Chapter 97: Horror and Assessment
Clayman stumbled back as Riumuri stopped hitting him for a second to let him get up. He staggered clutching his face as blood poured from his nose. He looked to the side right towards Frey and her subordinates.
"Frey!" he shouted. "I order you to help me right now!"
Frey did not move. She only looked at him with a look of disdain, then spoke in a flat voice. "No. We were plotting against you the whole time you fool."
Beside her, the masked man reached up and removed the mask from his face. He looked up to reveal himself as none other then Carion and set the mask down on the table and leaned back slightly.
"Frey, Milim, and I had this planned from the beginning," he said. "Me and Frey were tired of you and Milim was just bored I guess." His eyes flicked toward Varion and Milim for a second, then away. "Well… mostly planned, anyway."
Clayman turned his head desperately toward Guy. "Lord Guy, you can allow—"
Guy cut him off with a short condescending laugh then rested his chin on one hand, watching Clayman with open amusement.
"I told you," Guy said. "Only power matters as a demon lord and from what I've seen, you don't have it. So quit trying to weasel out of the fight you started."
Clayman's mouth opened, then closed like a goldfish. He stood in the middle of the room, locked in a barrier with no subordinates, no allies, and his fellow Demon Lords watching this like he was an animal at a show. His hands clenched at his sides, he subtly looked around and tried to plan a way to escape. Then his eyes sharpened with something desperate.
He took the souls he had gathered for his ascension and used all of them, even though it wasn't enough, he had no other options now. The energy surged through his body, trying to push him towards an evolution. Unfortunately for Clayman it wasn't enough to complete his evolution into a demon lord. It stalled out and left him in a partial, unstable pseudo-awakened form, but even though only partial it gave him a massive increase in power.
When the transformation was completed Clayman threw his head back and laughed. It came out in a mad hysterical cackle that made him seem insane.
"I'll have retribution on all of you," he said, voice cracking. "Every single one of you, who thought you could look down on me." Then his eyes locked on Rimuri. "And you—you'll be the first. I'll make you pay for making a fool of me, thinking you could treat me like an ant to crush at your whim!!"
Rimuri watched him. A small bead of sweat formed on the back of her head as she watched his rambling. 'This guy's lost it, hasn't he, Raphael?'
[Yes mistress, he is indeed a few crayons short of a full box I believe.] Said Raphael
Clayman, seeing Rimuri appear distracted, raised both hands pooling golden energy in them. The energy twisting and lengthening until it took the shape of a serpentine dragon. The construct launched forward in a straight line, with it's jaws open aimed to devour her whole.
Rimuri simply lifted one hand and unleashed Beelzebuth which lashed out enveloping the attack. The golden dragon was drawn in instant and devoured without any resistance. Clayman's arms dropped to his sides as he stared dumbfounded at the empty space where the attack had been.
Rimuri started walking toward him.
He took one step back, then another, then his legs gave out and he dropped to the ground. He scrambled backward on his hands, eyes wide.
"Who was giving you orders?" she asked.
"I will never betray my comrades—"
Her foot struck him across the face hard enough to snap his head to the side. " I asked who is giving you orders?!! Who is the one really behind this?"
"Go to hell, I won't betray my contacts or my comrades!"
She narrowed her eyes then sighed seeing the look in his eye.
"Fine then, have it your way." she muttered
She raised one hand towards the barriers Guy put up and replaced them using [Nemesis]. The barrier that replaced guys was a golden white with bluish tones in certain areas and was made entirely of stardust supplied by Varion. Nothing could penetrate it, not souls or any form of energy could escape. Clayman's eyes widened as registered the new barrier being formed of an unknown energy.
(Note here: did you know stardust is absolutely bullshit in terms of defense like this. The only things that can bypass it are a superior quality of stardust itself and Turn Null.)
"You were planning to escape right? That's why you were being so stubborn, Well sorry that won't work. I've locked you in here, you're going to die and there is no way to get out of that." She said coldly .
Clayman tried to scramble away from her and speak but it only came out as a broken mess. "Please—mercy—please—"
She ignored him completely and just continued approaching him with that same cold expression. Clayman twisted on the ground, limbs shaking as he tried to run but fear was finally him.
"Tear, Footman, Laplace, help me, please someone help me."
Rimuri sighed once irritatedly. She raised her hand and Beelzebuth responded instantly, gathering in her hand. His voice cracked as he tried to get up and run while shouting one final time.
"Lord Kazilim, please–!!!"
The dark energy launched forward and completely engulfed him, cutting off His screams. The space where he had been was now completely empty. Rimuri stood with her hand still raised, face cold, watching the last traces of the energy fade.
Back at the table, Varion's smirk had widened and a light red tint formed the edges of his eyes as he watched. All he could feel was exhilaration at Clayman's death. 'Good, that worm is gone, I only wish that trash had suffered more for daring to touch what's mine. My only regret is that I could have enjoyed it longer.'
The instant that thought finished, Varion's eyes widened in shock. His hands started to shake, causing the tremor to run through his arms.
'What was I just doing,' he thought. 'Why… why was I acting like that?'
Then an image flashed through his head without warning. A black dragon with blue tribal markings across its body and pure white eyes. It looked at the world with open contempt like every other being was beneath, as just mere ants to be crushed whenever it pleased.
'Acnologia, im… im just like....'
The shaking got worse and Varion's breathing sped up rapidly. Prinz felt this instantly and turned to check on him, her expression shifting into worry as she tried to look at him. But Varion could not look her in the eyes, not after what he had just been thinking he was far too ashamed of himself. He pressed his face into the back of her shoulder desperately trying to hide the panic that had washed over his face.
'I was only like that because he caused Prinz's death,' he told himself.' Yea, that's right it was because he hurt her.'
Then a much colder thought appears 'Yea that's right. That worm shouldn't have touched what was mine. He deserved that and worse, he deserved to suffer.'
Varion jolted then squeezed his eyes shut and then pushed his face harder against Prinz's shoulder, trying to push the thought down. It didn't budge, it stayed there burning like a burning scar in his mind. Then suddenly he felt Prinz's fingers gently forcing his own open and threading through them until their hands were clasped and interlocked together. Her thumbs moved in slow rhythmic circles against the back of his hand. She leaned further into him, making his arms wrap around her full whether he meant to or not.
Then she gently started to hum. The sound was quiet enough that only the two of them could hear it. He truly felt it more than heard it because of how close she was pressed against him, the vibration ran through her shoulder and into his face.
"Hmm Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hum~ hmm hmm hmm hmm" she kept going gently following a seren rhythm
(It follows the beat of the song called Suzume, please look up the song it's very good.)
Then slowly the panic and fear at his began to slowly ebb away and the longer he listened the calmer he became. It did not make sense to him why it worked but he didn't care. He stopped trying to fight the thoughts and let himself focus only on the sound and on her. As he did the shaking slowly subsided and he let out a slow breath, relaxing against her slightly then pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder.
Earlier, Guy Crimson's pov
Guy was not watching the fight. His full focus was on the anomaly called Varion nava, he watched the look of elation on his face while the slime dealt with Clayman. He saw as Varion suddenly froze and his expression shifted to horror at what he guessed was realizing what he was doing and thinking. Then the fear and panic that followed.
'Hmm. Interesting. So Veldanava's boy is having trouble with his own instincts.' Guy's fingers tapped once against the arm of his chair. 'That's not good, but this is getting even more interesting.'
He kept watching. Varion's hands started to shake hard enough that the movement was visible from across the table. He buried his face into the elf's shoulder and stayed there, body tightening like he was trying to hide away from himself. Guy felt the shift in his soul a second later, the steady presence quickly turned chaotic. He was fraying under the pressure of whatever was going through his head and it was spiraling dangerously. Guy's brows furrowed in worry as he continued to observe him.
'This could be bad. I can't have another Milim running around one step from destroying everything.' He glanced toward Milim seated beside Varion, then toward Blanc standing behind them, then toward Dino and Dagruel farther down the table. 'If I try to kill him, Blanc won't sit still she will definitely fight me to the end. Dino and Dagruel won't either. Dagruel won't fight to the death, but he respected Veldanava enough he would protect Varion. Dino on the other hand is the opposite, he would throw everything he has at me and kill himself if needed to protect him or Milim. That's before even taking Milim into the equation. I could handle them, but it would be annoying, and my game would be in pieces by the end of it.'
While he was still turning over his options, the elf in Varion's lap shifted. She leaned further back into him, one hand threaded with his. Guy heard a very faint humming start. It was quiet, meant only for the two of them probably, but the effect was immediate. The chaos in Varion's soul immediately began to ease. His presence settled into something tense and uneasy, but far more stable than it had been. Guy's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the change.
'Hmm. So he isn't as unstable as Milim was. He can come back on his own. That means this is more temporary than permanent, then. I'll just wait and see how he develops. I'll still need to test him, I can't have him going berserk the way she did.' Guy's gaze lingered on Varion for another moment, then shifted toward Rimuri inside the barrier. 'And I still can't see either of their skills. That part is going to be a problem.'