The Return Of The Exiled Villain

’How come I’m dealing with another anti-mana field again?!’ Gray was already becoming a little bit annoyed with this.

Not to mention that the field was quite wide.

It covered the fortress exterior completely, extending outward in every direction to a radius that almost reached the end of each corner.

He looked at the lava surrounding the fortress.

The molten rock flowed slowly in channels deliberately carved into the Nether Realm’s ground, separating the fortress from the surrounding landscape and serving as both a moat and a power source for the fortress’s inscription arrays.

An idea formed.

”Follow me,” he said quietly to both of them.

”Stay close.”

They moved along the fortress exterior wall, Gray keeping them in the blind spots between guard positions, his Spirit Eyes mapping the anti-mana field’s boundaries as they walked.

They had covered about thirty meters when he heard voices ahead.

He kept walking, keeping his pace casual.

Three demons rounded the corner of the wall directly in front of them, low-tier by their aura, but numerous enough and alert enough to be a problem.

They stopped when they saw the group, their eyes moving from Gray to Seraph to the elf princess with the slow, suspicious attention of guards who had been told something was wrong somewhere in the fortress and were now applying that suspicion broadly.

The largest one crossed its arms.

”You... I’ve never seen you before.”

Gray’s mouth twitched slightly.

He turned toward both women behind him, and the look on his face was one they had never seen from him before.

Hopeless.

Genuinely, deeply hopeless.

”Me? I’m not from this region... and I came here to get these two as my new slaves!” He quickly made up a reason, turning back to the demons with an expression he assembled quickly.

He gestured at them with a small wave of his hand.

”Quite pretty, aren’t they?”

He snapped his fingers.

The Demon Converging Gourd hummed at his hip as he pulled a thread of demonic energy from it, shaping it with his fingers into two thin collars that materialized around Seraph and the elf princess’s necks with a faint crimson glow.

He winked at them.

Seraph’s eyes went very wide.

The elf princess looked down at the collar around her neck, then up at Gray, then at the collar again.

”I—” Seraph started.

”Quiet,”

Seraph closed her mouth.

Her jaw was extremely tight.

”Oh-ho?”

The largest demon in the group stepped forward, a broad orc-type with a wide smirk spreading across its face as its eyes moved over the two women with a hint of lust on his eyes.

”Those slaves really are high quality.”

It moved toward the elf princess, his hand rising toward her chin.

”How much would you want for them? I’ve been looking for something like—”

Splat!

His hand separated from the wrist cleanly, hitting the ground before the orc had finished its sentence.

Gray’s rapier was already moving again.

Splurt!

The head followed the hand.

The body stayed upright for exactly one second before deciding it was finished.

Gray looked at the remaining demons in the group, his rapier still extended, the demonic energy from the Gourd cycling through his frame in its natural circulation pattern.

”They’re mine, you ugly piece of shit.”

The remaining demons looked at their former companion on the ground.

”W-wait!”

The others tried to run away, but unfortunately for them, Gray was simply. faster.

He covered the distance between himself and the nearest one before it completed its first step, the rapier moving in clean, consecutive arcs that didn’t waste anything.

Splat!

Thankfully, all of them were the lowest-tier of demon, meaning that their power was merely at the Master-level.

And because of that, the fight was over in seconds.

”Phew...”

He straightened up and looked at what remained, then at his rapier, then cleaned the blade with a single motion and sheathed it.

”...Let’s keep moving.”

He started walking.

Behind him, neither woman spoke immediately.

Until Seraph opened her mouth, ”Slaves? Really?”

”...It was the first thing that came to mind.”

”Really? You also thought of putting a collar on me? Were you in those kinds of things? I really didn’t know about that,” Seraph added, grabbing the collar on her neck, and shaking it slighly, making a few metallic sounds.

”...It worked,” Gray shrugged, ignoring her comment about his kinks.

The elf princess, walking on Seraph’s other side, looked down at the collar still faintly visible around her own neck, then at Gray’s back.

”...You cut his hand off before he touched me,” she spoke in a low tone.

”...Why?”

Gray felt a bit strange at that question.

”...I just felt that you wouldn’t like him touching you.”

Hearing her words, the elf princess fell into thought, her hand coming out to her chest, as she replied to him in a low tone.

”Thank you.”

Gray didn’t bother to reply.

Seraph glanced at the elf princess sideways, then at Gray’s back, then forward again.

”The collars,” the elf princess said, after another moment.

”Can you remove them now?”

”When we’re clear of the field,” he sighed.

”They’re part of the cover until then.”

”Mm.” She accepted that without complaint

The lava channels were visible ahead, the molten rock moving in its slow flow between the fortress and the open Nether Realm beyond, the heat coming off it pressing against them even at this distance.

Gray looked at it.

The idea from earlier was still there.

He looked at the anti-mana field boundary his Spirit Eyes had mapped, at the node in the northwestern corner, at the lava channels, at the distance between all three points.

”Mhm...”

’...The height should be about right.’

Fwish!

Then, without any warning at all, he moved.

Both of his hands shot out at the same time.

Seraph barely had time to register the shift in his posture before his grip closed around her arm, while his other hand caught the elf princess at the shoulder.

And then he threw them.

There was no buildup, no explanation, no hesitation.

One moment, they were walking beside him, and the next their feet left the ground entirely as he hurled both of them straight toward the lava channel ahead.

The world tilted violently.

Heat rushed up to meet them.

Seraph’s breath caught in her throat, her mind blanking for a single, sharp second before instinct took over.

”GRAYYY?!”

The elf princess didn’t even manage to form a word, her body tensing as her eyes widened, the reflection of molten orange swallowing her vision as the surface of the lava grew closer far too quickly.

The heat became suffocating, pressing against their skin, crawling into their lungs, promising pain, promising death...

And then Gray moved again.

He stepped forward and jumped after them without the slightest hint of urgency in his expression, as if he had done this a hundred times before, as if the outcome had already been decided in his mind long before his body acted.

His hand reached out.

He caught both of them mid-air, one arm wrapping around each of their waists, pulling them sharply into him just as the heat peaked and the surface of the lava rose to claim them.

For a second, it looked like all three of them were about to disappear into it.

”Finally...”

Gray felt his mana return.

”[✧Swap✧]”

The world around them folded, as in one instant, they were suspended above a river of molten rock....

...Next, the heat was gone.

Swish!

They reappeared in a narrow, concealed space tucked between jagged stone formations, just far enough from the fortress entrance that its looming presence felt distant, yet still close enough to see the outer walls through the cracks.

Gray landed lightly, still holding both of them, before setting them down as if nothing unusual had happened.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Seraph stood there, her body stiff, her breath uneven as the delayed reaction hit her all at once, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides as she stared at him.

”...Y-you...”

Her voice trembled slightly, though whether from anger or leftover fear wasn’t clear.

”You threw us into lava.”

”You weren’t going to fall in.” Gray shrugged faintly.

”That’s not the point!”

Her voice rose, her composure cracking as she took a step toward him, her eyes sharp, her chest rising and falling faster than before.

”You didn’t even say anything, you just...”

She cut herself off, dragging a hand through her hair as if trying to steady herself, though the tension in her shoulders refused to leave.

”Tsk... You’re insane.”

”...It worked,” he replied calmly.

The elf princess, on the other hand, hadn’t spoken yet.

She stood slightly apart from them, her hand still resting lightly against her chest, her breathing controlled but not entirely steady, her gaze lowered for a brief moment before lifting slowly toward Gray.

”And now...”

Snap!

The collar on their neck disappeared instantly, making the remaining demonic energy return to the Demon Converging Gourd.

”Just wait a little now,” Gray sighed, sitting on the ground.

”For who?”

”Of course, the person who brought me here.”