Icarus's Devil

Both the Reverend and the king's eyes widened at the open hallway.

"Machia, is that you?"

The king let out a disgruntled voice from his seat as he turned his attention away from the helpless floating Perses to stare sceptically at the hall's entrance.

"..."

The king scanned the open corridor yet found nothing. He tilted his head towards the Reverend hesitantly. The Reverend looked equally puzzled as he tugged at his chin with his hand.

"I directed the door' production. It should be easy to enter yet impossible to leave. It is motion triggered as you are aware so..."

"Your saying something must be out there."

As the two old men pondered the situation, Perses was left to stare at the ceiling and the walls, privy to nothing.

"Haha"

Perses laughed. Snapped away from the entrance, they stared at the laughing Perses. He had now risen to the very roof of the hall. Despite being over 30 meters high, the blessed had let out a carefree laugh. It wasn't exactly a jovial laugh or a sinister one. In fact, it was surprisingly gentle considering the current circumstances.

Slowly, he reached his hands out towards the hall's roof, and much to the shock of his audience, he struck the roof with his fist. Soon, he plummeted down towards the elderly duo with immense speed.

It was so fast that the Reverend didn't even have the chance to react as Perses ungracefully slammed into the floor right next to him, back first. The Reverend's eyes couldn't keep up as his shocked expression was left staring at the roof. Perse's display of might wasn't the only thing that terrified him.

The king completely forgot about the hallway and stared furiously at Perse's flat figure. Whatever force had lifted him upwards into the air had been seemingly dispersed. Perses tilted his head behind him from the floor. What looked like an empty hallway to them was not so much to him.

The devil girl waltzed into the room as she looked around with fascination. Her ruby eyes searched the room listlessly, ignoring the massive impact of Perses slamming to the ground. She wandered past Perses, painfully laid out on the floor, much to his confusion. But then she turned around.

"Oh, it's you, so you were here too."

Perses looked disappointed, then tilted his head with a smile, "So you mean you're not here to save me."

She shook her head regretfully.

"Nah, now way. This is the scariest building. I left it for last, but there's nothing else to explore. I was surprised as well to see this dead end open up all of a sudden." Perses tried to suspend his disbelief and imagine the idea of the girl wandering through everyone's houses without their permission.

"Anyway, what's with the creepy old dudes here."

With a stubborn, annoyed expression, she pointed at the Reverend. He had patiently listened to Perses talk to himself with a furrowed brow as he attempted to assess the situation. As he did this, he kept a wary eye on the king.

"Who are you talking to? No first, Perses, you haven't awakened to your abilities by any chance, have you?"

Perses completely ignored the man and turned to the devil girl with a complicated expression.

"Er, so the thing is I kind of need some help like right now, would you-"

The devil girl's innocent, curious face turned to a begrudged agitation.

"Huhh, since when do I have to help you? Listen here if you think that I'll do it for free-"

"Il give you anything you want."

The devil girl's annoyed expression flipped to an open-minded intrigue.

"Well, I suppose I can think of a couple things-"

Before Perses could further negotiate with the stubborn creature, he was picked off his feet and sent reeling backwards. He was slammed into the wall of the since-closed entrance with a "Bang". The fierce impact caused him to choke on his blood as he struggled to breathe. However, it seemed the door wouldn't budge even from this level of destruction.

However, rather than continue his attack, the king turned to the Reverend, his eyes bulging with malice.

"YOUUUUU, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

For the first time ever, the Reverend backed up. Genuine fear flooded his eyes as his eyelids opened wide. Turning his full attention to the king, he stammered out a response.

"Wait, stop you don't know for sure yet maybe-"

"YOU BROUGHT AN AWAKENED RIGHT TO ME. NO HUMAN COULD SURVIVE THAT LOOK"

The Reverend turned to look, but it was meaningless as he was immediately picked off his feet. After a slight levitation, he flew straight towards the king's thick outstretched arm. Still seated on his throne, he held the short man's neck in a vice-locked grip.

He fruitlessly grappled with the man's strong burley arm. He gave up shortly and used his arms only to desperately hold himself up on the man's arm so as not to cause more pressure than necessary.

With only a hint of shrewdness left in his eyes, he met the king's eyes head-on resistantly whilst he choked.

"WHAT, was your most important duty, Reverend."

"To, keep track of the Blessed incase he awakened your majesty."

"Correct. Honestly, you've been lucky till now, Reverend. This might be your first mistake; I suppose I could let you go with a warning in light of that."

Upon hearing the king's words, the Reverend smiled desperately.

"Thank-"

Before he could issue any gratitude, a fist slammed into the Reverend's stomach, causing him to writhe in the king's hands.

Perses was forced to watch all this with dazed vision as he had become embedded in the wall facing it. Truthfully, if the devil girl had not decided to venture here on a whim, granting him a little strength, he would have really died from that blow.

With a small excitement in her step, she shuffled over towards Perses whilst watching the king. Turning her attention away from them, she leaned towards Perses with a grin.

"So you'll do anything, will you?"

"Anything"

"How about you be my slave, give me all your meals and help me explore whenever I want. It turns out I can't move a certain distance away from you its been really annoying, honestly."

Perses couldn't help but stifle a laugh at her nonchalance. It was hard to deny any longer that he liked the girl. They were more alike than he had initially assumed.

"Forget the slave part but otherwise, it's a deal."

The girl smiled eagerly. "Well, aren't you lucky I've saved you twice, and you get my overwhelming power for such a cheap price."

"Your power? Well, maybe I guess, haha."

Perses laughed at her simplicity. She probably didn't even know what haggling was, but he wasn't exactly the cunning type either.

"Thank you, really-" Perses paused as he stared at the ensuing conflict. The king was finally done tormenting the Reverend and callously tossed the limp figure behind him. "But it's about to get real dangerous, can you do that thing from before, you know where you go in me."

"Huh why?"

"For safety, I would lose power if you died, wouldn't I? Besides, it seems it's the only way to bring out my full strength without carrying you."

The devil girl truthfully understood just as little how her power worked as he did, but she simply shrugged her shoulders. Then, all of a sudden, she was gone.

He didn't need to look for her. Effortlessly pulling himself out of the thick stone wall was enough for him to realize how much stronger he was now.

The king had patiently watched him pull himself out of the wall. Maybe harming the Reverend had allowed him to calm down a little as he assessed Perses with caution.

Despite a mildly anxious look reigning on his face, he had remained seated this entire time. He crossed his arms and took a more serious posture. In a shrewd voice, he announced, "If Perses, you were to return to your room now, I suppose I could overlook our little scuffle. No strings attatched."

The king's words were heavy, and they possessed little to no emotion. But his weaker approach felt out of place, considering his violent nature.

'He's lying."

"Agreed he is lying, isn't he?"

The devil girl and Perses agreed almost instantly. Perses, however, had forgotten to speak inside his head, which caught the king's attention.

"Then it's not just a head injury, you really are talking to someone aren't you Perses."

The king's anxious expression had fallen. In its place, a macabre grin stood.

"Another blessed, maybe, if they had appeared after Machia abandoned his surveillance I suppose its possible. More likely though its a feature of your unique ability."

As the king discussed his thoughts out loud, he gauged Perse's own contemplation.

"So... it seems you don't know either. Well, I suppose I can promise you this, Perses. Whoever they are, I will kill them right in front of you if you do not leave."

The king spoke with an exaggerated snarl as he scanned his opponent. After noticing Perse's indifference, the king's smile faded, and a trickle of sweat appeared on his head.

Perses tilted his head, "I'm pretty sure that's what Machia called a bluff."

The king was stunned by this. He didn't respond with any snarls or malicious grin; instead, he stared, infuriated. With a fierce hatred, the king raised both his hands at the blessed as Perses prepared himself.

But he wasn't ready enough.