DRIP
DRIP
DRIP
The courtyard was silent, save for the periodic drips of blood leaking from the wounds of the ensnared dream knights.
None were dead, yet none screamed in pain, giving a strange feeling of eerie acceptance to the onlookers. It seemed as though those who were still bound were silently accepting their new mountain princess's punishment, just as the many free ones had imagined.
But that imagination couldn't be further from the truth, and the onlookers knew that. They had felt the paralyzing mist already, and now that it dissolved from their bodies, they vividly understood the torture those still left were experiencing.
The knights felt the numbness of their limbs, the silence of their voices, and the pain from the constricting vines. It wasn't because the remaining imprisoned knights didn't feel the pain that they didn't writhe or scream; it was because they couldn't. The pain was without a doubt there, just their ability to express it was forbidden.
The rules of this domain were clear. None may move, none may speak, and all deemed unworthy will feel pain, as long as the master of this misty world commands it.
So the freed knights did what they felt was correct.
They continued to follow the rules.
They dared not speak, they dared not move from their kneeling spots, and they dared not raise their heads; such an action would only bring a second reevaluation, so the remaining free knights assumed.
Their lord had already given the princess his approval, as long as he did not intervene, the young devil was free to do as she pleased.
What the knights didn't know, however, was Hannya's manifestation had already tapped the barrier of Baku's bottom line.
Ten knights were agreed upon, in truth, ten spies. The ones following the orders of the Acedia clan were to be executed today. All knights and soldiers knew the rules, they followed one commander and one commander only, the lord of the Hazy Mountains. A brother that spills secrets to the outside world is no brother at all.
But ten were not ensnared. A little over fifty were being encased in horrifying black stakes, unmoving and bleeding onto the courtyard grounds.
Baku wanted to free them and regroup with Hannya about the situation, it seemed she was going a little out of control with her first tenet. He assumed her rules were still a little fuzzy, an unstable manifestation could result in this type of occurrence. Worse, it could kill the devil in extreme cases.
He felt a little regret letting his reckless side get the better of him this time. He had thought his old bones had grown out of such gambles, but it seems the new vitality he gained made him too giddy to control such instincts.
But all he could do right now was regret. Why?
Because the second he tensed his muscles to move…
"The lady is still passing judgment, Dream Eater."
A figure appeared in his path, standing a bit taller, as he locked down the area around the two of them.
Through clenched teeth, Baku spoke. " What do you think you're doing… War Demon?"
Standing in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back, and his spectacles reflecting a cold light, was Hans. The high society butler and royal protector.
"I could be asking you the same thing, Baku. Did you not put your faith in the young miss?" He said as he adjusted his glasses with two fingers.
Baku felt his anger rise, this guy wasn't a pushover. With him in the way, moving would cause more damage than good.
"You see what's happening! The manifestation is attacking more than it should, so it's probably unstable! We agreed on ten unworthy knights to die, not fifty!" the old devil spat out.
But Hans was unperturbed. He chuckled dangerously. " I see no deaths out there, a few scratches don't need your attention. Besides…" The old butler scowled. "Your doubt in the lady's ability and foresight is unbecoming of your status."
Veins began to pop up on the old devil's bald head. Scratches? There were men out there spouting liters of blood! Status? This was a backwater village, a village he was proud of, but backwater nonetheless! What good was hunting etiquette here?
Baku growled. "You think you can stop me when you please, War Demon?"
But the old demon just chuckled again, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping his knuckles once more, he would not overlook a stain once again.
"I'm not the same young demon you fought in the past, Dream Eater." he said simply.
"...?"
"...?"
"We… fought before?" the fortress commander asked, completely floored.
It was now Hans' turn to clench his teeth. "We fought three times! 4000 years ago!"
"..."
"..."
"...really?" He would have remembered fighting someone so pompous.
Hans was beginning to feel his vision darkening, so he realigned the conversation.
He sighed and spoke. "Your regained health is making you too jumpy. The young miss has yet to cross any real lines. On top of that, I've considered an alternative to your theory of her manifestation running amok…."
He turned back to the small smiling devil, now standing at the front of the caged knights.
"...her manifestation is working as intended." The butler grinned. When has his young miss failed?
~~~
Hannya stood there, gazing at the impaled company in front of her. They made no noises, but she could see the desperate trembling in a few eyes, they were in agony.
She smiled. "It hurts, doesn't it? A life without knowing love?" She shook her head. "But perhaps I'm wrong? Maybe you think of love differently? Perhaps the visions flashing in your heads during this painful process aren't a singular godlike person, but a place, or maybe an idea?"
The eyes of the impaled were trying desperately with their eyes to agree with her, the pain was mind-whitening. They didn't care what she was saying; they would agree until they were freed.
"Kikiki, is that so? Such complex love you all have!" She raised her hands up high as she laughed; oddly, the puppet behind her mimicked the action as she did so.
But then, Hannya's ever-present smile vanished. She stared at the ones imprisoned with deep, crimson eyes. She said in a low voice, almost a whisper. "If your love is so complex, so special, so memorable… why do none of you look at ease?"
She too had gone through this trial of love, it took her no more than five minutes to find solace in her beloved, so what was this? The eyes of the desperate, the eyes of the pitiful, the eyes of the selfish.
The puppet towering behind Hannya sat up once more.The rose beneath the puppet began to tremble slightly as it rapidly sucked in the heavy and looming essence of despair filling the atmosphere of the corrupted courtyard.
Clitter-clatter
Clitter-clatter
Clitter-clatter
This time a different noise was heard; this time the head was not spinning.
Its eyes were.
They rotated vertically, the black pupils disappearing and reappearing rapidly.
As it spun as rapidly as last time, the simple noise echoing in the courtyard only brought unease and fear to the ones hearing it.
CLITTER…CLATTER
It finally stopped, and the eyes of the puppet had changed. It was no longer the abyssal black like before but an ethereal, bluish-purple color.
The puppet lifted its head, looking to the sky. Its arms outstretched, elbows bent, and her palms facing upwards. A pose one would see as reverent worship.
Hannya's red eyes spun as she spoke once more. "Kikiki, if you really hold love in your heart. Call forth the name of your beloved… or be swallowed by the hungry mouth of despair!"
DING
[
[Eye of the Blasphemer] is active!
First [Petal of Profanity] is in use!
]
"[Petal of Profanity] the mask of the glad… [Hysteria]."
KYAAAAAA
The jaw of the puppet snapped open, almost to an unnatural length, as it screamed hysterically.
The scream was so deafening that Hans needed to apply more mana in his shielding of the maids, who were already nearly unconscious, in case their unawakened eardrums wouldn't immediately blow.
Then, out of thin air, red flower petals began to fall from the sky.
They fell silently, continuously, to the blood-soaked ground below. As they fell, the black vines constricting the knights receded once again, freeing everyone.
For a while, the courtyard was silent, until…
"Ha..haha… AHaHAHa!" A knight near the back began to laugh.
"AhahaHa!" Followed by another close to him. Then another on the other side of the yard.
"HAhAHAHA!" Soon, portions of the knights began to laugh loudly, wildly, maniacally.
All of these knights had one thing in common. They were the ones impaled by the vines. The knights uninjured, felt no such need to laugh; on the contrary, they were bewildered by the actions.
After the scream, they felt no different from before, so why were some of them laughing so unsettlingly?
Opposite the shadow demon unit, A regular knight in the back, who was laughing in an unhinged manner, suddenly shouted out.
"Hahaha! I see! I see it all now! This is true love!" He then stood up and pulled out his two katanas. He pointed one unsteadily at the little devil in the center of the room.
"You're too dangerous to be left alive! My lord can't have you around any longer!" At his words, some normal knights beside him, and a few in other units, also stood up, laughing as they unsheathed their weapons.
Baku, standing to the side next to the war demon, clenched his fist. He glanced at the war demon, who was standing there, fully at ease.
Feeling his gaze, Hans turned to the old fortress lord. He adjusted his glasses once more.
"The second they are within a foot of the young miss…" His eyes became deep as a red glow began to subtly increase within. "...those men will die."
Sparkling grey mist began to flow out of Baku's stoic mouth as he spoke. "I will not let you harm my men, War Demon."
The butler laughed. He leaned down to the devil, his arms now crossed and his face now only inches away from the old commander. The tact of a high society butler long gone, replaced with a hostile and testing posture. He grinned rather savagely. "Oh?"
The knuckles of the old demon lord began to pop and crackle as the air around his body began to shift and blur. "And leave the young miss unattended? Kehaha, quite discourteous, Dream Eater."
Baku's eyes didn't change as he rested a wrist on his katana, his pulse slowing and mind emptying. If this was the direction the war demon wanted to go, then he had no choice.
"Last chance, War De-"
But Baku then heard something that made him unsheathe his dusty old katana at lightning speed. A speed that secretly caught the old butler off guard.
From the group of men rushing towards Hannya, their swords high, Baku heard their collective shouts.
"FOR SUPERBIA!"
SHING
CLICK
PLOP
PLOP
PLOP
PLOP
PLOP
Baku stood there, now in the center, between the pile of headless knights and the little Hannya.
He laughed darkly, the savage grin on his face not reaching his eyes.
"Kahuhuhu! Superbia? Were you not men of this humble mountain?" His cold smile looked down at the now lifeless and headless men. "Kahuhu, then why martyr in the name of another?"
He could feel the mysterious energy attached to him now stretched taut, connecting himself to the feral laughing individuals amongst his men. The energy now obvious to his boiling devil core.
'Karmic law.' A bizarre law he'd only felt once before, from a devil as cynical as the truth he was currently witnessing.
But his weary mind couldn't dwell on the subjects floating within; it seemed his impressive display was lost on a few more of his loyal knights.
"HAHAHA DREAM EATER! YOU DARE BLOCK THE PATH OF CLAN INVIDIA!" A new group soon followed, rushing towards Baku, blissfully unaware of the staggering difference in power as they laughed with waving swords. Their training and form long gone, they swung wildly while running, an untamed and manic display.
CLICK
PLOP
PLOP
PLOP
PLOP
"HAHAHA CLAN ACEDIA HAS-"
CLICK
PLOP
PLOP
PLOP
PLOP
One by one, groups and individuals left their kneeling positions, running madly to Baku and Hannya, their minds filled with nothing but aggression and determination. Each batch approached, dreaming of the slaughter of the two, only to be laid to rest in an instant.
CLICK
CLICK
CLICK
Hannya clapped excitedly at the incredible speed Baku unsheathed and sheathed his sword each time a knight got close to the two of them, a frightening show of simple swordsmanship.
The entertainment was magical to her red rotating orbs. "Kikiki, extraordinary, Dream Eater! We've reached well past our goal in ousting wretched usurpers. What a bargain this deal was! Kikiki!"
Blood splattered and heads flew as the flower petals continued to descend from the sky. The sight, a beautiful nightmare to the blood-covered onlookers continuing to kneel. As heads rolled by them and bodies crumpled near, they stared at the ground and said nothing. Their minds now halted by the twists and turns of the horrifyingly clear and peacefully confusing events around them.
Hannya's manifestation had driven the disloyal mad.
'So this was indeed the truth.' Baku thought.
Deep down, he sensed the power and stability of Hannya's manifestation, but he did not want to accept it. So many of his men had turned traitor. The second he felt the unholy ground's rules activate, he knew he couldn't deny the reality standing in front of him any longer.
Only a few were shadow demons, the rest were the genuine people, most likely seduced by devil deals. His heart felt heavy. Strength truly does ensure loyalty for some.
As the last knight fell, the world fell silent once again.
Hannya walked up next to the crestfallen Baku. She reached up and patted his shoulder.
"It's fine, love isn't for everyone, Dream Eater." She smiled up at him.
Baku looked down at the little devil beside him, her red eyes spinning slowly. He felt grateful for her help, but his feelings were still a little complicated. He was ok with killing the shadow demons, they weren't really his men. But the full truth was a bitter pill to swallow; some had truly turned coat during his weakened state.
Noticing the complicated look in Baku's eyes, Hannya giggled. "Oh! Sorry, I meant grandpa. Kikiki!" She slapped his shoulder as she laughed, giving him a cute peace sign to his haggard face.
A small smile formed on the old devil's lips; she sure was cute. He felt a bit better with her support. At least new bonds make broken ones feel a little less empty.
"Kahuhuhu! You truly do favor this old man, huh kid?" He rubbed her small head.
"Kikiki, your struggles and diligence should have been rewarded; to be farmed for XP was too pitiful of a death for you." The young devil spoke.
Baku assumed she didn't like the future of him dying to the lulling virus, he knew his age slowed his ability to pick up youngster lingo, but still, such a noble little devil.
"Haaam, but I'm tired now. You can get rid of that last one." She pointed to one knight still kneeling with the others as her stance became increasingly wobbly.
Baku hadn't noticed it before, but one indeed was still kneeling there, amongst the other innocent knights.
Captain Bellomy.
His brow furrowed. Why had he not lost his mind like the rest?
He focused more on the unmoving form, and his face became ugly.
The body kneeling in the midst was just a husk! The shadow demon had escaped!
'But when?' Then he realized. His small spat with the war demon.
He had been so focused on the butler's every movement during their interaction, he failed to notice the demon had taken that chance to slip into the shadows below. It would seem Hannya's manifestation was still at a level where escape was still possible.
But the old devil soon smiled. He caught Hannya's falling form as her mist and manifestation slowly began to dissipate; it seems she was out of mana and essence.
He held her up, channeling a bit of his own mana into her circuits and core to keep her from passing out.
"...Y-yuck…." Was her weak reply. Baku laughed, so picky.
"Kahuhuhu! You gotta stay up a bit longer, kid. Your first lesson is about to begin." He said with a grin.
"L-lesson?" She said groggily, Hannya could feel her eyes becoming increasingly heavy as the blood-red color slowly faded back to the soft pink she originally had.
"Kahuhu! That's right! A lesson in dynamics, kid." Baku lifted his hand to the sky. "The dynamics of power."
RUMBLE
The moonlit sky began to darken further, as if a few stars lighting the mountain village had been suppressed and exiled.
The colors around the courtyard vanished, causing a grayscale landscape; this phenomenon continued past the barracks, past the village below, and down the rest of the mountain. From a distance one could see the Hazy Mountain Range lose all color, becoming a monochrome panorama.
Sparkling rainbow-colored mist exhaled from the old devil's mouth as he spoke.
"Tenet: Sweet Dreams."