he had seriously miscalculated by helping Marie fight the bat creatures. 

Theo glanced down. It was too far to jump. Even in the snow, he would risk a broken bone.

Marie pointed her pistol at him.

Theo hit the top of the wall on his stomach and scrambled down the other side. He still wasn't on the ground, but at least he had the stone wall as a barrier between him and Marie. 

He would prefer not to find out what unpleasant spell she was about to fire at him.

Still, if he didn't hurry – A crash knocked Theo off the wall. Or rather, the wall fell off with Theo.

Theo twisted to land on his hands and knees. Blood trickled from his ears from the blast. He scrambled to his feet, looking for his assailant. 

It was Marie, the residual magic crackling around her proved she had been the one to fire that shot. If it could even be counted as a gunshot.

"Is that pistol a cannon?" Theo muttered as he scrambled to his feet.

Thankfully, it would require Marie a few minutes to collect enough mana to do anything extreme like that again.

 She must have drained the area of much of its ambient magic to blast through a wall like it was a tin can.

 However, he wouldn't be surprised if Marie could scrape together enough mana for a more minor spell but still threatening spell much faster. 

Furthermore, her comrades would have heard the explosion and would crash this fight any moment.

The explosion had also made Theo dizzy enough that he wasn't confident he could run, much less wield a dagger very effectively. 

There was only one option if Theo wanted to escape, and it was his least favorite. 

He would have to purposefully summon something with his blood.

Theo twisted a shadow into a blade and sliced his hand with it. It tried to burrow in his flesh and bathe in his blood. 

The shadows were worse than the summoned creatures when it came to that, taking on a sense of will that seemed almost sentient. 

Theo tossed it aside.

He knelt to the ground.

Marie rushed forward, gathering as much magic as possible, but she couldn't move fast enough to stop Theo.

 Theo pressed his hand to the snow. His blood squirmed, then congealed on the white canvas before turning black. It was disgusting, really.

Marie fired a shot. 

Thankfully, she hadn't had time to gather much magic or refine it. It was a relatively small lump of magic, but it still knocked Theo back with the force of a very, very concentrated punch. 

He landed on his back just as a serpent clawed its way into this world.

Theo and Marie froze in shock as it opened its jaws and released a defiant roar.