Jaws dropped again as my blood fell on the table.
Black.
Pitch black blood that spoke more than any words ever could.
Irina gasped and stood from her chair, but the other two had a reaction that couldn't be compared to hers as they fell on their backs. The magician's head slammed against the ground while Bathym seemed to have been melting away, but that was probably just my imagination.
"Y-y-you… are a demon?" Irina asked. She slowly reached into her pockets to pull out her staff while glaring at the three of us but hesitated grandly while staring at me.
It was only natural. After so many days of going around in circles and sharing evil schemes, we had become rather trusting of each other.
Just as she was trusting of me, I was trusting of her.
And no. I was not going to avoid this thought or this feeling. Dantalian had given me enough of a lesson for myself to know just what it meant to have people around you. I still didn't manage to learn how to care about others a lot, and I didn't want to. But I was sure that I didn't want Irina Lester to doubt me and that I would be slightly… disappointed?
Disappointed if she doubted me. Just as I was satisfied to see her hesitating on her own doubts because it was me.
"Relax, Miss Irina. Whether I am a demon or a human it won't change the fact that you're the most annoying bitch in the world."
"Wow! Someone would almost believe I am your teacher if you talk so sweet with me."
Was it?
I grinned and Irina sat back down. Of course, this much wasn't enough to placate the other two.
"I… don't understand…" Bathym spoke. "I am certain that Dantalian had reported you as human. Was she lying?"
"You mean this Dantalian?"
I snapped my finger and her horn came in my hand. I twirled it around without much care and fiddled with it in my hand.
"Am I dreaming?"
"She's dead," I said. "I killed her."
"D-demon lord Dantalian…?" The magician spoke… "When did this happen?"
"Just a few weeks back actually. I am not surprised you don't know since you're here and all."
They seemed to have had a problem with how casually I was treating what seemed to be the biggest shocker for them, but honestly, that was a skill issue on their end. Too bad.
Before Bathym or he could speak, I decided to strike while the iron of shocks was still hot.
"I have seen hell. I have seen demons too."
I had spent a long time in hell, it was the place where the person I loved was threatened, but beyond it, it was also the place where I had spent days on a wild goose chase. Along with someone else that had come very close to my heart, I had threatened the demons, laughed with them, seen them, heard them.
No matter how they were or how they looked.
They all got drunk, they all enjoyed visiting cafes and picnics, they got scared from the strong and enjoyed the thrill of a ride.
"Demons, are just as alive as humans are."
Bathym trembled at my words.
"Yet."
Yet they had to live in hell.
Where sandstorms could kick up at any moment.
Where blood sucking trees could feast on you at any moment.
And where neither the sun, nor the moon shined at any moment.
A place where life was fleeting, yet the skies remained unchanging.
"There is no reason why you have to hide when you walk these planes."
Bathym shook.
"Just as there is no reason for me, now, to hide that I have turned into a demon. No matter what I become, whether I grow horns or a tail, there is no changing who I am and there is no changing who all of you are."
Change was necessary. But not a change that betrayed yourself. Though I believed myself to be whoever I was, where was the me in all of it?
It was something I still had to figure out. But it was something that the ones I did care about confirmed for myself.
Strength that came at the cost of yourself, was not what the truly strong would do. The strong made no compromises. And just as I needed Lethe and Titania and the others, I was more than willing to be the same for them. And for these demons.
"Bathym." I spoke, my words devoid of falsehood, my tone devoid of deceit. "I am the lord of Apollon. And I wish for Apollon to be a place where no one has to hide."
Bathym and the other demon lowered their gazes.
"And all of your people too."
I was learning to care about others.
But I cared about myself more yet.
"Eugene Hall…" Bathym, all of a sudden, got down to his knees.
"My lord—"
"I came here with my followers to bring them away from the barren lands of hell. It was a way to escape that unchanging barren land, but more than that, it was a fun excursion. We came out without any reason."
Bathym lowered his head.
"In moments of crisis, I could go back. But my people… my people have a reason to stay. This one here has met a human woman. She bares his child."
The magician clenched his fists and lowered his head.
"Jinlang, another of us, works in a dying bakery. The old woman who ran it treated him like a son when he was estranged from us, and now, she is too old to take care of herself. He can't leave her behind."
Inch by inch, Bathym's head neared the ground.
"Sulak runs an orphanage. He was born all alone in hell, but those children need him now."
His eyes shut tight.
"Ravmelon lives with a blind catfolk. She found him injured and treated him despite being poor enough to eat mud."
His fist tightened to the point that blood flowed out.
"Curzan is doctor in a small village on the borders of this nation. Those people love him as they would their own son."
A tap rang out.
And Bathym's head hit the ground, right near my feet.
Tears dripped from the magician's eyes, but Bathym did not stop.
"To keep their lives, I made a trade with the Fonias. I manipulated the royal family on their behest, poisoned hundreds on their behest, all so that my people could live normally. So that they could hide themselves."
He slowly reached his hand out, and grabbed my foot.
"If you can make a place for them to live. If you can let them hold their heads high."
Bathym's voice cracked.
"I'll give you my life. Whatever you ask for, whether it is to make you a demon lord or whether you ask for my horns on a whim, I will present it all to you."
To change the world.
One needed strength.
"Raise your head, Bathym."
He flinched.
"My retainers need not bow to even fate."
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