“You alright?” Cody asked, unsure.

“Yeah, I’m fine! That ointment worked like magic! You can stop asking me now!” Jessica said while rolling her eyes.

“Sure, if you say so…”

“I say so. Anyway, more importantly, any progress?”

Cody frowned and hummed. “Well, I found a few ways to do it. But I have no idea if any of them will actually work in practice. And I can’t exactly try them out, you know?”

“Right…”

The plan of hacking the portal system to allow the magical girls to come to the demon realm had a few hiccups. It seemed possible in theory, but it was incredibly risky. If it failed, or if they were discovered before the magical girls could come through, the entire plan crumbled to pieces. No defeating the demon lord if they can’t even reach him.

“Actually… I thought about the other option,” Cody spoke up.

“Other option?”

“You know… building our own teleporter somewhere outside the castle.”

“Oh…?” Jessica grinned. “Could we actually do that?”

“Well…” Cody sighed. “Again, technically possible, but incredibly difficult in practice. The magic is already complicated enough, but on top of that, we would need more than just the two of us.”

“Right…” Jessica pursed her lips as she thought. “Well, I guess it’s about time we expanded our little conspiracy, isn’t it?” She gave Cody a knowing look.

Cody understood immediately. “Max?”

Jessica nodded. “Max.”

“To be honest, I thought it would be just the two of us until the end, heh.” Cody smirked. “But yeah, if we’re gonna recruit anyone, Max is the best option.”

“He already works closely with us on pretty much everything, and I very much doubt he’s all that invested in the demon army’s well-being.” She shrugged.

“Yeah, I asked him a while back. He literally only joined to learn magic. Said he was trying to mainly figure out transformation magic, for some reason.”

“Well, we can definitely help each other out there. You found some books on that, haven’t you?” Cody nodded. “And I could definitely use a sparring partner. No idea what the trial thing is gonna be about, but I better be prepared.”

“Right, the trial… Did you actually make any more progress on the weapon?”

Jessica scowled. “No. No progress at all. That piece of crap is all I get.”

“Well… I think it’s good enough, isn’t it?” Cody tried. “I mean, at least you made something worthwhile. I doubt you’ll need something better.”

“Well, that’s the thing! I don’t know if I will! What the heck even is a ‘trial of our ancestors’, huh?!” Jessica said, miming air quotes at the end. “I have enough dealing with Nomed, don’t need no more dead demons judging me and being annoying!”

Cody sighed.

“More importantly! It’s not just about me passing the trial!”

“It isn’t? I thought that was the whole point?”

“Well, yeah, it is. But there’s another objective! See, I’m not going to be the only one taking the trial, am I? No, new demon generals always appear in batches! That must mean there will be at least one more demon doing the trial to complete the four again!”

“Right…”

“And that means I have to not only pass myself but also to also sabotage everyone else so they won’t pass! Taking out demon generals before they even become generals!” Jessica finished with a grin.

“... Huh. I didn’t even think about that.”

Her grin then turned back into a scowl. “And that’s why I can’t be satisfied with that crappy spear!” She threw her arms up. “I need something better! I need to be as prepared as I can be for this dumb trial!”

Cody sighed. “I mean, I get that. Taking out the opposition before they become a threat is a good idea… But at the same time, we’re not in a rush, are we? We can bide our time. No need to risk anything, especially since we don’t know what that trial is about.”

Jessica scoffed.

“Come on now…” Cody frowned in her direction. “Remember what happened last time when you took a risk?”

Jessica mimicked his frown as she looked away. The memory of that damn gem she had used against Hecate’s setup was never pleasant.

“Fine! Whatever! I’ll settle for passing the trial,” she relented. “But! If there’s a chance to discreetly sabotage the others, I’m totally gonna go for it!”

“Alright then, fair.” Cody nodded before glancing out of the window at the red sky. “Anyway, I think I’ll get going now. Mom still wanted me to get some groceries.”

“Right, yeah. It’s getting pretty late,” Jessica said while following his gaze.

They both got up from the kitchen table and headed toward the main door.

“By the way…” Cody said, eyeing the empty living room. “Is it really okay to meet up at your place every time?”

Jessica’s expression warped. “I don’t expect him to return anymore. He wasn’t even at the funeral, that asshole,” she snarled.

“Right… Sorry…”

Without saying anything else, Cody opened the door and left. Even as the door closed behind him, he had to wonder what exactly was Jessica’s family situation. He knew her mom had died a few months back, and she had a sister living abroad with their grandparents… But where had her dad gone?

Every time he’d tried to allude to him, Jessica had snapped something out in anger and quickly changed the topic. And Cody wasn’t one to pry, especially when Jessica clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

Well, at least her dad seemed to still be paying the rent and sending Jessica allowance, so it couldn’t be too bad, right?

Jessica, in the meantime, locked the door and went to the kitchen to prepare something for dinner. 

The anger still hadn’t subsided quite yet. She didn’t like being reminded of that asshole calling himself a dad. Just disappearing without a word right after her mom had died… Only leaving a short message, saying that he would be gone for a while… and then never responding to her calls or texts.

Fuck him.

With that said, her dad being an asshole meant she had the whole apartment for herself. It made it the perfect place for meeting up with Cody and planning without Nomed snooping on them.

Speaking of which, she needed to do something about Nomed soon. That little jerk just refused to go dormant again. And once she became a demon general, she bet he would use the same excuse as last time to keep being a nuisance.

Well… It was fine. That’s why she had studied sealing magic so extensively, after all.

BottledChaos

Next time: "Training montage!" or "The conspiracy gains a new member! Time for a proper conspiracy camp and hiding spot now!"