"I'm still not happy about you training", Wonpil commented while walking beside Seungmin to the trainings hall for magical creatures. It was the third time the older demon had said this after Seungmin had declared he would join the training no matter what.

"I feel fine, hyung and should something come up will I be able to handle it or at least get you. So stop worrying so much", Seungmin huffed in light annoyance. He loved his brother, he really did, but right now the last thing Seungmin wanted to do was nothing. May his moral compass be damned.

"Still, you shouldn't use your magic", Wonpil continued. It was probably the first time ever Wonpil agreed with something Lilith had said in the older's entire life. Byungho and Woosu had given up on intervening in this little discussion, because unlike Wonpil they had realized that Seungmin would train, not matter what they said. Still, the redhead knew they were still worried about him and silently thanked them for it, even though he really felt like nothing had happened.

Another thing Seungmin was thankful for was the fact that his father wasn't the most attentive parent and therefore didn't question what his children were really doing. It was the reason they were at the headquarter, since Seungmin wasn't sure if they would be if Lucifer hadn't once again teleported his four sons here by request.

Seungmin swore it amused his father endlessly that they had to rely on his help, which was why at some point the redhead swore to himself that he would try to figure out an alternative. Maybe Woosu knew how to perform a teleportation spell and could teach him. Right now, Seungmin hated it that he never learned spells like that by himself. It would have come in handy in so many situations, but no he rather focused on things he could directly use for pranks. Goodness, he should have used his talent differently back in his school days.

When the four brothers arrived at the trainings hall and you could already hear spells being performed without entering the room. They knew where they needed to head, because Jisung told them as requested by Chan. Apparently Stray Kids had been split up into three groups. Maybe now it was even four if Changbin had to train with his vampire hyungs.

Seungmin still disliked the thought of Changbin having to lead a group of vampires plus Wonpil. Of course, all the vampires, which Changbin should lead, were more or less professional or familiar with him, but it just didn't sit well with him for a reason he couldn't explain himself.

The four brothers entered the hall carefully, because no one wanted to be accidentally hit by any kind of spell that was trained in there. The hall was filled with magical creatures that either trained creating portals or combat related spells.

Seungmin almost immediately spotted Jisung's mop of blue hair standing beside a fairy with white wings. They seemingly trained creating portals since Yuta, who seemingly taught it to them, had a little portal beside him and apparently was explaining some things, judging by the way he was gesturing a lot towards the purple swirl of magical energy.

The redhead was just a bit confused about the male standing next to Jisung, since the young demon couldn't remember ever seeing that male or maybe he did and just forgot? No, he wouldn't forget a fairy with pink hair, since despite popular believes they weren't really common. Maybe that was Park Jimin from BTS the person Jisung was supposed to work with for the rescue mission.

"What are you looking at?", Wonpil asked, following Seungmin's gaze until he saw Jisung, Yuta and the pink-haired fairy. "Woah Jimin seems almost tall next to Jisung" the older demon commented, confirming the name of the fairy unintentionally. At first Seungmin was satisfied with knowing who the person beside Jisung was, but then he questioned why his brother knew him.

"How do you know Jimin?", Seungmin asked, looking at his older brother. "Same university. We walked by each other a few times, but basically everyone at the university knows him so catching his name isn't that hard", Wonpil explained, shrugging.

"Shouldn't we like do something?", Woosu chimed in, looking at his two demonic brothers with a bit of insecurity in his eyes. Seungmin automatically started to look around, searching for Taeyong, since the red-haired guardian has always been the one to organize stuff like that, but maybe he was busy now. The four brothers were fashionably late, after all.

"I will search for Youngjae. He should be here somewhere and know what to do", Wonpil suggested, but before he could start searching for his university friend someone noticed them. It was a tall male with rather broad shoulders and bleached blond hair. Seungmin remembered him from the day of the war declaration. His name was Matthew but apparently was also called BM. As far as Seungmin was aware he and Taeyong were both guardians and therefore held the same kind of status, but the first time the redhead had seen Matthew he had been a bit hotheaded.

"A little late, huh?", Matthew asked in a teasing manner, obviously not wanting to call them out for not being on time. Without really waiting for the four brothers to respond, the guardian asked them to just follow him. He seemed pretty relaxed, which was contrast to Seungmin's first expression of him, but the redhead knew better than to underestimate a person. Matthew was probably just as strong as Taeyong. Maybe he was even stronger depending on his ability.

Matthew lead the Kim brothers a little deeper into the trainings hall and managed to dodge every magical creature that was training combat skills. Looking past the guardian, Seungmin could see Taeyong training with Renjun, Haechan and NCT's Jisung. Just by watching the four of them for a few seconds, Seungmin could tell that they worked together perfectly. They have reached the point where they automatically cancelled each other's weaknesses out and worked together like one being. It was just remarkable to watch if Seungmin was honest.

"I found the magical creatures you were missing", Matthew announced when they were close enough to Taeyong. The red-haired warlock turned his head around and looked at the approaching group, seeming a bit relieved but it didn't last long.

"It seems like they brought someone along too", Taeyong commented, looking past Seungmin to Woosu. Seungmin could see that the older male was a bit guarded today, but it was probably due his tiredness. It didn't take an excellent observation skill to see that Taeyong was exhausted. Seungmin really hoped that this didn't cloud his judgement of Woosu.

"This is Kim Minseok or Woosu. He is a skilled warlock and our brother", Byungho introduced Woosu. Woosu, as polite as he always was, did a little bow towards Taeyong when he was introduced and greeted NCT's leader properly. Seungmin could sense that Woosu was nervous without looking at the warlock, which probably wasn't beneficial for the situation, but there was nothing he could do about it right now.

"A warlock, huh", Taeyong sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, thinking. Seungmin couldn't detected whenever that was a good or bad sign, but he hoped for a good one. They needed magical creature for the rescue mission, so letting Woosu help would be beneficial for everyone, right?

"Seems like the gods send you right on time. We could really need another warlock", the guardian stated, letting his hands drop from his face, so he could look at the Kim brothers once more. Seungmin quietly let a the breath escape he did know the was holding. Despite his exhaustion Taeyong looked kind of relieved and so did Matthew, who had seemed a bit confused when his fellow guardian reacted strangely to Woosu.

Seungmin was glad that Taeyong had no problem with his brother participating in the rescue mission. After all, Woosu did train his magical abilities for his whole life. Now he could finally put that knowledge to good use.

"Did you tell him everything he needs to know?", Taeyong asked, looking at Seungmin, Wonpil and Byungho. The three had caught Woosu up on the basics of the plan and how everything here worked more or less, but nothing more specific. After all, they didn't want to risk giving him false information and they had had a bit of a time problem too.

"We told him the basics, yes", Wonpil answered. Taeyong nodded and seemed to think of something before he spoke. "I will catch him up on the rest then while the rest you starts training", the guardian suggested. The three Kim brothers nodded in agreement. Taeyong looked at Matthew, who then lead Wonpil, Byungho and Seungmin to another part of the hall while Woosu walked along with Taeyong.

Seungmin glanced over his shoulder to see the white-haired warlock was leaving the hall with Taeyong. He hoped his brother would be able to handle everything on his own, but for now he should concentrate on his training, so he wouldn't mess up on the rescue mission. Hopefully, he would be able to learn the things he needed as fast as he did usual, even with a confused moral compass.

The redhead took a breath and then looked forward. He shouldn't be so worried. A confused moral compass couldn't do anything to his magical abilities and mind, right? He knew how to create small portals for objects, so he would master the same for people in no time. He will do just fine as always.

——————————

"And dodge", Changkyun instructed, verbally guiding Changbin through the move they were training. The young royal did just as instructed and dodged the blow from the older by ducking away.

If somebody would watch them they would think Changbin ad Changkyun were fighting like normal creatures in a rather fast pace, but the catch was they were slow for vampires. Normally vampires fought at a pace that was sometimes hard to follow for the human eye.

"Good job, Binnie", Changkyun complimented the younger with a grin while pulling his arms back to him. Changbin straighten his back and resumed his previous position. They have been training in this "slow" pace for a while now and at some point Changbin began to question the use of it. Up until now the young royal vampire had went through a lot of fighting routines that specialized on dodging and then hitting the target with one strong blow. It would probably knock out any human easily.

Changbin knew that it was a good preparation for the most part and that Changkyun taught him those routines for a purpose, but in which realistic fights would those practiced routines come in handy? If Changbin had learned something over the last few weeks, then that nothing happened like planned.

"Can we pick up the pace now, so we can put those routines to practical use?", Changbin requested, which earned him a chuckle from Changkyun. The older vampire was clearly amused and the young uncrown king guessed it was because of him getting impatient.

"If you want to get your ass kicked, sure. I will use human speed and try to fight like a hunter, just without a weapon", the older suggested and cracked his knuckles before he got into a fighting position. Changbin felt a bit teased by the older, but he didn't want to let that get the better of him for the sake of proofing the other wrong. After all, Changbin knew that Changkyun was a very smart and skilled fighter, otherwise, he wouldn't have worked for his parents at such a young age.

Changbin readied himself and didn't let Changkyun out of his eyes. Without any kind of warning, the older vampire immediately aimed for the younger's stomach. Changbin couldn't fully understand why Changkyun was going for such an easily avoidable blow and tried to dodge to the side, but the next thing he knew was that he stumbled over something and barely managed to keep his balance.

"And you lost", Changkyun mused when he steadied the younger vampire by grappling his arm. Changbin huffed and internally cursed himself for really believing that Changkyun would actually stick to the things they had previously trained, but he had a good reason for that. The older fought in human speed and still managed to take Changbin off guard. If something like that had happened with a real hunter Changbin would probably be dead now.

Changbin frowned lightly while trying to come up with a method to counter such tricks effectively. He should not be taken off guard so easily in a real fight.

"Don't look so frustrated. We're still training, alright? We can go again", Changkyun said and patted Changbin's shoulder. The younger vampire looked up to the older and was met with an encouraging smile.

"Then let's try this again", Changbin answered with a nod and resumed his position. He would do better this time. Changkyun grinned a bit and took some steps back, also resuming his position. Again without warning, Changkyun took the initiative and attacked but this time Changbin was ready for anything.

He dodged Changkyun's feint and managed to jump back giving him more room as well as a better view on Changkyun. The young vampire quickly searched for an opening in the other's defense just like they had trained earlier. If he found one he could win with one strike, but there was no obvious opening.

"Stop thinking for so long", Changkyun said while he tried to knock Changbin off his feet with a kick. The younger once again dodged and quickly jumped back. This was harder than he thought. Hunters were skilled fighters with all sorts of weapons and knew a lot about supernatural creatures. The only way to defeat them quickly was to outsmart them and be faster than they expected you to be.

Changbin wanted to facepalm when he realized that he should put his speed to better use. Without hesitating and thinking any further, Changbin backed off once more, so he had more room before he quickly got behind Changkyun, trying to punch the other's back. The older managed to dodge to the side, making Changbin almost stumble forward.

The younger caught himself early enough to dodge another blow from Changkyun by diving forward and quickly regaining his posture again. This was so much harder than he had ever imagine it to be. Normally, Changbin was a very good fighter, because he had been taught to defend himself since he was young. He was also bit faster and stronger than an average vampire, but he obviously lacked practical experience unlike Changkyun and probably every hunter out there.

"Harder than you thought, huh?", Changkyun asked with a bit of humor, but he didn't let his guard down one bit to Changbin's dismay. "Definitely", the younger vampire nodded. The older grinned a bit and a part of Changbin hoped that now he could spot an opening but he didn't. For once Changkyun waited for Changbin to attack but didn't dare to make it easy for him.

"Wait. That's the point. There is no opening in his defense because I need to create one", the young king realized quietly. A bit of a smile made it's way onto Changbin's lips when he finally figured out what Changkyun really wanted him to do and came up with a little plan.

The young vampire once again tried attacking with his speed, but this time it was his feint. He pretended to aim for Changkyun's legs, but actually he wanted to hit the other's side. The older fell for Changbin's feint, creating a small opening in his defense when he tried to dodge the incoming blow and then strike back.

In the matter of a split second, Changbin used that small opening and lightly punched Changkyun in the side, but at the same moment he could feel how his left arm was grabbed. Without thinking, Changbin pulled his left arm to himself, turning Changkyun towards him and then letting his right fist come pretty close to the other's face.

"That was excellent", Changkyun praised with a wide grin on his face, even though Changbin's fist hovered in front of his face. The younger vampire let his hand drop and Changkyun let go of Changbin's left arm, so they could stand normally again.

"You would have won that one for sure", the older said, ruffling the smaller male's hair. Changbin scrunched up his nose, pretending to not like being treated like a small child, but he couldn't help the smile forming on his lips. It wasn't like he had never been praised before, but it felt different coming from Changkyun since he wasn't someone who would do it just to motivate others. No, when Changkyun praised someone he meant it.

"Can we do it again?", Changbin asked, trying his best to not sound too eager. Changkyun grinned again and took his hand off Changbin's head before he agreed.

—————————

"Alright Jisung. Let's try this again. This time think a bit bigger", Jimin instructed and created a portal, which was big enough to let two people pass through easily. Jisung, who stood some meters away from Jimin, nodded and tried to concentrated again.

It wasn't so long ago that Yuta had left the two to train by themselves. Jimin had already mastered the portal spell, but that hadn't surprised Jisung at all since the other was older than him and probably knew a lot of other spells the young warlock had never heard about. Besides, Jimin was the only creature in his group that was able to create portals, so he probably learned it a long time ago, since it was quite useful for his group.

Jisung felt sorry for the fairy, because he was stuck with a beginner like him, who still needed to master the spell. Still, just mastering the spell wasn't everything. Jisung and Jimin had to be able to connect and synchronize their portals in order to keep them open longer and more stable, since they needed to remain open even if Zendala should try to hijack them.

The young warlock took a breath, looked at Jimin's portal and then began mumbling the spell for his portal. He reached out his hand and began to make barely noticeable circling motions with his pointer finger. Slowly a little blue swirling pool appeared in front of him, growing with every second that passed. He needed to make it just as big as Jimin's and then try to synchronize it.

Slowly the portal reached the requested size, but Jisung could already feel that it wasn't really stable just like the previous once. It felt like it was wobbly to the young warlock, even though you couldn't see that something was wrong with it. Jisung tried to put more of his magical energy into it to stabilize the whole thing, but that just cause it to get a tad bigger.

"I will try to connect them now", Jimin stated. "No, wait", Jisung called out to the older. His portal wasn't stable enough for a synchronization just yet. Just one second of Jisung being inattentive was enough for the portal to collapse. It puffed and became light blue magical dust, which snowed onto the ground, disappearing within seconds. Jisung groaned and let his shoulders slumped. He failed. Again.

The warlock ruffled his dark blue hair in frustration and didn't dare to look Jimin's way. The other was probably disappointed and slowly getting annoyed. Jisung wouldn't even be surprised if the fairy asked himself why he was stuck with Jisung.

"By all the gods, why can't I do this?", Jisung asked himself quietly, looking at his feet. He had already studied the portal spell in a smaller proportion. He should know how this worked and he should be able to do it, but it was just so hard.

"Should we take a break?", Jimin spoke up next to him. Jisung jumped back in surprise. When had the fairy walked up next to him? The young warlock's expression mirrored the one of a scared cat just a bit funnier when he stared at the male with the pink hair with wide eyes. Jimin looked at him with his head a bit tilted to the right. His eyes shimmered a bit in the color of his wings.

"N-no, we can continue if you want", Jisung answered with a little stutter while trying to recover from his shocked state. "Alright then", Jimin shrugged and went back to his position. Yeah, Jisung was pretty sure Jimin didn't like him for multiple reasons.

They tried the whole thing again. Jisung was able to keep his portal more or less stable, but when they tried to connect the portals they both imploded, covering Jimin and Jisung in a mix of blue and white magical dust.

Jisung ruffled his hair to get the dust out. He really hoped the ground would just swallow him. Why couldn't he get this right? They have been here for hours and still had no results to show. Time wasn't on their side either, so they needed to master this as quickly as possible, but at this pace they won't be able to help anyone and that was Jisung's fault.

"You two will use up all your magical energy if you continue like that", a voice spoke up behind Jisung, ripping the boy out of his thoughts and startling him at the same time. The young warlock turned around and was met with his spells and potions teacher, Mr. Lee, or Minhyuk as he likes to be called outside of his lessons.

"Do you know a different way to do this?", Jimin asked in a neutral voice while walking up to Minhyuk and Jisung. The glimmer in the fairy's eyes was hard to describe. He looked like he wanted to hear Minhyuk's advice, but was also absolutely ready fight, which confused Jisung a lot. Still, the young warlock hoped that his teacher could help them, so they could finally have some sort of result.

"Well, Yuta may be a genius of a magical creature, but he isn't the best teacher if what I saw are the results of his teaching", Minhyuk lightly joked, looking at both Jisung and Jimin. Jisung ducked a bit under his teacher's gaze, knowing that his performance really wasn't the best until Minhyuk laid his hand onto his shoulder and continued talking.

"For one part, Jisung", the older warlock looking at the a bit smaller male. "Don't focus so hard on the stability of the portal. That may sound stupid right now, but try to just picture a perfect portal in your mind and let your magic do the rest", Minhyuk explained. Jisung looked at his teacher and nodded, being really glad that the more experienced warlock could help him.

"And the synchronization requires a bit of trust in each other's abilities", the warlock ended, letting his gaze wander to Jimin and then back to Jisung. The fairy with the pink hair crossed his arms over his chest and didn't say anything. Jisung felt like the other was signaling that he didn't trust in his abilities at all. It stung a little bit, but Jisung could understand why, since their first meeting wasn't the very best, even though it was their boyfriend's that clashed together and not them.

"It's not that easy. I know that, but it's important", Minhyuk emphasized and let his hand drop from Jisung's shoulder, so he could walk into the middle of the little training space Jimin and Jisung occupied ever since they were paired up together. Jimin sighed a bit and resumed his previous position while Jisung stayed in his spot. The young warlock was unsure of what to do until Minhyuk spoke up.

"Try the whole thing again and remember what I told you", Minhyuk reminded them. Jisung nodded into his teacher's direction and then focused on Jimin. The fairy still seemed a bit annoyed by the whole thing, but there was also a determination in him that made Jisung believe they could manage to have trust in each other. After all, they have the same goal, which was rescuing the ones who were captured by the hunters.

Jisung took a breath before he began casting the portal spell again. He pictured a perfect portal in his mind and tried to let his magic do the rest. The portal build itself up and grew while continuing to remain stable unlike the other times. Jisung didn't dare to be happy about that just yet and continued to concentrate on the picture in his mind until the portal had reached it's requested size.

"Now close your eyes, picture the portal of the other before your closed eyes and trust in the other one without seeing him", Minhyuk instructed in a calm voice to not startle the concentrated younger males

Jisung took another deep breath and closed his eyes. He replaced the picture of the perfect portal with Jimin's and tried to slowly build up a connection, but he couldn't feel the magical energy of the fairy's portal. Was he doing something wrong? Just when that thought crossed his mind Jisung felt his portal wobble again and began to internally panic. He couldn't mess this up again!

"Jisung, stay calm. You can do this. Have a bit more faith in your own abilities", he heard Minhyuk's voice remind him. The young warlock took a shaky breath and concentrated on Jimin's portal once more. He slowly let his magic search for the other, but he still couldn't find a connection to the fairy's portal.

"Trust in each other's abilities, alright?", Minhyuk instructed, calmly. Slowly Jisung managed to be able to feel the other's portal. It was a lot more stable than his own and felt like it was kind of faster, but slowly the fairy's portal calmed down, matching the speed of his own until Jisung had the feeling something clicked.

"Good job you two", Minhyuk praised. Jisung opened his eyes and saw that his portal had changed it's colors a little bit. Previously it was a mix of different shades of blue, but now a lot of white was swirling in it's center.

The young warlock took his hand down and looked to his teacher, who lightly smiled at him. Jisung couldn't help but smile back and then look over to Jimin. The fairy with the pink hair didn't look his way, but rather mustered the portal in front of him with a blank expression.

"We did it", Jisung said out loud, gaining Jimin's attention. The fairy finally looked the warlock's way with the ghost of a smile on his lips. "We did", he nodded. It was enough for Jisung to smile a bit brighter. Maybe they didn't get along well, but they could work together. With that in mind, the young warlock turned to his teacher.

"Thanks a lot, Mr. Lee", he thanked the older warlock, doing a little bow. Minhyuk laughed and shook his head with a smile.

"I told you to call me Minhyuk out of class. I'm not so old, alright", the older complained, but with humor in his voice. Jisung showed the older one of his bright smiles and then turned back to the portal. He could try walking through it now. It was stable and connected to Jimin's, after all.

"Can I walk though it?", Jisung asked for permission while looking over to Jimin. The fairy seemed a bit surprised at first but then nodded. Without thinking any longer about it, Jisung stepped through the portal. The next thing he knew was that he stood beside Jimin. He quickly turned around a looked back at the portal. It looked like his but with the difference that it was mainly white with a lot of blue swirls in it.

"This is so amazing", Jisung mumbled to himself. He felt relieved and proud at the same time. Now they just needed to train creating the portals on bigger distances and then they would be good to go.

"Minhyuk", somebody called the older warlock. Jisung recognized the voice as Taeyong's and looked around a bit to spot the red-haired guardian. It didn't take long to spot NCT's leader, but when Jisung saw who was at the guardian's side his eyes widened a bit in surprise. Casually walking besides Taeyong was Woosu, Seungmin's brother. What was he doing here? Did he suddenly take part in the rescue mission or was he here for a different reason?

Minhyuk walked over to Taeyong and Woosu, greeting the young leader and the seemingly a bit nervous warlock with a smile. Woosu returned the smile and did a little polite bow, which made Jisung remember that the young warlock had a pretty strict mother. Slowly, it dawned to him that Kim Athea was dead. She had been murdered by his biological mother.

"Let's continue training", Jimin spoke up beside him, ripping him out of his trance. Jisung ripped his gaze away from Taeyong, Woosu and Minhyuk and focused on his trainings partner. He should really keep his mind focused on mastering the portal spell and nothing else.

"Let's do that", the young warlock agreed with a nod and resumed his previous position.