"Me out of here? I'm perfectly fine with handling myself. Besides, we're already here, so why bother leaving now?" Selena stated, crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Did you not hear what I said? That demon could easily kill you," Cedric extra emphasized, already freaking out from his lack of a plan to get Selena out safely. "Maybe if we..." he paused and flinched when pain shot through his skull.

Selena's eyes widened in bewilderment when blood trickled out of his right nostril. She strolled over to him and cupped his face, making him look at her. "Hey, are you alright? Your nose is bleeding!" she said in a panic, remembering how he got slammed into a wall earlier.

"Oh, yeah, I'm all good. It only hurts a little, I swear," Cedric said with a big smile as he waved his hand around to ease her nerves. He reached up and wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. "See? All better," he said with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Selena let out a sigh and gazed up at him, not believing him for a second. "If I find out you're lying. I'm not going to be happy," she pointed out with a deep frown on her face. She pulled away and took a step back. "But, I was being serious earlier. I want to stay and finish this mission."

"Dante is going to kill me at this rate," Cedric whined quietly to himself. He let out a sigh, realizing that she had no plans to back down. "Alright, but be sure to stay close to me, and if things get too bad, we're leaving," he stated. He extended his hand out. A ball of light formed in his open palm that illuminated their surroundings.

"I guess that's fair enough," Selena stated. She leaned to the side to look around him. She pointed in the direction of a staircase that led to an upper floor, "Looks like we can take those to get back up to the top floor."

"I'm glad they're leading to the left side of the building, which means we can avoid that demon for a little while longer," Cedric mentioned before walking up the steps.

That feeling earlier must have been me picking up on that demon's power level. But, it's still concerning how we were put on this mission even though it seems like it's too much for me to handle, Selena briefly wondered. She paused on the last step when Cedric stopped moving. She peered around the wall only to see people drinking and dancing.

"I've just noticed something concerning about all these people here. They're under a spell. It would explain why no one has freaked out yet, especially with all the bodies and blood everywhere," Cedric explained as he cautiously walked into the room.

Selena entered the room and walked in front of a woman dancing. She waved her hand in front of the woman's face only to frown when she didn't get a response. The woman's eyes didn't move a muscle, and she didn't say anything.

Selena squinted her eyes when she noticed the woman's eyes were a dark purple color, and there wasn't a single reflection in them. "Doesn't seem like they can see or hear us either," she explained.

Selena's blood ran cold when the woman looked down at her. Her eyes quickly flickered over to something shiny that the woman pulled out of her pocket. Selena raised her arms up to protect her throat when the woman pulled out a dagger and swung at her.

Selena gritted her teeth when the blade glided across her skin, leaving a burning sensation in its wake. She ground her teeth and jumped back. "Looks like we have a bigger problem on our hands," she yelled over to Cedric when she saw more crowds of people wander toward them.

"You have to be killed. All exorcists must die. It's what The Demon King wants," the woman muttered under her breath. She dragged her body toward Selena and swung the dagger she was holding diagonally. Selena twisted her body to the right, avoiding the metal by a few inches.

"What are we going do?" Selena shouted over to Cedric before briefly looking over at him. She noticed how he held up his staff to block a man's incoming attacks with a knife.

"We'll just have to knock them out with spells. I wouldn't want to kill anyone tonight," Cedric said before he clenched his jaw when the man he was holding off slashed at him more with the weapon in his hand that he continued to block.

Selena nodded her head and placed her palm toward the woman. Her heart pounded against her chest when a startling realization hit her, causing her arm to tremble. Crap! My accuracy isn't that good. If I hit her with a spell, I might actually kill her, she thought while chewing the inside of her cheek.

Selena crossed both of her arms in front of her with determination flashing in her eyes. If I'm worried about killing her, then I have the perfect solution, she thought, as a purple light enveloped her body. "Rain and wave!" she shouted and pushed her arms out.

Gray clouds slithered across the ceiling and released an onslaught of raindrops on the people below. The people struggled to stand up straight as their shoes slid across the wet flooring. A wave of water danced behind Selena and crawled over her. It collided with the people, forcing them back into another room.

Cedric ducked low to avoid the man's continuous knife attacks. "Lighting strike," he mumbled softly. He carefully slid across the wet floor as a blue light enveloped his body. He swung his arm horizontally as he went by the people, causing electricity to race across each of their bodies, giving them a light shock that made them faint.

"Pretty good teamwork," Cedric praised with a big goofy smile. He tilted his head to look over at her before he stared at Selena in bewilderment.

"Uh..." Selena breathed out in shock when an ebony-black puddle formed beneath her feet. She attempted to jump back, only for her breath to hitch when hands burst out of it and grabbed onto her legs.

Selena let out a scream when the hands yanked her down into the inky-black water, not giving her or Cedric a chance to cast a spell to stop it.

Darkness swam into her vision when she was dragged into it. Regardless of how much she moved her limbs around, she couldn't break free of their hold.

A gasp left Selena's lips when she was suddenly thrown out of it onto a hard flooring. She devoured as much air as she could to replenish her lungs. She propped herself up by her elbows back to her feet.

Selena's body shivered when a cold breeze crawled up her back. She glanced up only for her eyebrows to furrow in confusion when she saw the starry night sky above.

Selena's eyes darted to the right and left. She saw a black railing decorating the edges of the building. Why am I on the building's roof?" she thought, confused as she saw other buildings in the distance.

"Finally, it looks like we're all alone. I couldn't have your sweet partner getting in my way," Ava sweetly mentioned. She dangled her feet off the small rectangular part of the building that housed the stairs to get to the lower floors.

"What? Are you planning on making a meal out of me? Don't think I'm going to let you win!" Selena declared despite her heart rapidly beating inside her chest. She clutched onto the handle of her key and transformed it into a scythe.

"Wow, you're good. I figured I would kill you first and then eat your little friend afterward," Ava announced with a fanged grin. She pushed herself off where she had been sitting and gracefully landed on her feet.

Selena gritted her teeth and took a step back, getting into a fighting stance. She swung her scythe around, sending multiple air slashes in Ava's direction.

"You're so weak it's not even funny. It's always nice to have easy prey," Ava mocked. She ripped through Selena's attacks easily and snapped her finger, causing a purple beam to emit out of thin air and tear through Selena's right shoulder.

Tears welled up in Selena's eyes as she swallowed her cry of pain. She steadied her stance despite the pain shooting through her body. She squeezed the handle of her scythe tightly. I'm not very good with my powers, but I'm not going to go down without a fight, Selena thought as she struck the ground with her weapon.

Ava took a step back when something moved underneath the roof tiles, racing toward her at lightning speed. She used her right leg to propel herself into the air when she felt the floor crumble away where she stood. Her eyes widened in surprise when a giant flame lion burst out of the floor, opening its jaws wide.