Chapter 96: Rage and Delight
Clayman's head snapped toward Guy the second Rimuri started walking. His voice cracked as he spoke.
"You can't just let this happen. I'm still a Demon Lord. You're going to allow her to—"
"Power is the only thing that matters here, Clayman." Guy said. He did not look at him. "If you were strong enough to back up your little game, you would not be in this position. So prove you are strong enough to hold your title of Demon Lord."
He snapped his fingers and the space beside the table expanded in a smooth wave. The walls pushed back, the floor stretched, and the air itself widened until the side of the hall was large enough for them to fight in. The process moved along cleanly until it reached the edge of Varion's aura. It slowed to a crawl, then stopped entirely, unable to push any further into the space around him.
Guy's gaze shifted to Varion and one of his eyebrows rose in surprise.
Varion's expression turned sheepish at that, then quickly apologized "Sorry," he said. "It's a new passive thing. I wasn't doing it on purpose."
He focused for a second and the resistance around him stopped immediately. The space finished expanding the rest of the room without further resistance.
Guy waved it off with one hand. "It's no problem, it's honestly interesting to see that happen." He glanced around at his guests then looked toward the far side of the hall. "Rain. Misery. Bring out the higher-grade bottles of wine for our guests, we have been here a while and I could use a drink."
They both bowed and spoke in unison. "At once my lord." Then they opened a door and disappeared through it. They returned within a minute or so, pushing a cart loaded with crystal glasses and several bottles of deep red wine from the demon realm. They moved around the table, filling glasses and setting them in front of the seated Demon Lords.
When they reached Varion's side of the table, Stella stepped forward and took the glasses and bottle she needed from the cart. She looked down at Rain with a cold, condescending smirk.
"I can handle my master's needs," she said. "There's no need for you here, you may mess something up like normal."
Rain's jaw tightened as she clenched her fist while locking eyes with Stella for a few second, then let out a *tch* and looked away annoyed. She moved on to the next seat without verbally responding to Stella but you could see the muscles in her neck tighten as she walked away. Misery followed closely behind her, both of them carrying the frustration on their faces but were unable to do anything about it knowing Stella was far stronger than both of them combined.
Stella looked on smugly then turned laying out the glasses and filled them and held one out to Varion. "Here you go master. I would normally taste it first to ensure its quality was good enough. But if there is one thing I will credit Guy for, it's that his collection of liquor and wine is adequate."
Guy smirked at the backhanded comment, finding it amusing, enjoying that even with her new master Stella was still the same old Blanc he remembered. Across the table however was a different story, Rain and Misery both stiffened looking like they wanted to say something, but neither of them turned around to do so.
Varion accepted the glass and took a sip, looking impressed. "Hmmm, this is really good."
Stella offered the glass to Prinz next. She took it inhaling the scent of it first and only after did she take a sip. "This is quite good, better than what I had in Sarion even," she said, slightly surprised. She shifted slightly and brought it back to Varion's mouth, letting him have more, her fingers resting lightly against his as she held the glass for him.
While they continued, Guy snapped his fingers again and a barrier formed cleanly around Rimuri and Clayman, sealing them off from the rest of the hall.
Rimuri stood across the makeshift arena from Clayman and waited for him to make the first move. She looked completely relaxed like she was sure he couldn't do anything to harm her in the slightest.
Clayman grit his teeth then raised his hand calling his subordinates. The small 9 tailed fox jumped forward, then it grew until it matched Ranga in size, and a puppet-like guy rose from the shadow at his feet.
After that the fight began without any delay. Ranga and his two smaller pack mates met the fox and its familiars head-on, while Shion closed the distance to the puppet in a single step and broke it apart with one strike, then gathered the pieces and carried them out of the barrier without looking back.
Ranga finished dealing with the fox quickly, causing it to revert to its original size. He held it gently in his mouth as he left the barrier and walked over to Varion. He lowered his head and set her carefully on the floor in front of him.
"Lord Varion, will you please assist this little one. She was begging for help during the fight through thought communication," Ranga said. "I could not ignore it. Can you remove the curse that binds her?"
Varion looked at the small fox, then reached out and rested his hand on Ranga's head, giving him a few soft pats. "You did good bringing her here, Ranga. I'll remove the curse and heal her, you can go back to watching Rimuri like I know you want to."
Ranga's tail started wagging at a fast pace, kicking up wind strong enough to displace Varion's hair, before he noticed and stopped. Varion pointed at the fox and cast Dispel, breaking the curse and freeing the small kit. He pulled a full potion from his inventory and poured it over her, and looked at Stella.
"Stella, look after her for now, will decide what to do with her later." he spoke softly.
"Yes, master." She said then stepped forward and gently picked the small fox up resting it against her ample chest.
Clayman clicked his tongue as he looked in disdain at how easily his subordinates lost. "Useless idiots. What a waste of time and money."
He turned his attention back to Rimuri. She was still standing exactly where she had stopped, watching him with her arms at her sides. Clayman forced his expression back into his cocky attitude.
"I didn't need them anyway," he said. "They were only meant to save me the trouble of dealing with you myself."
Then without warning magic circles opened around him and began firing beams of energy that struck Rimuri across the chest and shoulders. She didn't even flinch as the attacks hit and broke apart against her skin, none of them even managed to disturb her clothes.
She tilted her head slightly with a curious look on her face. "Are you even trying?"
Clayman's face twisted into indignation at her remark. His body expanded in a rush of black and red energy, while more arms formed from his back, his limbs lengthening, and claws formed as he shifted into his full powered form.
Rimuri looked him over and noticed the increase in his power "Hmm. That's a little better, but it's still not enough." She commented casually.
He gathered power between his hands and fired a thick black-and-red beam. Rimuri raised one hand and closed her fingers around it. The beam hit her hand and dissipated, the energy scattered into sparks that died before they reached the floor. She looked at Clayman after his failed attack, then sighed and started walking towards him.
"You know, I came here prepared to deal with your schemes," she said. " I had Arguments. Facts. Evidence. A plan to make you look like the fool you are in front of everyone. Then I actually saw you, and all of that stopped mattering."
Her expression shifted, the fake calm she'd been keeping up was gone. "You hurt my people. You hurt my friends. You hurt my sister. And you hurt the love of my life in a way I can never forget, it's stuck there forever etched into my memory." she said, clenching her fist.
Her expression shifted to one of rage and her aura exploded outward in a heavy wave, filling the space inside the barrier. "So I'm going to draw this out. I'm going to crush you in every way I can. I want you to struggle. I want you to see how pointless it is. I want you to fall into despair. When you have finally felt even a fraction of what you caused, then I'll kill you. I'll make it feel like it will last an eternity."
She closed the distance between them in an instant. Her fists connected with his jaw and she used thought acceleration to begin beating him without pause. She chained hits together so fast he had no time to react and his body couldn't even fall to the ground. Each hit that landed caused him to scream in pain that progressively got worse, as she started adding her energy in.
As Varion watched the beating, something in him slowly shifted. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smirk as he listened to Clayman's cries and he began to feel exhilarating joy at the scene before him.