“You know? What do you mean, you know?” Virgil stepped forward. “What are you doing to stop it? I’d like to be a part of that effort.”

  The mage’s lips pressed into a line. “There is no stopping it. The connection to the other realms is an acceptable consequence of the System.”

  “An acceptable— you knew this would happen?” Hellfire rose up in Virgil’s chest, flaring up with his anger. Black flames flickered down his arms and across his knuckles. “It really is caused by the System, then?” His eyes flicked to Cyrian, who stood calmly as if untouched by the storm brewing between the mages. Cyrian had suggested as much, but Virgil had resisted it, sure that it was a demon trick.

  Master Ziua clicked his fingers. “Virgil Spells, I do remember you. You were the brightest student in my class. I recall thinking you might even reach Mastery one day.” He looked down at Virgil’s clenched fists, and his mouth twisted into a sneer. “If you could ever get your emotions in check.”

  Virgil took a deep breath and focused on pulling the black flames back into himself. Briefly, he couldn’t help but wonder if all combat spells were so responsive to a person’s mental state or if it was only infernal spells. He’d always chosen mental spells over combat, so he had nothing to compare it to. That said, it wasn’t a phenomenon he’d heard mention of in the past, which suggested it was specific to infernal type. That, too, opened up a world of possibilities. Was there something special about infernal magic in particular that caused it to activate outside System-based commands, or would any magic from another realm have the same effects? Perhaps, before they lost the connection, he could find another realm and earn another spell, see if it had the same effects.

  The memory of Ren’s face stopped him short. Shame and anger washed through him, and for a second he understood how the Master Mages could have put their curiosity above the lives of strangers.

  Virgil would not make the same mistake. He locked eyes with the Master Mage. “For every demon unleashed on Grimora, hundreds will die. If the System is the cause of this, then we must dismantle it.”

  Master Ziua laughed. “We? There is no we. I have no desire to unmake my magnum opus.”

  “People are going to die!”

  “People die,” the Master shrugged. “I understand your concerns. I do. But the System is working as designed, and it does more good than harm. Give it time, and you will see. Fighting the demons will make our people stronger as a whole.”

  Every time Virgil pushed down his rage, it bubbled up stronger and hotter. It boiled over now. Master Ziua was dismissing lives as though the loss of them, for the greater good, was acceptable. Even desirable? He had known this would happen and set the pieces in motion nonetheless.

  His voice shook. “Without your help, then, I will break the System down.”

  Master Ziua’s expression changed, then, to one of piercing appraisal. “Yes,” he said at last. “I believe you would.” He raised a hand, and it immediately burst into flame. “I cannot allow that to happen.”

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  Red-hot fire lanced from his fingertips toward Virgil. Cyrian stepped between them, and the flames coated his night-black body.

  Your party has entered combat!

  Your turn!

  Virgil panicked. Combat! Was this really what it had come to? Perhaps it was inevitable, but this was far from how he had expected the night to go. In the worst case scenario, he imagined being turned away without assistance.

  But everything was so much worse than he’d imagined. Not only would Master Ziua not help him, the Master believed the System was working exactly as it was supposed to. For some reason he wanted Grimora to connect to these other realms, he had no problem with demons attacking innocent civilians — in fact, he was glad that it would force people to take more combat spells and grow stronger!

  It was wrong. It was infuriating. And Virgil had the power to stop it.

  “Hellfire Bolt!” he cast the infernal spell, and black flames shot toward Master Ziua.

  The mage screamed. Hellfire licked across his skin as though his robes were not even there, devouring his health points until his pool was empty.

  Defeated Master Ziua, level 89!

  EXP +1,500,000

  Level up!

  Level up!

  Level up!

  As soon as the turn ended the flames disappeared, as if they had never been. Master Ziua slumped to the ground, dead.

  Virgil stared. “I didn’t. I didn’t mean. I didn’t think he’d be. Is he?”

  The demon lord slowly approached and rested a hand, uncharacteristically gentle, on his shoulder. “It was self defense,” he said. “You wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

  Virgil forced a nod. If the demon said it, it must be true. “How did I even—? He was a Master Mage, I’m just— I’m a student.” He inspected his hands, but all traces of the black fire was gone.

  Cyrian considered the question. “Master Ziua was powerful, but I noticed earlier that there wasn’t any magical security around his estate. It is possible that the majority of his magic was tied up in the System; as one of the founders of it, he may have had to make a permanent sacrifice in order to keep the System afloat. It also seems that the infernal aspect of your spell was able to break through his defenses.”

  The demon’s logical tone was like a cool breeze on Virgil’s frayed nerves. He’d killed a man. Not just any man, but a great one, one of the founders of the System, which was a magical working of such complexity that it boggled the mind.

  Worse, it had been easy. One spell, and the great mage was dead.

  It made him realize how easy it would be to do again.

  “You said his magic was tied up in the System?” he asked the demon.

  “I said it was a possibility.”

  “So if all the other mages are like that too, then the System will lose a lot of its power?”

  “It stands to reason.”

  By this point, Virgil was hardly listening. His mind was miles ahead, at the house of the next mage, where he would ask the same questions. In principal, he agreed with the benefits of the System. He had argued for it in many debates, cheerfully pointing out the benefits of raising the skill levels of all the citizens of Grimora.

  But he had not known the cost. It was not worth this. If progress had to be made more slowly, then so be it. He would not stand by while his countrymen were slaughtered by demons who had no right entering this realm in the first place.

  “Let’s look around the place,” Virgil told Cyrian. “Find an office or a study, someplace he might keep information about the other Master Mages.”

  He would visit them all and give them each the same ultimatum. Help him dismantle the System… or die.

  He thought of Ren and Cassian. He clenched his fists. “Your deaths will not be in vain,” he swore. “They will be the start of something new.”