The column behind me exploded, and I heard a rather comical, undignified squeak from Angus's hiding spot. I jumped back, heart pounding against my ribs. My hands flew up, not to cast some magic shield I didn't have, but just to protect my face from flying bits of ancient rock. The Demon King watched me, his purple eyes tracking my every movement.
"Continue to hide and the next one shall incinerate you where you stand," he stated, as if commenting on the weather. "You angels are even more pathetic than I recall."
Angus made another undignified sound, and finally wiggled out of the rubble. "I'm not involved, I'm just a useful little helper! A celestial GPS!" He flew back behind me, peeking over my shoulder.
[TERRIFIED SCREAMING! 😱😱😱] A new text box appeared, filled with nothing but that.
"...Don't hurt him. Or...me." I ordered, my voice a little shaky. The command felt clumsy on my tongue. The demon king simply raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards. He didn't move to attack again, but he didn't acknowledge the order either. The collar must have some pretty fine print on 'following direct orders.'
"I am not your dog to heel, mortal." His gaze slid from me to the golden chain on his neck, which hung low enough to settle on his chest. "This chain is an annoyance I shall soon snap. When I do, I will remember each offense." He looked back at me. "Especially the ogling."
[IMPORTANT! ⚠️] Angus's text popped up again. [He cannot harm you! The necklace prevents it! But you shouldn't push your luck! He is SSS-Rank, after all! ง •̀_•́)ง]
"Good to know," I muttered, earning another confused glare from the demon king. "An SSS-rank annoyance."
The demon king took a slow, deliberate step forward, and I took an equally deliberate step back. A small dance of retreat and advance. He stopped, a look of dark amusement on his face. "You are a fascinating creature. Perhaps you have an ounce of self preservation in that fool head of yours. Remove this necklace and I shall consider rewarding it." His lips curved into something that was not a smile.
[SUPER DUPER EXTRA IMPORTANT! 💯] A new, flashing box appeared. [DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES REMOVE THE COLLAR! EVER! EVER! EVER! 💀💀💀]
"Not a chance," I said, my gaze fixed on the glowing golden metal. "It's kind of growing on me. A statement piece. Really brings out your... everything."
"You mock me," he stated, his tone flat and dangerous. "You stand there, a morsel who wouldn't know true power if it devoured you whole, and you dare mock me. Do you have a death wish?"
"Do you have a shirt?" I countered before I could stop myself. It was the snark, my last and only defense mechanism against situations that made no sense.
His purple eyes widened slightly, then narrowed to slits. The air grew heavy, pressing down on my shoulders like a physical weight. My own personal patch of bad weather. "You would do well to learn respect, mortal."
"Or what? You'll glare at me to death? Because, and I don't mean to tell you how to do your job, the whole 'trying to explode me' thing didn't seem to take."
The sky darkened right in time with a new text box from Angus, who was still cowering behind my back.
[Today's Super-Secret Pro-Tip #1: 💡] While the Goddess Titania's Sacred Soul Bindings are famously, legendarily, and absolutely 100% UNBREAKABLE (mostly!), actively encouraging your esteemed familiar to, shall we say, aggressively investigate their theoretical stress tolerances is generally considered... 'suboptimal' for long-term summoner survival. Just a thought! Have a blessed day! ☀️]
What.
"Mostly?" The word slipped out, and I immediately regretted it.
The demon king's focus sharpened, homing in on my lapse like a shark scenting blood. "What was that?" he asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous purr. "What did you just say?"
"Nothing," I said quickly, taking another step back. "Just admiring the local geology. Lots of... crumbling rock."
His hands flexed at his sides, the crimson sparks returning with a vengeance. This was it. I had finally broken the terrifyingly beautiful SSS-rank psychopath. Angus was probably drafting my epitaph in his head. Here lies Violet. She ogled the wrong god.
Well. It wouldn't be my most bizarre death in twenty four hours. I think. Is a random semi-truck more or less bizarre than being incinerated by a half-naked demon king? It felt like a trick question.
The demon king lifted a hand, the air around it shimmering with destructive energy. I braced myself, squeezing my eyes shut. It was a pathetic defense, but it was all I had.
Instead of an explosion, a wet, tearing sound echoed through the ruined temple. Followed by a high-pitched shriek that made my teeth ache. I opened my eyes.
The far wall of the temple, the one that was still mostly intact, burst inward. Stone and ancient mortar showered the chamber as something massive pushed its way through. A creature of shifting shadow and too many limbs emerged, its form unstable and difficult to track. It had multiple maws filled with needle-like teeth, all of them gnashing at once, and a cluster of milky white eyes that swiveled independently in its head. A wave of foul, swampy odor washed over the chamber.
The demon king froze, his hand still glowing. He turned, slowly, to face the new arrival. His expression, which had been a mask of cold fury aimed at me, transformed into something else. Something avid, hungry, and genuinely delighted.
[AHHHHHHH! 💀💀💀] Angus's text box appeared, vibrating frantically. [IT'S A SHADOW FIEND! A RANK A MONSTER! WE'RE SO DEAD! SO INCREDIBLY, HORRIBLY DEAD! (✖︎﹏✖︎)]
...Angus...
Was not very good at being a cheerleader. Maybe they didn't have cheerleaders in heaven.
The creature—this 'Shadow Fiend'—screeched again, one of its many clawed limbs lashing out. It slammed into a pillar and reduced it to dust. The demon king didn't flinch. He simply lowered his hand, the crimson sparks fading.
"How lucky. A distraction." He glanced back at me, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. "You may live a moment longer." He turned his full attention to the monster. "And you. You dare to interrupt me? To lay your filth upon this ground while I am present?"
The fiend didn't respond with words, but with action. It lunged, moving with an unnatural, lurching speed that ate up the distance between us. I stumbled backward, tripping over a piece of rubble and landing hard on my backside. This was it. This was how I went. Not by an angry, beautiful god, but by whatever that thing was.
The demon king moved. He didn't charge or shout. He simply took one step forward and met the creature's charge head-on. He caught one of its flailing limbs in a casual grip. The creature's momentum stopped dead. The demon king tightened his fingers, and with a wet, sickening crunch, he crushed the limb like it was made of dry twigs.
The fiend let out a piercing shriek that vibrated in my bones. Its milky eyes all swiveled to focus on the man holding its severed appendage. The demon king didn't even look at the damage he'd wrought. His purple eyes were locked on the creature's cluster of mouths. He tossed the broken limb aside like garbage.
"You are nothing," he said, his voice a low, chilling murmur that somehow carried over the fiend's shrieks. "A crawling thing from a forgotten sewer. An insult."
The fiend recoiled, gathering its remaining limbs. Shadowy energy coalesced around it, forming a swirling vortex of blackness. I recognized that energy. It was the same energy that had brought him here, but weaker, sloppier. A torrent of pure destructive force shot out from the vortex, aimed directly at the demon king's chest.
He didn't move. He didn't even raise a hand to defend himself. The blast of shadow energy struck him square in the chest and… dissipated. It washed over him like water over stone, leaving him completely untouched. The only thing that happened was the golden necklace around his throat flared with a soft, warm light, and for a split second, I felt a dizzying lurch, as if I'd stood up too fast. My vision swam with black spots.
[WARNING! ⚠️] Angus's text box flashed red. [He's using a lot of power! More than is safe! You're going to faint if he keeps this up! 😵]
The demon king's head snapped toward me, a flicker of something—irritation, maybe—crossing his face. He'd felt it too. The drain. His gaze held mine for a second before returning to the monster, and he let out an annoyed sigh.
"This grows tedious," he muttered to himself. He raised one hand, palm open. A spear of pure, white-hot crimson light formed in his grasp. It hummed in the air, casting sharp, violent shadows across the ruined temple. "Let us end this."
The Shadow Fiend, apparently sensing it was well and truly outmatched, turned to flee, scrabbling back toward the hole it had created in the wall.
"I forbid it," the demon king said, his voice calm and final.
He didn't throw the spear. He simply closed his fingers around it. The light collapsed in on itself, then expanded outward in a silent, blinding flash of red. There was no explosion, no sound. One moment the Shadow Fiend was there, a terrifying monster of shadow and teeth. The next, it was gone. Not even a scorch mark remained on the stone where it had been.
I blinked, my vision blurry. The lurch from before came back with a vengeance. The world tilted. I saw the demon king turn back toward me, the spear in his hand dissolving into motes of crimson light. The golden collar was glowing more brightly now, a steady, pulsing beat that matched the frantic thumping in my own chest. He took a step toward me, his expression unreadable.
Then, my vision went completely black. The last thing I heard was Angus's panicked telepathic screaming and the demon king's annoyed grunt, which sounded very close to my ear. Then, nothing. The cold stone floor was suddenly very comfortable against my cheek.