Leo took a step forward. His aura cast a massive shadow over the delirious Mage.
"Enough," Leo thundered.
Barnaby blinked, and then his expression shifted into almost religious fascination. He floated closer until his nose was just inches away from Leo's armored chest.
"Oh..." the Mage whispered, his voice trembling. "Those contour lines... That saturation in the shadows... Master, you are not a demon. You are a high-definition rendering."
Leo paused, caught off guard.
"What?"
"Your design is... perfect," Barnaby continued, tears welling in his eyes. "No pixels. No digital noise. Just pure... intention."
It was then that a slight movement in the skeleton's eye socket caught Leo's attention. A pink earthworm, wearing a tiny crystal monocle, poked its nose out.
"Yeah," the worm said in a drawling, aristocratic voice. "The boss's design is decent. But we're going to have a serious colorimetry problem if we keep these trout on the carpet. It's vulgar, Barnaby."
Leo looked at the Mage weeping over his "visual perfection," the skeleton buried under fish, and the worm already criticizing the decor.
"Vark," Leo said, grasping his Grimoire. "Tell me we can get a refund on the staff."
Leo plunged his claw into the Grimoire. Demonic ink spurted from his veins. He began to trace a long, curved, aggressive shape. A scythe. But not just any scythe. A handle made of blackened dragon bone and an obsidian blade so thin it seemed to cut through the air itself. At the junction, he sketched two grinning skulls, intertwined in the metal.
"Oh, a bit of relief! I like it!" Maurice enthused from Kaelas's eye socket. "But watch the perspective on the left jawbone!"
The page lit up with an electric purple glow, and the materialized weapon appeared in Leo's claws.
"FINALLY!" exclaimed the top skull in a high-pitched, sarcastic voice. "It's about time! We were suffocating in your book, artist!"
"Shut up, brother," growled the bottom skull in a voice from beyond the grave. "Look around you. We're among the infirm."