Lord

 “Libero, Demon of Freedom,” Sero spoke with an unnatural, reverberating voice, “You’ve certainly made a mess of my territory.”

“Yeah? So-”

     Before Libero could speak more than that, a bolt of lightning burst from the sky and struck him where he stood, leaving a charred, blackened mass.

“I did not give you permission to speak.” Sero said calmly as he turned his gaze towards Siti. “Sitiens Meretrix, the ‘Green Plague.’ What do you think you’re doing to my citizens? Speak.”

     Siti, unintimidated, shrugged her shoulders, “They lost a bet with me, and this is the result of that! It’s only harmful to their pride, I assure you! Oh, and call me Siti!”

     Then one of the demons carrying Siti spoke up, “Mercy Lord Sero! W-we didn’t know youaaaaagghhhh!!” And his body seemed to vanish, along with the demon next to him, causing Siti to fall and land on her feet.

     Sero had reached out his hand, revealing the brand on his palm. Most likely he had consumed their territories until the vanished, just like Libero had done before. “Fools. As if I had not just demonstrated the consequences of speaking out of turn. Still, I’m quite fortunate. I just had to report that my servants failed to retrieve the human, but here I can make up for my failure by capturing you, Sitiens Mer-”

“Siti. I told you, just call me Siti.” Siti interrupted bluntly.

     Sero was silent for a moment, then raised his hand again, “Such insolence!” And then...nothing. The two just stood there, staring at one another.

     Siti blinked, then spoke, “Oh, right, I’m supposed to do something, right? Bleeeehhhhh~!!” As she made her own body unravel and fall apart into a various vines.

“Strange,” Sero spoke again, looking the brand on his own palm, checking if it was defective, “You have the brand on your arm, so why does it not work?”

     Siti quickly put herself back together, “Oh that? It was never really on me. See?” She reached over to her branded arm and plucked it off as if she were an amputee with a fake arm. She tossed it away and, as soon as that arm hit the ground, it got up, sprouted legs from the shoulder part, and crawled away.

“I see,” Said Sero, “That arm was never attached to you. Did you foresee this?”

“To some extent.” Siti replied as she grew a fresh new arm, “I didn’t know what the brand did, but I knew that I didn’t want it!”

“You did well to avoid it, but it hardly matters.” As he lowered his hand, another bolt of lightning struck Siti, reducing her to the same charred husk that Libero had been reduced to. “I know that won’t kill you. I’ve heard reports of the tenacity of the Green Plague. Now, as for you…” And turned his gaze upon me.

     My heart sank. I hadn’t said anything. I was completely frozen in fear. What could he possibly want with me?

     Sero leapt over to me, gently pausing in the air before coming to a soft landing less than an arm’s length away. He looked down upon me, “There’s no point in pretending. You may be masking yourself as my servant, but I can sense other demons within you, but more importantly than that, I am the Demon Lord of Electricity, and I can sense the electrical signals within your body. You are no demon. And you’re not like the Green Plague either. So you must be...the human.”

     I tried to step back, but he placed his arms on my shoulders and kept me in place.

“I truly am fortunate. The human was alive, wandered straight into my territory, I get to kill the Demon of Freedom, and capture the Green Plague. Haha, perhaps I can become a Demon King with all these achievements.”

     I was afraid. What should I do? What COULD I do? I stand no chance against him. But just letting him take me, going with him willingly is the absolute worst. What do they even need me for? Right. I can still get information. He even said that Siti isn’t dead, and Libero has survived that lightning before. Maybe I can get something useful out of him. And, if he’s the Demon of Electricity, maybe I can…

“What,” I started, choking on my fear, “What do you need a human for?”

     Sero paused in silence, then leaned in, “I’ll forgive you for speaking out of turn, if only because I need you alive. But I’ll tell you, so you can despair all the while. My king has been trying to find the Hidden Realm. With you, he can send you back to your world, but he’ll be able to follow you there. Once there, he’ll open a path for us lords to follow, and we’ll devour your whole realm! With the power we gain, our great king shall become the eighth Demon God, one above all others! With that power, perhaps we’ll consume the other Demon Gods, then the Divinities, then perhaps even the God of Creation himself! And it’ll all happen thanks to you~”

     I didn’t understand all of it, but what I understood was that my capture would result in Earth’s destruction, maybe even the destruction of everything else. That’s enough. Enough to know that, no matter what, I can’t let myself be captured. No matter how afraid I am, no matter how powerless I still am, I CAN’T let myself be captured.

“Hm?” Sero noticed as his hands were slowly pushed off by metal spikes growing from my shoulders. “Ah, chosen to resist have you? That’s going to make keeping you alive very difficult.”

“And it’ll make getting out alive even MORE difficult!”

    Libero burst out from his charred husk and leapt at Sero with a full-force punch. Sero turned and lifted a hand to catch his punch, but his movements were restricted by numerous vines restricting his upper body, causing him to take the punch straight to his smooth, featureless face and get knocked into the nearby rubble.

     Siti soon appeared, forming her body once again from vines emerging from the ground, and standing beside Libero and I as we all faced Sero together.

     Sero rose up from the rubble, using electricity to burn the vines off of his body, then wiping the dust off of himself. The skies boomed with thunder and his body began to crackle with arcs of electricity, “It seems I’m going to have to work for my achievements. Very well then. Have at you!”