A door opened in the room.
"You?" Su Tang turned toward the voice, raising a brow in mild surprise. "You're not dead?"
The speaker—the one asking what he was looking for—was exactly the weakling devil the Shadow Ninjas had beaten to death on the fifth floor.
But why had it come out of the bathroom in this room?
He eyed the head on the floor, still wet with clear water, and quietly stepped back a few paces.
"Human, your ability is strange." The head on the floor raised its face and looked at the four dragon heads in Su Tang's hand. After a second's silence it went on, "But I'm not interested in that. I'm here to make a deal."
"You revive?" Su Tang ignored the "deal," turned his hand into a cyan dragon claw, and said evenly, "I just don't know how many times you can."
He'd meant to show force and intimidate.
But to his surprise, the head jumped up on its feet and, eyes squeezed shut, smashed itself headfirst into the wall the instant he spoke.
Thunk.
Pleasant? If it sounded good, it was a fine head.
No red or white, only purple splattering everywhere.
"Ahhhh—pain, it hurts!" A weird voice came from all directions. Su Tang's eyelid twitched as the chunks of pulp on the floor began to multiply, and in a flash the single head was dozens, joined by gray-black disgusting flesh.
In the middle was rotting meat; the whole thing like a mud-slime.
He quickly washed his eyes with fire-qi.
Could the devils please all take a page from Angel? Not saying they had to be that cute or pretty, but at least baseline biological aesthetics. Even if you look like a "bo"—fine. There are always niche XPs that accept that.
But this thing? He didn't believe anyone accepted this.
"Human… hiss, still hurts… see? I can't die." The front-most heads all spoke at once, their sound like a bunch of erhus sawing randomly—worse than a leg-saw. "This isn't my body. Whatever you try is pointless."
Uh.
So you smashed your head just to prove you can't die?
Su Tang looked at the weird mass and, after a beat, put away the claw. "You said a deal? What kind of deal?"
"Human. Simple. I can give you what you want and let you go. You hand your companions over to me."
"? How am I handing them over? Knock them out, tie them up, and deliver?" Su Tang's eyes narrowed; he held his chin. "Instead of that hassle, why not just show yourself to them? What worries you?"
"Human, you don't believe me." The voices braided together, clamorous in his ear.
"Of course I don't. You're smart enough to know no one believes a devil…"
"I can sign a contract, human."
Su Tang's eyelid twitched.
A contract?
Playing for keeps?
Like a law of the world: if a human and a devil signed a contract here, neither could break it. Or die.
Even the Holy Lord didn't seem to intend to break one… probably.
At least, until he resurrected, he didn't intend to.
"How about it, human?" The devil pushed forward. Waves of gray-black sludge rolled toward him. "If you feel guilty, I'll take a step back. Just hand me the human named Denji-ko. Then the other five of you can all go."
The devil spoke as if victory were certain. "Sacrifice one to save five. You get what you're looking for besides. Isn't that a good deal?"
Denji-ko?
Su Tang's ears pricked at the three syllables.
"Why her?" he asked, voice low.
"That you don't need to know, human. Just agree." Not saying, then.
He frowned, recalling a few talks with Makima—she'd seemed to value Denji-ko as well.
Maybe the Division 4 chief knew something. He'd ask when they returned.
With that, he kept his face calm. "You say you can give me what I want. How do you know what that is?"
"Hee-hee-hee. Because… the direction you've been hunting in… only one thing is special."
The devil giggled. The topmost head opened its mouth to spit something out.
The northern dragon head on the locator snapped from north to point at the devil—scarlet!
Close at hand!
"Hee-hee, so that's it. It's a shield. Seems ancient." Seeing the glow, the devil cackled. "Decide, human!"
A shield.
A thought flashed; he had a guess.
He lowered his head—and vanished.
When he reappeared, he was above the mass, coming straight down at the mouth about to spit.
Bang!
If ninjas could beat a head to death, it stood no chance under his claw. It burst in an instant.
"Ahhhhh!!! Human!! It hurts!!!" The devil swelled again and screamed in frenzy. "You humans are all treacherous! But did you think I wouldn't guard against you! If you refuse my deal, you'll never get this shield!"
"You seem to know me very well. Think that I must have that shield?" Su Tang landed and patted the purple blood off his clothes. "Sorry—the shield doesn't matter."
"Human! You—"
"One more thing." He cut it off and blasted fire from his palm. "I like telling 'no' to those who think too much of themselves."
"Ahhh it's hot it hurts it's awful—!" Bathed in flame, the mass kept multiplying and kept burning, howling in hysteria. "Think again, human! Your food won't last long!"
With that, the mud collapsed, lifeless—and burned to ash.
Watching, Su Tang looked thoughtful.
In truth, he'd already slipped into his mind and faced the coiled dragon statue.
"Holy Lord. You're awake."
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