Artfelia

"You...didn't bring me here?" I asked, perplexed.

"That is correct." The Devil King replied in a simple manner.

"Well then what the hell is going on?"

He eerily chuckled. I instantaneously stood back, on guard. I had no idea what he was about to do, but judging by that laugh it wasn't going to be good.

"My, my. You're really using your new skill to its full potential. I'm starting to regret giving it to you if all you're going to do is ask questions," he said in a strangely sarcastic voice.

What was that supposed to mean? Of course I was going to ask questions, I'd just been reincarnated into a new world, found out I was a demon, and told I was carrying what was essentially a prophesied weapon of mass destruction above my head. Who wouldn't have questions in that situation?

He noticed me fidgeting in frustration at his snarky remark.

"You are a lively one aren't you?" he exclaimed, chirpily.

I gazed up at his silhouette once again.

"So. Who did bring me here?"

"Oh. Well that would be Izusu of course. Now let me introduce you to the rest of my servants."

What was with this guy? Sure, he answered my question, but it wouldn't kill him to elaborate a little. Was he really that eager to change the subject? He was the lively one. And didn't he sound way too upbeat and chirpy for a Devil King?

"Who's Izusu?"

I saw his figure slump down theatrically.

"You really don't know anything do you?" he groaned, sounding depressed.

How has it taken him this long to realize that?

"Well, you see, Izusu was your predecessor. He used to be my henchman, just like you are now. But unfortunately, due to some certain..." he paused and thought for a moment. "circumstances," he mumbled, "he used up all his power and had to choose another being to inherit his form and role. And it seems you're the one he chose."

This Devil King was still being kind of blunt and unrevealing but I guess this was the most I could get out of him.

His head perked back up.

"Now! Let's go see my other servants."

He had an air of excitement and child-like wonder about him as he said this, despite his ominous presence.

He slowly stood down from the platform he had been on and came into vision through the red haze. I could finally see what he really looked like. He was wearing a grey and brown scaly armor, or maybe it was his skin, and two giant jet black structures proturded from his shoulders. They looked like shields with a multitude of spikes erupting from the top. Now that I looked a little closer, I could see that these black shoulder-pads were made of the same material as the black armor-like substance that covered the better part of my body.

I gulped and fixed my attention towards his head. He looked like he was wearing some kind of space suit helmet. He had a dark infested visor visible where his face should've been and the rest of his head was made of the same black surface as his shoulder-pads. He didn't seem to have a mouth, but I could see his eyes. They were blood red blips of light, shining intensely, that appeared to be on his visor instead of behind it. The visor was some kind of screen or interface.

As he stepped past me I could feel the sheer heat coming from him surge over my unsuspecting body. Even through my hard skin I could feel a penetrating heat begin to boil my blood. If I still had blood, that is. Well, I felt like I did, so I decided to just assume it was there for now.

I wouldn't want to burden the Devil King with another question, I sarcastically thought to myself.

Now I was staring at the Devil King's back, from which I could see a silky red cape hanging, somehow able to resist the fierce temperature he gave off. It flowed behind him as he took each step. It was then that I began to smell the air. It was thick and humid, the type of smell I imagined it was like in the Amazon rainforest. But the intense heat seemed to contradict this musky odor. At least it felt like a breath of fresh air from the pungent gas that had fragranced the room prior. I heard the hard clack of his boots (or maybe just his seemingly impregnable skin) against the ground as he took each stride forward.

"Oooooh, I'm so excited. You're gonna love the other guys, I promise." he beamed, instantly ruining the terrifying aura that had built around him in his 20 seconds of silence.

That was all it took, a few strides down a path for him to assert his dominance and strike fear into the hearts of even a demon like myself. Unfortunately for him, it also only took one stupid, childish remark like that last one to completely destroy that atmosphere, and so far it seemed to me like it would be a daunting task for him to stop making them.

I began to step forward myself following him. We passed through the small wooden door. As soon as I stepped through the frame the Devil King turned to me and it looked as if he was grinning. All of a sudden we were both engulfed by a blue light. It shone through my body, which was now suspended in the air, eliminating any sound or smell. It was like the void I was in before I came here. Just pure blue light penetrating my skin. I winced. Then, when I opened my eyes I found myself in a large room.

The Devil King was a few paces in front of me, looking amused by the bewildered expression I was making.

"That was a teleportation spell," he said, looking proud of himself.

It would have been better to have known that beforehand.

Then, without warning, the Devil King turned to an open door at the corner of the room and strode out after muttering a quick "stay here."

Feeling slightly frustrated, I decided to look around the enormous room in which I found myself. Magnificent, golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling high up; long chains suspending them a few metres from the ground. The floor was decorated with a giant velvety-red carpet, with golden patterns littered across it. I couldn't make out any clear image or word from them. They just seemed like messy scribbles.

Ha. Almost reminds me of one of those magic circles that cropped up in games and anime back in my world.

The walls had purple banners dropped over them. Each one seemed to have a symbol resembling fire. A waxy smell crawled into my nostrils. Must have been from the candles atop the chandeliers.

Then, the Devil King cam strutting back in through the open wooden door. He was followed by a girl. She looked to be in her early twenties. She had long, silky, red hair falling down to her shoulders. She looked curiously at me with her bright scarlet eyes. Her slit pupils focused on me as she entered the room. She was wearing a strangely coloured dress. It was a pure, angelic white over the shoulders, with a small slit in either side exposing a part of her upper arms around her elbows. From just below her elbows, her arms were uncovered. The white ran down to her waist. There were golden trims running down the inner sides of this white. Then most of her chest was covered in a red silk-like material. Below this was a crimson red skirt. Her knees downward were then also uncovered and she was wearing black heeled-sandals. There were black, spikey bits of metal protruding from the sides of her shoes and stretching around into the soft, pale skin of her foot.

As my gaze focused back towards her face, I noticed a strange object levitating behind her head. I was looking at the door from an angle so I could see this clearly, despite it being where it was. It was a black object. It's shape was that of two diamonds, the bottom bigger than the top, with the two sides of the second diamond jutting out from the top of it. Both of these mysterious diamonds seemed to have in them a Luminosity Gem, just like the one I had between my horns.

Didn't the Devil King say he only has three of them. He must trust her a lot to give her two of those. Then again, it doesn't sound like he believes the whole prophecy surrounding them anyway.

Just then, I saw small, twinkling tears forming under her eyes.

What?

"Izusu, you're back. I thought you were dead, but you're back." She began quivering with joy and her mouth spread into a wide smile. She held her fingers up to her eyes to wipe away her tears. I slowly averted my eyes to the Devil King, sending an imaginary distress signal his way. He glanced back at me, looking just as speechless. Then he held his hand up to where his mouth should be and made a strange gargling sound, as if trying to replicate the sound of someone clearing their throat. However, since he had no throat, it came forth as the sound of a person about to vomit. The girl looked up at him, looking almost as confused as I was.

"Ah, well. This isn't Izusu per se."

"W-what?" The girl asked, now trembling.

"When Izusu died, he had to choose someone to inherit his body and role. And this is who he chose." He dramatically waved his arms in my direction.

"I have dubbed this new henchman Melicsto!" He said excitedly.

The girl sniffed back her remaining tears, now looking melancholic as she stared at me.

"That's a stupid name." She said blankly.

This was the first girl I'd met in this world and I was already being insulted and looked down on.

I guess some things never change no matter what form I take.

"Now, don't be like that." The Devil King responded. "Melicsto, this here is my advisor. Her name is Artfelia."

She did a polite bow.

Trying to forget how she'd insulted me I shakily raised my hand out.

"Nice to meet you," I said awkwardly.

She walked up to me, looked at my hand and hesitated. Did handshakes not exist in this world?

"No thanks. I don't shake hands with weirdos."

Kill me.

"Yeah. Is that so?" I tried to respond as nicely as possible.

"Haha. You're a strange guy you know that?"

Then she grabbed my hand and shook it.

"I refute my previous statement on the grounds that we will be working together." She put-on a serious sounding voice.

Then the Devil King began to speak, interrupting us.

"Artfelia, you do the rest. Okay?"

"Sure thing, Mister Devil."

"I told you not to call me that."

With that, he left the room once more. This woman felt like she would be a handful to deal with.

"Okay, let's go to my room." She beamed.

Huh?

***

She had led me down a long corridor and we were now walking towards what seemed to be her room. I still had no idea what was going on. She turned around and flashed me a quick smile before running to a wooden door right in front of us. It had large pink writing on the top of it.

'Artfelia,' it read.

Below the door handle, was some artwork carved into the door. Several rainbows and splashes of pink. Anyone would think it was an eleven-year-old girl's room. Then my eyes homed in on what was beneath that. Several distorted figures severing a man's limbs, surrounded by fire. Talk about mixed signals. What the hell kind of personality did this girl have?

She slowly pushed the door open, stepped through, and beckoned me to come further. I did so. As I stepped through the doorframe I was treated to a giant room. The walls were coated pink, and the floor with some hellish designs of people being tortured and engulfed by fiercely burning flames. So her whole room was like this too?

In the center of it stood a giant four-post bed. She sat on the sheets and beckoned me once more. I gulped and closed the door shut behind me.

Huh? Are we really going to...? No. It must be something else.

She leaned forward, smiled and said, "Why do you look so nervous? I figured you'd be more excited about this."

Ok, so this is actually happening.

I shakily stepped forward, losing my sense of balance. I climbed onto the bed and was now sitting in front of her.

She smells good.

I'd never been this close to a girl before. Especially not a beautiful one like her.

Then, she exclaimed "Originally the Devil King was going to do this, but he gets bored very easily, so I've been instructed to do it."

Um....what? If what I think is happening is really happening. And the Devil King was going to do this originally...

I shook my head, too unnerved to continue down that line of thought. Then I looked down. Yep. Just like I thought, there was nothing there.

"Um, Artfelia."

"Yes?" She cocked her head.

"Well, uh, if this is what I think it is then I thought I should tell you that I don't...um....I don't have a-"

I was cut off by a breaking sound and suddenly her bed plummeted through the floor. WInd smashed into my chin as we fell what felt like three stories. I tried to scream but our momentum stopped any sound from coming out. Then the bed hit the floor of a large room, similar to the one the Devil King had teleported me to. I guess there were big halls like this all the way through the Devil King's castle.

Arteflia burst out laughing.

"Ahahahahah! You should see the look on your face! This was so much better than a simple teleportation spell."

Wait. Hold on. She was only doing all this for a more fun way to this room? Just because she wanted to scare me?

"Ok, then without further ado, let's show you the rest of the servants."

Artfelia leaned close to me and whispered in my head (I assumed that was where she thought my ear was).

"Hey, uh, no offense but your name is stupid and I refuse to use it."

Well, at least she said no offense, I thought sarcastically.

"But don't worry-"

I wasn't worried.

"-I've come up with the perfect cute nickname for you."

Ok, now I was worried.

"Is it okay if I call you Melly."

I shot her a stern look.

"Absolutely not."

She looked delighted.

"Perfect," she chirpily replied.

Then she stood up and turned to the other servants.

"Greetings," she started in a booming voice, "I have called you all here to introduce the new henchman. That's right, Izusu's replacement. None other than: Melly!"

Goddammit.