41 Unexpected Allies (1)

Golden eyes came into view as delicate eyelids fluttered open. Sadly, no one was there to meet the captivating gaze of the demon who was staring at the ceiling like a philosopher who was musing about the meaning of life.

Astaroth could feel minute vibrations traveling through the wall. They were weak and failed to make the chains on his body clink and sway yet, the demon knew that the vibrations were getting stronger. If he focused on the sounds that were contained in the levels right above him, he would be able to hear alarms roaring at every corner in Elisium. But his golden irises didn't contain a single shred of surprise. The Duke of Hell had seen this coming. If he used his powers, he knew he would have been able to see a chaotic scene filled with destruction as well as the two children who were the root cause of Elisium's ongoing pandemonium.

The demon breathed out and continued to feel the tremors running through Elisium's structure. He could sense the pulsating energy signatures in the floors that lied above his secret chamber. Even 373's life was flickering like a candle's flame that could go out at any second. His sculpted lips arched to a frown.

"Truly... for a child to court death like this…" The demon's smooth tenor trailed off. He had multiple conversations like this – conversations where he spoke, and the walls were the only listeners. What was the point of him talking when he had no audience?

The flow of magic beneath the gigantic cross where he was mounted on was slowly weakening just as 373 had predicted. Because of the little girl's efforts, he was slowly regaining his strength. If he waited for a few more hours, then he would have enough energy to break out of the artifacts that kept his body locked in this room. He only needed to endure a few more hours of silence and he could set his body free.

Astaroth stared at the ceiling and wondered how the girl with brown hair was faring. Another sigh escaped his lips.

He was a powerful demon who understood the intricacies of fate. He had seen all of 373's possible futures. He had seen all the choices that 373 could have taken. The girl could have ignored Michael Caelum's disappearance. She could have chosen to wait in the library before heading off to bed. 373 could have chosen to run away by herself at the sight of Michael Caelum's prone figure. She could have chosen to flee – to not lift a finger.

Instead, she chose to fight.

The quiet girl decided raise her fists and bit the hands that once fed her. She wasn't a solemn but ignorant angel. She was a violent spitfire that was ready to summon hell upon the earth when provoked.

'Humans are truly interesting creatures,' Astaroth thought. His mind wandered and he recalled what he had said to her before she had been captured. A low hum escaped his lips.

Instead of telling the girl she had to fight her battles, maybe he should have said something else? Something less suggestive?

Yet, even if he did say something else, Astaroth couldn't imagine 373 doing something other than fight.

He was a demon who had the power to see the past, the present, and the future. And the moment he had decided to give her his mark, Astaroth had already unearthed the secrets in her body not even 373 knew.

She had a soul that was older than its body. Her body contained a small amount of miasma which was enough to kill an adult human being. But instead of decaying, her body grew accustomed to the miasma. Even the amount of miasma in the secret room didn't affect her. Her future contained an interesting plot twist he hadn't expected when he met the child. It was a future he was rather interested in seeing for himself.

Astaroth couldn't help himself. He was captivated by her deep gaze that was shrouded by innocence yet seemed to contain the secrets of the stars.

He wanted to see how the small girl with eyes as deep as abysses would turn out.

He wanted to learn more about her.

But if she was left alone at the state that she was in right now, then the girl would either die or find herself tangled in a fate much worse than death. Those obsidian orbs would never look up to him again and he would never find another girl who would ignore him as much as she did.

An interesting idea formed in the demon's head. 373 was going to disappear from his grasps if she was left alone. But what if she wasn't left alone?

What if a demon decided to intervene and change her fate?

As if sensing his thoughts, the shadows below him stirred excitedly. His body was kept in place by the artifacts on the wall yet his soul was another thing. With his power slowly returning to him, his soul could easily slip out of his body and into the body of another human being.

He could return for his body another time. The body of a demon lord like him wasn't something easily destroyed.

"Since I have already vowed to be hers, it would be unjust to let the child die when she has fulfilled her part of the deal," The demon said in the silence of his room. The smile on his face was playful. If she stayed alive, he would have someone who could listen to him talk. And he would take his precious time in making her understand what it meant when a man became 'yours'.

Astaroth's golden orbs shone with an enchanting light. The intricate pattern on 373's chest glowed. No one could see how the demon's mark seemed to come alive. The Duke of Hell's eyes closed as he felt his consciousness being pulled out of his body. When he came to, the body he was occupying was swaying to the ground. And for the first time in a long time, Astaroth felt what it was like to fall.

Astaroth moved the body he was occupying and stopped it from crashing down on the ground. Gravity was something he normally defied but now it was pulling him down. It was an exhilarating sensation. He checked the body he had managed to use and found a rather familiar silver ring hanging around the body's neck.

A feminine laugh escaped from the body's lips.

Astaroth had managed to inhabit the body of an eight-year old girl. To be precise, he had inhabited the body of the girl he was trying to help.

373 was a girl that made him experience too many new things. Getting involved with her was truly interesting!

A barrage of lighting and flames broke his chain of thought. Astaroth moved out of the way. A mystical kind of heat invaded his senses. Before the demon could fully gauge his situation, a palm came out from nowhere. Without batting an eyelash, he dodged. With 373's small hands, he caught the hand and broke the bones on his attacker's out stretched arm.

His assailant's scream ricocheted through the halls. Astaroth didn't blink. He observed the battlefield while taking note of the state of 373's small body. Her consciousness had temporarily lied dormant due to the amount of stress the girl had encountered in the last two days. However, Astaroth didn't found her body empty of energy – she had an almost unlimited reserve of magic stirring inside of her.

It had been decades since Astaroth had last possessed a living being. Thanks to a certain blue-haired disciple and her master, he had been chained stiff on a crucifix for years with nothing but his boredom. He was itching to move. This time, he was going to wreck as much havoc as he could.

A smirk appeared on 373's face. "Please consider this as my retribution."

The girl's lashes fluttered coquettishly as she surveyed the opponents in front of her with a half-lidded gaze. A frail-looking arm extended towards the adults who were too busy dealing with Leon's flames. Energy circulated around the girl's body and a thousand lances of lightning materialized behind her small figure. A spell escaped the young girl's lips.

"Fulmen Spicula. Mille Spicula"

With these words, the lances of electricity crashed down on Elisium.