We booked two rooms in a nearby inn. Being the largest city of them all, this one was definitely better than the 'inn' we had taken near the Dragon's Blood Tree. With each room being spacious enough to hold twice of the one before, we were once again reminded how rich that octopunk was to barely make a dent in what we had stolen from him.
The sky never changed in Hell, but it seemed sandstorms were common occurrences that marked the onset of 'night.'
The city was safe from them, but a gong rang nonetheless and all the demons started filling the streets.
When all other cities slept and trembled in fear, Dantalian's city celebrated it's 'night-life.'
Demons brought their mugs of alcohol and broke into merry cheers. Some decided it time to break a leg partying and others to break a leg making a profit from the party-goers.
It was also the perfect time for us.
"Remember, Noa. Humanoid, suspicious, anyone who seems mentally too serene or too broken, alright?"
"Of course," Noa answered. The two of us faced out the window from her room on the fourth floor and peeked down at the alleys below. Few people strode in between the gaps of the many buildings, with the strange layout to our aide, kidnapping some with our speed was more than easy.
"Then, see you in five," I said and shot out.
Noa went one way and I the other. Like shadows in the night, we hopped off the buildings and shot towards the merry idiots that had walked in the alleys. Noa was to bring the suspicious ones and I handled the control group.
My feet stomped on the ground. The two demons walking hand in hand in the narrow alley stopped and were about to turn, when.
I knocked them out with a hit on the back of their head. After straddling them up on my shoulders, I jumped back into the room.
"Oh Eugy, you're first."
Titania, sitting in the room as referee raised a white flag. She also had a checkered one for Noa.
"Not yet, I'm bringing more."
I said and jumped back out. After repeating the process a few times, I had piled up a total of seven demons and Noa had brought in five.
"This should be enough, right?" I said, my hands on my waist.
"I say it's a bit overkill," Noa added.
We dropped the many limp demons on the ground and picked one out. It's skin slightly ashy, its horns tough like the tusks of an elephant. We even flipped it upside down and shook it around but found nothing.
Noa decided to take a few herself. We searched their bodies for any marks or brands, anything that could separate them from the other.
We left the twelve on the ground, our arms crossed after finding nothing.
"Well, guess we should check their blood too. Catene."
The chains around my arms transformed into a sword and I lightly nicked every demon's forehead. Black blood seeped out of their skin.
Nothing.
"Hm, this is a pain."
"I guess we're finding nothing."
"Should we bring in more—"
Before I could finish speaking, one of them moved.
Our eyes widened, worried it might wake up and have a way to contact Dantalian. I was about to jump and knock it out again.
"Eugene, look!"
I stopped.
"What is it?"
"Quack..? Quack!"
"It's horn is chipped."
I slapped the demon back to sleep and held it by its horn. Near the base of the horn was a small chipping, almost as if it was about to be separated from the rest of its head.
A demon's energy was in its horns, that was what Balam had told me.
"For Dantalian to take over another body, she would have to switch out their horns."
"In that case…" Noa hummed. She seemed to be thinking the same thing as I was. "We need to get rid of Dantalian's horns once and for all. How about chopping them off while she's alive?"
That would be the best way to kill her.
If I had known her authority could let her live even when she died, I would have gone for the horns first. But this time, we need to take care of her authority before her life.
Anyone could be Dantalian. It would make most sense for her to be at a place where she would be safe after facing a defeat like that. I couldn't be sure, but overtime Balam used his authority he faced a recoil.
It was natural for her to face some here too. She would need to recuperate.
And such a place was none other than her castle. She could live as a normal demon in her city, but crime was never not an issue. She could also go to some other demon's city, but that would be the same as landing in the jaws of a lion.
She would be safest at her own home that was guarded by her most loyal puppets.
"So, how should we kill her?" Noa asked.
We needed to go through three steps.
First, locate her. Second, don't be discovered or she could just switch bodies. Third, incapacitate her in a single move or she could switch again.
We could remove the option of switching, but that seemed to difficult. Even if we managed it in the entire city without being suspicious, she could still have others elsewhere.
In the first place.
"How is she able to contact her people…?" I said. "She should have hundreds, this is just a visible marker and not—"
Then realization dawned on me.
I picked up the demon by its horns again and checked the horns of everyone else.
One more, there was one more with the same nicked horns. But the similarity didn't there. Every single bit of this demon's horns were the same. It was not the case with the others, they were unique, even the ones we had snapped out in the outer territory.
"These horns are not nicked as an identifier. They are like this because these are different from their real horns."
Noa caught on quick.
"These are horns that Dantalian planted?"
"In that case…" and Titania came in with the sinker. "There must be a set of real horns as well. Ones that are the actual source of her power."
She must have a different place to house this ability of hers. A 'true body.'
"Looks like we've hit jackpot."
She could go to whichever body she wanted. We just needed her true one.
I snapped both the horns off the two demons and switched them out with the ones we had. "For now, we'll be Dantalian's puppets and enter the castle."
Noa nodded.
"What should we do about all these demons though?" She said. "We can't let them out."
Hm…
"How about we tie them up and leave them here till we're done?"
Noa nodded.
"In that case, I'll crash in your room again."
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