Three Words Bring Joy To A Demon

Duncan’s hands reached for his neck as blood flowed from his throat and mouth. His eyes were filled with fear and unwillingness before they lost their light.

With cold eyes, Mateo removed the short sword from his classmate's corpse. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the body collapsed. He reached into his leather armor and pulled out a wand, the very same one Archwizard Arwyn had handed out on the day of their summoning.

A short chant later and the ground in front of him opened up. He grabbed the corpses of the two demons he had killed with the short sword and threw their bodies in. Another chant and the ground closed back up.

One by one, he approached the demons that had been killed by his arrows and performed the same spell, burying them. He made sure to collect all of his arrows before all evidence of his involvement was swallowed up by the ground.

With one final casting, he tossed in the short sword. The whole time he had been carrying out his actions, his eyes were cold and his face expressionless. His only thoughts were the times he had spent sleepless nights trying to learn this spell on his own.

What kind of spy would he be if he didn’t keep a trump card in his back pocket? Purposely failing to cast the spell on the first day had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. Thankfully, his actions were showing their worth now.

He gave one more glance over the area. All that remained was the lifeless body of Ducan along with the demons that had been felled by the assassin. He turned his back and started to head towards the way the Anti-Hero party was in.

“You forgot something.”

Mateo quickly turned and nocked an arrow on his bow. His bow raised, his eyes frantically sweeping over the forest. Who had spoken? Had they seen what he had just done? Was he exposed? And those words, you forgot something. What did they mean?

“Relax, I get the feeling I might not be your enemy.”

“Who are you? Where are you?”

After hearing the voice he was able to pinpoint the location of the speaker. It didn’t matter though as they chose to reveal themselves. What Mateo saw was a human looking female. She was about half a foot taller than he was. She had orange hair and a stunningly beautiful face.

She gave him a knowing smile; she had definitely seen what he had done. Her eyes pierced right through him, with irises like rings of flame circling void-like pupils. Just looking in her eyes would tell you she wasn’t human. That is if you didn’t see her arms and legs covered by some type of chitin and the thin black tail made of the same material.

If those were not some type of armor, then more than likely, Mateo found himself face-to-face with a Demon Lieutenant.

“Have you seen enough, I can give you a few more minutes if you truly wish to appreciate my beauty.”

Mateo could truthfully state that her appearance was one that could capture a person’s heart, the problem was what she would do with the heart she would grasp within those deadly claws of hers. He found a new meaning behind the phrase looks that could kill.

“Demon.”

“Human. See I can play this game too. Oh wait, should I have called you Hero instead?”

Mateo’s thoughts were furiously running. What was her purpose? She almost seemed to be friendly, but he had the feeling her current attitude and actions were based on a whim and curiosity.

“What was it I forgot?”

He prayed this response was the one she longed for. He almost let out a breath of relief when her smile grew even larger, in a way a human’s face absolutely could not stretch in.

“This little toy.”

From behind her she flung out a bloody mess that plopped down in front of him. It was the bird demon that he had shot down from the sky, with his arrow sticking out of its head.

“It really would have been unfortunate to be discovered after going through all that trouble. You really should be more careful.”

He frowned as he looked down at his mistake. Having both a witness and evidence presented before him. He truly was being sloppy. He had forgotten about this thing as the difference in build and weight along with its wings caused it to glide instead of falling straight down like Duncan had.

“Thank you.”

His response had caused an outburst of laughter from the she-demon.

“Oh I like you!”

Hopefully, that would be a good thing.

“I swear I’m dying to know, it seems like he was too. Why’d you do it? Was it jealousy, a grudge? Or maybe his little knives? Did you kill him to keep them for yourself? Nah, that can’t be it. You didn’t grab them. Come on, don’t keep a girl in suspense.”

Sweat ran down his brow. Must he reveal himself? Must he commit the biggest disgrace someone in his line of work could do? Would it even help? What if the only thing keeping him alive was her curiosity. Would she kill him once it was satisfied? He really didn’t know if he should consider himself lucky that she was the Demon Lieutenant that happened upon him.

“He was my enemy, and not just him, all of the Heroes are.”

Before he could react she was in his face. Yet he restrained himself from reacting. With the possibility of Death in front of him, he had to do everything he could to mitigate that fate from occurring.

“They all are? Hehe, you're the enemy of the Heroes, even though you are a Hero. Are you saying you’re not a Hero? Or maybe you want to be the only Hero. Tell me Hero-who-might-not-be-a-Hero, what are you, really?”

“To them I am Mateo, their classmate, a student whose dream is to become a General of Breglin and become victorious against our Enemy, the country of Velin. The truth though, I am a nameless spy who hails from Velin. As for why I declare myself the enemy of the Heroes. It is because I fear them and what they will do to my Country should they return with the powers they have been gifted with from this world.”

“So you would kill them–for your country. You would doom those of this world–for your country. You would betray everyone–for your country. Tell me Hero of Velin. Will you aid the Demons–for your country! Will you slaughter the innocent of this world–for your country! Will you become the Agent of the Demons, and slaughter the Heroes of the Humans, destroying the last hope of this country–for your country!”

Every time she uttered those words, she would become even more excited. Her voice gained an inhuman timbre. It was because she knew, for him, those three words meant everything. Those three words were the mantra to his existence, the sole purpose behind his actions. As she gazed into his eyes, she knew that his sanity hung by the thread of three words.

“For my country, I would do anything.”