The Seven Demon's Tamer

"Familiar... Retreat!"

The words echoed through the evening air with a resonance that seemed to vibrate in Ryder's very bones. He had done this before, though under vastly different circumstances—desperation had driven him then.

Now, there was intention behind his actions, a deliberate understanding of the process that felt both foreign and familiar at the same time.

Chanting the word even though it wasn't necessary, he moved the gamma energy inside his body in similar fashion to the way it moves before a portal materializes.

After a short moment of absolute stillness, he burst violently with purple gamma energy, striking the ground like lightning bolts.

The process began intensely but still had room for increase. The sparks multiplied and intensified, their purple light casting a purple glow across the faces of his companions and the surrounding debris.

Right in front of him were sparks, increasing every moment until eventually they evolved into swirling streaks of gamma energy like purple lightning.

The portal began to take shape slowly, starting as a rough distortion in the air before taking proper shape. It wasn't the violent breach that had appeared during the portal break—this was controlled.

The edges of the portal crackled with contained energy, seemingly taking time to stabilize.

Giving it enough time to fully stabilize, Ryder stepped back slightly to admire his work.

The portal hung in the air like a doorway made of pure energy. Purple light emanated from within, reflecting an ethereal glow.

'I guess it's time,' he thought inwardly.

'Thank you,' Luxy's voice whispered in Ryder's mind, soft as a summer breeze. 'For accepting me, despite everything.'

Before Ryder could respond, Luxy stepped forward into the portal, disappearing from the real world back to Ryder's soul space.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the portal zapped out of existence, taking Luxy with it and leaving no trace that it had ever existed.

'Are you there, Luxy?' he inquired mentally, holding his breath as he waited for a response.

'Yes,' came Luxy's reply, that familiar single, flat response.

Ryder smiled with relief flooding through him. The familiar weight of Luxy's presence in his mind was comforting for him now, more than it had ever been.

With Mara having already gone her separate way to face what would undoubtedly be a difficult conversation with her father, and Master Sung having departed, leaving his Red Eastern guild members to handle whatever guild leaders handled after events like this, Ryder found himself with nothing else to do in the village.

Taking a quick glance behind him, he noticed a portal swirling at ground level, much smaller and more controlled than the one he had created.

From it, villagers began to pour out in small groups, their faces bearing the universal expression of people who had survived something terrible. Some were crying, others laughing with relief, many simply staring around in shock at the destruction that had become their new reality.

'So that's a spatial affinity,' Ryder wondered inwardly, watching with fascination. 'An affinity that grants the ability to create spaces to store anything, including living things.'

The practicality of it was quite unsettling—imagine being able to carry an entire army in your familiar, or preserve limitless supplies in a space outside the normal world.

"Quite the show," Leo commented, scoffing as he turned his face away and shut his eyes with his regular exaggerated expression. "Though I have to say, your portal technique could use some work. Too much flash, it looks nearly stupid compared to this."

Ryder smiled softly then continued walking.

"Our destination is going to be a far distance from here," he said, his voice taking on a concerned tone. "Are you sure you'll be able to cover that distance on foot?"

The effect of his words was comical. Brok's carefully maintained facade of toughness crumbled instantly, and he nearly collapsed with relief.

"I thought you would never ask!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking with comical emotion. "My legs are aching from all the running, damn it! I feel like I've been dragging myself across half the continent!"

Ryder couldn't help but smile at Brok's dramatic reaction. He wasn't particularly surprised by Brok's condition—despite his best efforts to help during their journey within the village, nothing could change the fundamental fact that Brok was simply not built for the kind of physical demands that they had all fulfilled.

His familiar might be useful in its own way, but it didn't enhance his physical capabilities the way other familiars might. It just wasn't suited for combat.

Leo, meanwhile, had remained characteristically stubborn to hide his own condition, maintaining the pretense that he was perfectly fine.

However, Ryder had become adept at reading them, and closer inspection revealed the truth that Leo was trying to hide. His legs were trembling almost unnoticeably.

"You could have let me know earlier," Ryder said, shaking his head. "Walking all the way back would be too boring and time-consuming anyway. I've been wanting an excuse to really cut loose."

Before either of his companions could ask what he meant, Ryder moved with fluid precision. He grabbed Leo with one arm and Brok with the other, his enhanced strength making their combined weight feel insignificant.

"I always wanted to see how fast I could really run while holding you two," he added with an excited grin.

"Wait, what are you—" Brok began, but his words were cut off as Ryder's body exploded with energy.

With a single, incredible motion that seemed to compress all of Ryder's accumulated power into one instant, they blasted off into the distance.

The ground beneath Ryder's feet cracked from the force of their departure, leaving a small crater as the only evidence of where they had been.

The sensation of traveling at such speed was indescribable. The world blurred around them, buildings and trees becoming streaks of color as they raced through the landscape.

Ryder felt for once he was using some effort. The battle at the village hadn't truly tested his limits—if anything, it had been almost disappointingly easy. He was discovering reserves of strength and endurance that he hadn't gotten to expend.

For Brok and Leo, the experience was somewhat less pleasant. Both men found themselves clinging to Ryder tightly with the fear that letting go would result in them becoming very flat pancakes against the nearest wall.

"SLOW DOWN!" Brok screamed, his voice barely audible over the wind. "I CAN'T FEEL MY FACE!"

"THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT WALKING!" Leo shouted back, though there was laughter in his voice despite the terror.

The journey that had taken them over an hour to complete on foot was compressed into a single, breathtaking few seconds of incredible speed.

When they finally came to a stop at a familiar location—the village entrance gate—both Leo and Brok needed several moments to remember how their legs were supposed to work.

Walking through it, they nearly felt like a heavy weight was lifted off their chests.

"You look terrible," Ryder observed, turning to Leo with genuine concern. Leo's skin had taken on a distinct paleness, and there were lines of strain around his eyes that had been there ever since the battle had concluded. "Is this the drawback for reaching your limit while using your techniques?"

Leo nodded slowly, his usual energetic demeanor subdued by exhaustion.

"It hasn't always been like this," he admitted, settling down on a convenient piece of rubble that had once been part of the gate that had been half destroyed now. "But ever since I aged too much, I've ended up facing this once in a while after every stressful fight."

"Aged too much?" Ryder repeated, his voice filled with puzzlement. "You aren't even thirty, and you're talking about age like you're some sort of old man."

The statement struck both Ryder and Brok as almost comically absurd. Here was Leo, with his boyish face and endless energy, complaining about being old.

"Yeah, what's next? Are you going to complain about your back hurting and start telling us stories about how things were better in the old days?" Brok added.

But instead of laughing along with their jokes, Leo's expression grew distant and somewhat serious. There was something in his eyes that made both of their laughter slowly die down in awkwardness.

"You have no clue about my real age, do you?"