Monster

All of David’s inner council had gathered in the throne room.

He sat upon the throne, tapping his fingers angrily against the arm rest, with Rebecca and Eva on his left and Jorōgumo on his right. Mímir, Mania and several Ravens were kneeling before the steps of the throne, whilst Abaddon and his Machai guarded the doors.

After an agonisingly long minute, David stopped tapping and spoke.

“Raven, answer me honestly. What have you been doing in Stonefall since our last council meeting?”

“Per your majesty’s orders, we have kept to the shadows, eliminating potential threats and threads that could expose our operation, and leaving their corpses in public areas to create a panic in the city.”

“On whose orders?”

“S-sire?”

“I asked you a question.” The intensity of David’s voice grew. “On. Whose. Orders?”

“Y-yours, your majesty.”

“Mine?” The Raven nodded. “On my orders?”

David slowly rose from his throne and descended down to the Raven. He crouched beside his spy and whispered, “Did I order you to do that?”

“L-lord Mímir said-”

“What did he say?” David interrupted; the Raven’s body went completely stiff, as if they’d been paralysed. “Tell me the truth. What did Mímir say?”

In his peripheral vision, David saw Mímir's hand curl into a fist.

He knew what was coming and he knew he was doomed.

“L-lord Mímir said that you had ordered us to perform such duties,” the Raven whispered. “He said that it was your majesty’s will to have us act as we have done.”

“I see.” David smiled, stood up and marched over to Mímir. Then, he exhaled and said, “Clear the room.”

The Machai, Rebecca and Eva moved to leave, but David halted Rebecca and Eva before they could depart.

Once the doors were shut, David gestured for Mímir to stand.

Painfully, Mímir stood up straight, not daring to meet his master’s gaze.

“Mímir, are you following the orders that I gave you when I left for the Shadow Tombs?”

“…Not entirely, your majesty.”

“Not entirely? What didn’t I order you to do?”

“What the Raven described, your majesty.”

David nodded. “I ordered you to spread fear throughout the city, but did I ask you to brutalise adventurers and scum, hang their corpses on the streets and mark everywhere with ominous words that anyone could see were an attempt to hide something?”

“…You did not.”

“Right, I didn’t.”

David took a deep breath, drew back his fist, then punched Mímir in the stomach as hard as he could.

It was an attack so powerful that the whole room shook from the force of the impact.

Had it been anyone but one of the generals, they would’ve been blown to pieces.

The shockwaves alone made Rebecca and Eva scream, with Eva leaping before her mistress to protect her from the impact.

Mímir however, per his master’s commands, didn’t move.

His face tightened and he bent forwards ever so slightly, but he didn’t cry out in agony.

Everyone else watched on in stunned silence; most kept their heads low.

“Why did you disobey me? Why didn’t you just do as you were told? Why-?”

“Your majesty, I-”

David punched Mímir even harder; this time, the general bent over at a sharp angle before collapsing onto his knees, vomiting a little bit of blood. Mímir swallowed it and covered his mouth with his hand so no blood dripped onto his master.

“Did I say you could speak?!” David roared. “If I didn’t order you to do it, then why did you do something so stupid and risky without asking your master first? Why did you bring more attention towards us and why is it that not a single one of my generals can do what I want them to do when I ask them to?!”

“Abaddon!” The demon general flinched. “You did well with the giants, but you have failed me multiple times since we’ve arrived in this world. Mania!” She squealed quietly and shut her eyes. “You brought this attention to my operation and Mímir had to cover up for you.”

“Permission to speak, your majesty?” A Raven timidly asked.

“You best watch what you say, but, sure, why not?”

“…Lord Mímir killed the adventurers because Lady Mania had brought unnecessary attention upon herself that day by probing those adventurers for information. Lord Mímir had-”

“Silence.”

The Raven lowered its head again.

“I don’t care why you did it,” David muttered. “It’s that you did it behind my back without consulting me, without looking for any other possibility and worse!” David grabbed Mímir and forced him onto his knees, pushing them so hard into the ground that it began to crack. “You did so in my name. Mine!”

David grunted and threw Mímir onto the ground before storming off to his throne. “Why did I choose you three to serve me?” He slumped into his chair and rubbed his brow.

David’s next words caught in his throat; sweat formed along his back and he felt a disgusting feeling in the pit of his stomach.

What was that?

That…wasn’t me.

I was just acting like the Demon Emperor, that’s all.

That has to be it. Satisfied with his own arguments, David collected himself and went to speak once more, but paused.

He thought back to the last question he had asked his generals.

‘Why did I pick you three to serve me?’

Ever since he had chosen his generals, David had always worried that he had made some sort of mistake and that he could’ve made better picks.

However, even if that was the case, he couldn’t let it bother him.

David looked at his generals again and saw just how dejected and terrified they were. He collected himself then continued his previous thought.

“It would seem choosing you three was a mistake. Jorōgumo.”

“What can this servant do for you, Master?” Jorōgumo elegantly asked, curtseying.

“Are there members of your brood the size of normal spiders? Preferably, are there ones capable of listening to human conversations and relaying that information back to us?”

“There are, Master. There aren’t many of them because I’ve always rushed their growth, as they were more useful to me as grown adults.”

“You can manipulate their growth cycle?”

“To an extent, Master. If you desire it, I could produce about a hundred such spiders for you in fourteen days. However, they are spiders, Master, and they have natural predators and are targets for humans when they clean.”

“As long as they are able to provide us with reliable information, that’s fine. I take it you have no issues with this?”

“None, Master.”

“Excellent. Begin producing spiders in the castle basements. Tell Eva to help you with whatever it is you need to create your brood for now.”

“Shall I start now, Master?”

“Do so.”

“Then, if you will excuse me.”

She curtsied once more and then took her leave.

“Abaddon, escort Mania and Mímir down to the dungeons for the afternoon,” David ordered. “See to it that they are whipped and beaten for thirty or so minutes, then leave them in there until the moon rises.” David glowered at them. “I hope that they’ll learn their lesson and that they’re to talk to me first before acting in my name. Or, at the very least, perhaps their ‘intuition’ will improve.”

If they had done this with my blessing, then that would be one thing, but they decided to do all this behind my back.

Eris lied to me about their loyalty.

No matter.

I just have to make it crystal clear this time that I won’t forgive their next deception.

Initiative is a great thing but, untamed, it leads to idiocy.

“Ravens, next time you receive orders from Mímir, have one of you report to me first to confirm that your orders are what I want them to be,” David continued as Abaddon led the other generals away. “One more thing!” Everyone halted. “Come tomorrow, Mímir, six of your nine Ravens will be monitoring the empire’s efforts to retake Black Port. The two who are already stationed here will continue to operate as normal and you will only have one Raven to monitor the Hierophant in Stonefall now. That is all.”

***

Once the room was empty, David teleported to the Ash Woods.

He dismissed his armour and slumped down against a tree, desperately trying to calm himself down before his anger overwhelmed him.

Exhausted from his performance in the throne room, he felt like he could fall asleep right there and then, until he felt it.

The freezing cold air of the woman he despised most, and the deafening silence that befall the now grey forest.

Floating before him, as if she was lying on a bed, was Eris wearing a fake, sweet smile on her lips.

“I told you a good way to relieve stress was taking it out on someone.”

David almost yelled at her, but quickly stopped himself.

He took a deep breath and put on a small smile.

“I was just a little stressed from acting as the Demon Emperor, that was all. If I hadn’t done that, then my servants might’ve tried to pull a similar stunt further down the line and that could get me killed. If that happened, my family would die too.”

Eris’s smile grew a little as she floated closer to him. “Who are you trying to convince that that’s the truth?”

“It is the truth.”

Eris giggled, then whispered directly into his ear, “Liar.”

David jerked his head away as he swiped at her, but Eris stopped his hand mid-air without lifting a finger.

She released him and floated away, swinging her legs around as her body began to turn into feathers.

With one final giggle, she vanished, leaving David alone with his thoughts, and fears.

“It’s the truth,” he whispered.

***

David didn’t return to his newly named Dread Keep until it was late into the night.

When he did, he teleported back to his bedroom only to find Mania prostrating herself at the front of his bed wearing lacy black lingerie.

He’d almost screamed when he saw her.

The Demon Emperor wouldn’t be scared or embarrassed by this.

“…What are you doing here?”

“…I have come to beg for forgiveness from the Dark Lord and ask that I have a chance to earn his forgiveness before the end of the day.” Mania kept her head low. “As one of your chosen generals, I have failed you. As a succubus, I have failed you. All I can ask now is that you forgive me and allow me to prove that I deserve your forgiveness.”

“Do you?” David moved towards her. “Do you deserve my forgiveness after everything that you’ve done?”

Mania raised her head up a little; her eyes were wet with tears and there were countless cuts and bruises across her body.

It was a sight that made David want to vomit.

However, he swallowed it back down when he remembered that he had ordered it, and that he’d hoped she’d have learnt a valuable lesson from it.

I’m freaking out this much from a woman I ordered beaten after having an entire city destroyed. David closed his eyes. What the hell is wrong with me?

“…Master?”

‘I told you that a good way to relieve stress was taking it out on someone.’

David opened his eyes and undressed, leaving himself naked before her. He offered her his hand and pulled Mania onto her feet.

“Earn it,” David whispered. “Make me forget everything that happened today.”

Make me forget everything,

He let Mania gently guide him onto the bed.

Just do what you want so I can forget everything.

Mania climbed on top of David and leant down to kiss him; he didn’t stop her and embraced her as she began to make love to him.

As she did, David’s mind thought back to Kella and to Hailey, the woman he had befriended and the girl he had once loved.

‘You’re not a monster.’

‘Please! Don’t go! I-I didn’t get to-I didn’t say how I-‘

David closed his eyes and let his instincts take control of him.

…I’m sorry, Hailey.

I am a monster.