"And then he would perish at the hand of the devil with a cryptic silver smile…" Scanning through the pages of the record of the world, Haruki only a single page was inked with words, and too had only one passage not scratched with a quill pen.
'This can't be the original copy of the book, or else why would it only prophesize my death and nothing else?' Slamming the book on the bar counter, Haruki ran his fingers through his hair, feeling a bit frustrated.
Swiftly snatching the book off the table, Margarette and the others began snooping through it, trying to find any other passage that could help them. So far, it had only told them about the consecutive deaths of their group members until eventually, even Haruki suffered at the hands of this devil.
"It has to be the same girl we saw at the inn," nervously biting her nails, Riley kept going back to the image Ophilia had shown her in her vision. "Is she really gonna kill us all? That easily?!"
Feeling as though his lips were sealed after the nightmare last night, Haruki gestured to Moriyana to pass him the gin bottle she was sipping on. As drunk as a sail, her eyes couldn't focus on her master, much less pass the bottle safely onto his hands.
"Shadow hands," snatching the bottle off of her hand with the ability, he took it for himself and began drowning himself in alcohol.
'What the fuck am I supposed to do?!' Tired of trying to figure out what Asmodia wanted from him now, he had his hand clutch tighter and tighter around the bottle until it shattered between his fingers. 'First, the army that I already got her, then the offer to be a demon lord, and now this?! What in the world does this woman want?!'
"Rejuvenation," healing Haruki's hand, Margarette used her fire spirit familiar to reach out from her ring and eat up all the shards scattered throughout the table. Once it was all gone and consumed by it, Margarette shifted her gaze to Asuka in an attempt to have her try and cheer up Haruki.
Slowly approaching him, she rested her hand on his shoulder. Feeling the familiar warmth from Asuka's body, Haruki felt his heart wash with some amount of comfort.
"Master, don't…" stopping herself to think her words through, Asuka took a deep breath before just letting her thoughts flow. "No, this isn't right."
To everyone's surprise, what came out of her mouth were far from words of comfort.
"Master, please get up," wearing a bit of a frown with puffed cheeks, she stood before Haruki with her hands placed on her hips in a commanding manner. For once, she didn't want to be a simple means of emotional support.
A bit baffled himself, Haruki turned his gaze to the yellow-tailed fox. Wearing a puffy annoyed expression, she appeared like an angry child, yet for whatever reason Haruki couldn't brush off her command.
"What is it?" He asked, getting off the chair.
Placing her hands on both sides of his cheeks, she brought his face closer and stared directly into his eyes for a brief while. After about a minute of the strange activity, she pulled back slightly before speaking up once more.
"You're my master and the master of a race that had almost died out completely. The very demon lord of lust had to demand your compliance in death, and you even vowed to do whatever it takes to exact your revenge," with each word she spoke, her breath grew shallow and her smile grew larger. "How can you be so defeated despite all you've done? You've always figured something out and I'm sure you'll figure out how to kill this girl and help us escape our deaths without so much as a scratch!"
"S-she's right!" Despite how drunk she was Moriyana didn't let that deter her from chiming into the conversation.
"You tamed Rose and the maddened dragon Klianstein too, which to be honest I doubt even the emperor would've been capable of doing," Margarette wasn't far behind with her input.
Although he couldn't deny his past achievements, they felt tame in comparison to what he had to do moving forward. To create a world united under one leader, a leader whose nature went against that of every other creature living under him. But even before that, he had to kill the devil Nabe and conquer the throne of the emperor.
"I know you're all trying to cheer me up, but-" hit with a sudden wave of realization, Haruki couldn't finish what he was just about to speak. "Margarette, what did you say again?"
Turning to her, Haruki wanted to confirm what he'd just heard from her lips. A bit taken aback, Margarette put up an awkward smile before responding.
"Uhm…You've tamed Rose and the maddened dragon, something that the emperor couldn't do?" Hearing her say the word 'tamed' stuck out to him like nothing else.
"What the hell have we been doing?" He muttered, looking down at his own hands. "We're fighting against the emperor, right? As demons? Demons who can tame other species?"
Following his logic, everyone around him looked at him keenly, waiting for him to drop what he was getting at. And when a smile cracked up on his face, their faces lit up as well, for they had realized that their master had yet another genius plan.
"We don't have to turn people into demons, we just have to turn them against a common enemy," looking around with a plastered smile, Haruki let out a hearty chuckle. "That is the emperor, we have to turn him into the enemy of all the people he rules over and the chaos will eventually lead to his fall."
Finally realizing what Asmodia meant but hurrying up, he had a plan to attack the emperor directly without actually having to lay a direct finger against the man. A king's rule lasts so long the people had the slightest hint of faith in his judgment, but the moment it was cut off they would all pick up their pitchforks and revolt against that tyrant.
'And that's when we make use of them all, after all as demons our job is to lead people down the wrong path, a path where they'd intentionally hack their own foot without realizing what they're up to themselves.'
"What about leveling up?" The last of the bunch present in the hallway, Riley finally spoke up to ask that question. "And that devil girl, what are we going to do about her?"
Looking up at Riley, Haruki knew exactly what wanted to do about leveling.
"The strong will be our feed, and the weak will be our fodder," his eyes glowing a violet tint, Haruki had completely given in to his deranged ideas. "As for the girl, we're gonna find where she's recovering and make her a puppet with no true memory of her own."
Shifting his gaze to the illusionist of the group, he conveyed through his eyes what he wanted Moriyana to do. Although she was drunk, when it came to mischief and ruining the life of someone she despised, all her senses were more heightened than ever.
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