At this point in the story, you should have already learned that Marcel is going to get kidnapped one way or another, even if he’s gotten a whole lot stronger now thanks to people with sometimes, utterly ridiculous agendas. For now, let’s not talk about how frustrating these guys are making it hard to progress the story, or are they? 

Anyways, after a few months of Marcel learning alchemy and magic manipulation from Sephana and the witch crew and his magic control had improved greatly. He can now heal wounds by manipulating the cells in the body with magic and this, in turn, helped him gain immense control over his magic, although cell empowerment and manipulation still took far longer than it did with regular healing magic, that’s a step in the right direction, so he didn’t really mind his slow pace. 

Alchemy though is something he wished he hadn’t taken up. Allan and Shalia have been running him through the wringer lately. Sure, they could do it themselves, but they had Marcel do it instead since they wanted the premium goods results that Marcel’s magic power gives the goods he makes. They’re all high-quality and people have been demanding more and more of the good stuff, and since they can’t make ultra-premium goods like Marcel though they’re more skilled at alchemy and magic control, they still grab him to do it whenever he isn’t swinging his sword, learning spells with or from Claude or learning magic control with Sephana. It took a while before they got a hold of the ‘premium goods treasure furnace’ after those two Chosen siblings got their hands on him. 

After months of nothing but work and sleep, the three got bored. In the name of going to town to buy supplies even though they were a lot of people to do that for them because a certain cutie was constantly in danger of getting kidnapped, the two dragged Marcel off with them, then, as usual, someone tried to kidnap him two steps away from the castle’s shadow.  

It’s a given that Marcel would already be significantly stronger than when he first came to the demon realms. He gave the kidnapper a little beating then used his face to charm and send the kidnapper on his merry way. It was an incredibly funny sight to watch as the kidnapper, um... thanked Marcel for existing, smiled towards him despite having been punched mercilessly in the face which, ouch, has got to hurt and left joyously as if he’d all but forgotten his mission. 

With the first kidnapper of the day dealt with like some daily mission to accomplish, he met with the rest of his friends apart from Nigel who had something else to do. He apparently had to go do something and was very suspicious about it but hey, who has the right to judge him except maybe Marcel who was sad that he’d have to deal with Evan all by his lonesome until they returned. 

Fast forward to a few hours later and they’d had a great time around the city. Sizburn was large and had a diverse array of shops, restaurants, and other ‘fun places’ where Daniel and Evan like to visit but... do something repeatedly for almost three years and see if you don’t get bored. 

Suddenly they felt bored once again, this time with Silva, Valeria, and Daniel in tow with Evan missing because he was visiting his ‘fun places’. I’m talking about the adult’s parlor on a certain street in Sizburn. Valeria was the first to suggest the next fun activity. 

“How about we go to the telecircle terminal and then choose a random one we have no idea where we’re going and explore this new world? It’ll be fun, like real adventuring!” She suggested cheerfully. She was so excited and must have really wanted to try out this dumb idea for a very long time because of how eager and repetitive she was being about it. 

“Okay, fine! How about instead of just choosing some random telecircle, we only choose among those leading to worlds we haven’t explored before? It’ll be more fun than pretending that we all don’t know that Nigel loves fluffy teddy bears and has 20 distinct collections of ‘em.” Silva also suggested her idea. 

“As always, your truthful words hurt, Silva!” Daniel laughed, affirming that her statement was indeed correct. And yes, even he pretends that he doesn’t know about his elder brother’s love for big and fluffy teddy bears so that his brother can have his peace of mind with his reputation intact. It’s a shame that everyone thinks that it just makes Nigel even cuter behind his back. 

With that, the three girls; yes, Shalia included because who dares have fun without her and the two guys, Daniel and Allan, made their choice to visit this new world with Marcel a bit unwilling because of him um... kidnapped streak. The five didn’t care though and dragged him with them then when they got to the telecircle terminal, they chose a random world they hadn’t been to before and just wandered.  

With the spatial transfer successful, they appeared in an unfamiliar world just like they’d hoped for, but there was one thing. Whoever is the god of repetitive and unfunny clichés, curse you! Marcel was missing, again! 

To confirm that Marcel was indeed not with them and pulling some ‘I’m kidnapped’ prank on them, they searched their surroundings then went back to Nephavion. They thought that Marcel’s transfer to this new world they hadn’t explored yet was maybe unsuccessful and that he’d been left back there, only for them to discover that the little guy was not there and this might not be a prank. 

They immediately rushed to the Demon Lord’s castle to find Claude and the big man, as usual, not worried in the slightest with casual expressions that left them somewhat reassured. Let’s face it, Marcel’s luck is too good for him to be in any danger anyway, so, like the true friends that they were, they… said “OKAY!” and got back to exploring this new world like nothing was wrong at all. What good friends they are to continue with their lives, thus abandoning him to go do the thing they suggested that might be the cause of his disappearance. They are just the best, aren’t they? 

Meanwhile, as those five friends got on to selfishly doing the things, they wanted by abandoning their friend in the hands of what might be some madman, Marcel woke up on a bed in an unfamiliar lavishly furnished room with slight pain on the back of his neck. He sighed as he realized how things were still the same even though he’d become much stronger and accustomed to dealing with the occasional kidnappers.  

At that moment, he realized something grave he never wanted to admit but had to. It was that no matter how much stronger he got, they would always be someone strong enough to kidnap him. At first, he only wanted to get stronger so that he could teach the pesky man who belittled him a lesson. As he got to know his friends, he discovered how much he liked being with them and he decided to grow strong enough to keep living his somewhat fulfilling life. Now, however, he had a new goal in mind for his growth. He wanted to not only belittle the Demon Lord’s with his strength someday and continue his life with his friends but now also, ‘TO GET STRONG ENOUGH SO THAT HIS KIDNAPPERS SEND HIM INVITATIONS,’ he thought angrily. 

As he continued to wallow in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that a giant humanoid man had entered the room but when he finally did, he immediately knew which race had kidnapped him this time: The Onis. 

Yes, the Oni race. Famous for their literal giant stature, their mastery of manufacturing, warfare, and the unique form of magic rarely seen outside their race: Curse magic. They’re a race consisting of only males with ranks in evolution like that of other races. With red as blood tinted skin as if to show their desire to make enormous amounts of flow wherever they go, tusks that look sharp enough to rip anything apart amongst their young, flowing hair as fine as thinly woven strands of metal and menacing horns protruding from their head sharpened enough to be used as weapons during emergencies. This race was one of the most powerful in all the demon realms and the word to describe them was FIERCE. 

Looking at this man tall enough to at least create two of him, he finally remembered how he ended up in some big-shot Oni’s house. After stepping on the telecircle for the world the others had wanted to visit, he remembered the spatial transference actually been successful and ending up in that world with his friend. They arrived but as if having predicted the exact moment he’d arrive, he was quickly snatched at a speed that everyone missed.  

The culprit for this attack was an Oni Spirit, one of the few Oni possessing power akin to that of the Elven Ancestors and the Dragon Empress. He had been snatched away by a major member of the Oni race. Yes, now that he thought about it, he sort of remembered a bit of what he looked like or at least, what the spirits around him looked like anyway thanks to his special eyes. Uh-oh! The kidnapper was already standing beside him. This man who came into the room was the same one who kidnapped him. 

As someone who couldn’t feel auras and has been kidnapped by not only the Elves, Miguel Dunkelheit, and met the Dragon Empress all while being sort of betrothed to the most powerful man in all the Demon realms, there weren’t many things that could scare him, so he quickly relaxed without realizing it. Based on his experience with kidnappers, he was going to be fine anyway so why panic or fret? He was probably going to be here for a while then sent back home after he gets close to his kidnapper. That’s what usually happens, he thought. He had no idea how subverted his expectations were about to be. 

“Oh, you’re awake already! That’s some nice resilience you got there, boy!” His kidnapper who’d about left the little guy with his thoughts for long enough finally spoke. His tone was hearty, his voice deep but also slightly menacing, commanding enough power to make whoever he spoke to cower in fear but um... not the guy close to the Dragon Empress, the elves and their kings and princess and Miguel Dunkelheit. Aura is also a big nope for him, so he doesn’t have to deal with energies produced during anger or foul moods. What was there to scare him? Not much! 

“Um, I don’t know if I should say thank you or be angry that you almost severed my head with the knock to the neck you gave me.” Damn it, why does he have to feel comfortable whenever he speaks to someone powerful? If he hadn’t, then maybe what happened next wouldn’t have happened. 

“I see you’re fine! That’s good! The show was about to begin anyway. The biggest battle festival of the year is about to begin!” The man said. 

Just what is going to happen to Marcel in this unfamiliar world of the Onis?