Chapter Text
After the raid, Seris and company decided to hide at a nearby inn. It was located in a religious bazaar. The residents were extremely faithful to the Moon Goddess, Io, and her other self, Luna. In their room, Jenos was enjoying the luxury of a human shower with real water. Seris and Abby were chatting on the bed.
“You seem to be a different person considering the pitiful display you put on yesterday,” Seris noticed.
Abby was busy combing her long hair. “I pledged loyalty to you. I’m not going to die, so I’d like to enjoy myself. That is, if you plan on keeping your word.” There was an entitled edge to her voice. Despite the fact that she was demoted to a lowly demon servant, she still kept her goddess’s pride. “If I’m going to meet with a demon lord or two I’d like to look my best.”
Seris raised an eyebrow. “Who are you trying to impress? Most of the lords won't care about your appearance. They’re just obsessed with the fact that the abyss now has a goddess on the end of its leash, weak or not. I have to take you back to the abyss with me because you’re now officially my servant so I’d like to make this quick. I fear that a lord will try to devour you.”
“What?! Then I’m not going if I’m just going to end up as demon food.”
“Watch who you’re talking to, servant. I won’t tolerate any disobedience. I already have to deal with Jenos. A brat doing whatever she wants is even more stressful.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am…”
Seris sat at the table with a grim face. She hated going to official meetings. Lords were so entitled and arrogant. It annoyed her that she was the one who always went and never Jenos. She got up and stormed towards the bathroom. With a quick spell, she blew the door off its hinges.
“WOAH, WOAH!” Jenos yelped. He wasn’t even undressed. He was just sitting in a tub of ice cold water. “Can’t you let a demon take a bath? It’s extraordinary how cold the water gets with just a turn of a knob. This is nothing like the scorching showers back in the abyss.”
“I might have to try it out myself then. But that’s not the point. You’re taking Abby to the meeting in my stead,” Seris asserted.
“Hm? You know I don’t do demon lord meetings. I thought it was self explanatory.”
“Indulge me.”
Jenos tensed up. Seris had never pressed further before. He knew he wasn’t being fair to Seris but too much of his past lingered around the gathering of lords.
When Jenos stayed quiet. Seris sighed. Jenos wasn’t getting another chance at playing hooky. She’d have to use underhanded methods. One related to Jenos’s past. “Well then… I’ll enjoy having a chat with Lady Ying at least. What’s left of her.”
“Damn snake!” He snapped. “How dare you speak her name in front of me?”
Bingo.
The enraged demon floated up into the air until his eyes were a few inches above Seris’s. A ball of fire appeared in Jenos’s left hand, and his gun in his right. Swirling cracks of pulsing flames started to glow on his left arm leading down to his hand. “I swear on all of the lords that I will tear you limb from limb then incinerate what’s left of you if you say another word about her. I don’t care about what will happen to the abyss, I will break you and that beloved trinket of yours.”
The corners of Seris’s lips twisted into a malicious grin. “You of all people should know that demons have souls, too, Jenos. I specialize in shattering such things. How about you put your toys away before your shards fall out of place?”
Jenos clenched his teeth. Hatred yet respect for the oracle burned in his heart. This wasn’t the first time the two friends had been at each other’s throats. The entire inn was bathed in the two demons’ bloodlust. Abby, still on the bed, lay terrified under the covers, hoping the two would forget about her. If Seris and Jenos were to fight, kilometers of land would be destroyed, and thousands of lives would be lost. Among those lives could be Corvus who was somewhere in the city.
“Don’t try to threaten me. You know how long I’ve wanted to kill you now.”
If Seris’s eyes weren’t covered, she’d be rolling them. “The feeling’s mutual. But we both know that’s impossible. Follow the rules. Disputes between advisors are settled with a coin flip.”
“What?! You can’t bring that up now!” Jenos snarled.
“But I can, and just did. Though King Drogoz is dead, we cannot disobey the set of rules he made. We were born into a strict hierarchy, a predetermined rank.”
“By the lords! You’re such a nerd. I call heads.”
Being the oracle of the abyss was nice.
Seris drew a silver coin from thin air. With a flick of her thumb, it was sent flying into the air. Jenos anxiously stared at it while Seris remained calm with a cool expression. The winner had already been decided.
The oracle grabbed the coin out of the air and slapped it on the back of her hand. With a sly smile at Jenos, she said, “Tails.”
“BULL-!” Jenos proceeded to direct his wrath at the inn while screaming a series of curses. In mere seconds, the once humble building was reduced to smithereens. The residents had also been killed. The only survivors were Seris and Abby who were still on the bed.
“H-Hey guys?” Abby stuttered
“Quiet. If you say anything else he’ll kill you. Now then, off you go! I’ve already prepared a portal for the two of you. Oh and, Abby, since this is your first time going to the abyss I suggest that you hold Jenos’s hand,” Seris purred.
Abby’s face reddened in both fear and embarrassment. Jenos’s bloodlust was practically drowning her. When he turned to face her, however, he almost seemed back to normal. His regular taunting grin was back on his face and his shoulders relaxed. But the flow of bloodlust didn’t stop.
“What are you waiting for? I want to get this over with just as much as you do,” he grumbled.
“Y-Yeah…” Abby hesitantly entered the portal with the demon.
“SERIS I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU!” Jenos yelled back at her. “Once this meeting is over I’m murdering you.”
And with that, he was gone.
Seris sighed. The day had only just begun but she was already tired. During the coin flip, she had used much of her power just to see a few seconds into the future. It was a unique ability she hadn’t mastered and could only use with intense concentration. She didn't have time to rest. If Corvus was near, she’d have to find and capture him quickly. But then she’d have to make him summon Raum, which was something she
really
didn’t want to do. The longer she took, the more impatient the lord would get. The least she could do was enjoy herself as she searched for Corvus, and she knew just the person who could help. One of Corvus’s personal guards, Fernando.