The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 94: Interlude: Nona - Part 2

Chapter 94: Interlude: Nona - Part 2

Now she was even more scared of Maledict.

"I wasn’t sure what to make of you. Kids are hard to read. Like nasty, necessary little parasites," he chuckled. "But it seems you haven’t made yourself a nuisance, and you are remarkably free of... pre-arranged hatreds. For that, and because you have a contract with me, I am now willing to offer you a chance, provided you continue to act in any way that does not embarrass me."

Once more she felt him at the edge of her mind.

"I kept some memories from you, so you would not unknowingly warrant your own death... I now permit you to remember," he said, and suddenly Nona felt a pinch behind her forehead. More details of the angel who’d rescued her, like the fact he had horns and a tail, and a face like Maledict, returned to her. As did the knowledge that his name was Kir, and she owed him her life just as much as she owed Maledict, if not more.

He snapped his fingers and two separate pieces of parchment appeared in each of Nona’s hands. One had only a few lines of neat script, while the other had the entire page covered in it.

"Read them, while I watch this," he ordered.

"Umm... I can’t..." Nona admitted.

Maledict frowned and leaned back. "And here I thought Norneau was a learned city," he sighed.

Then he continued, "The basics are this. Sign the short one, and I’ll arrange lodging and training for you wherever my nation goes. You’ll learn mundane things. How to cook, clean, and whatever other domestic things Aytherians do. Once you’ve matured, in twenty years I’ll send you back to my son, contract in hand, and you can pay off your debt to him for however long he sees fit; however he sees fit."

Twenty years? She’d be an old woman by then! Nona was fourteen, she thought. Maybe thirteen. The idea of being thirty-something and a maid... wasn’t what she’d thought she’d do with her life at all.

"Um... what’s the second?" Nona asked.

"The second-" Suddenly Maledict jumped out of his seat, pumping his fist. "Yes! End him!" he roared at the image.

Nona looked to see the she-demon stab her claws into the shoulder of the giant angel with a lot of wings. Weirdly, it looked like there were people running around below them, and it took a moment for Nona to realize that the two figures fighting were titanic in size.

Suddenly the angel pushed backward off of the demon who’d wounded him, hovering for just a second before he landed, going down on one knee as he propped himself with his shield.

He looked up, his mouth moving silently. Maledict sat, seemingly annoyed that they were talking.

"One day I’ll figure out how to get some sound out of this thing," he looked at the chain that edged the vision. Then he remembered that Nona was there. "Oh yes, we were discussing the second contract. Accept that, and you will have the option to train as a warrior, a mage or maven, or whatever suits your talents. I know you are a mortal from Ayther and therefore weak, but I can also transubstantiate you, which will allow your body to grow faster and deadlier in ways that no regular mortal could. Otherwise, the training would take twenty years, the same as the other contract."

"Transus..." Nona couldn’t even remember the big word.

"You may choose to become a half-demon," he looked at her. "In a form that matches your disposition. What exactly that is, I can’t say, but the ritual would come at great expense to me, and in exchange, you would be obligated to return that cost to me, on top of your obligation to my son, yet it might cut the time to train you by more than half, since you will be stronger, require less food, and have to worry less about being hurt." His eyes bored into hers. "I warn you, becoming a half-demon cannot be undone."

He turned his gaze back to the fight, which still had both combatants talking to each other silently. "Think on it. My time is short. You have until tonight t-"

"I’ll do it!" Nona interrupted, "I’ll become a demon!"

"Half-demon," Maledict corrected. "And you still have time. Don’t rush into this-"

"I’m sure! Demons are weird, but they’re not... not bad-bad. Just rowdy. Sometimes. Same as in the Lower City."

Maledict raised an eyebrow and looked at her again. "That can’t be the only reason..."

"I want to be strong! I don’t want to get pushed around anymore!" Nona started to cry. "I want friends..." The things she wanted spilled out of her as fast as her tears. Just getting a few months to live in peace had made her soft, and she somehow felt it would be wrong to get any softer when the world was so mean.

Maledict just waited, watching her and turning back to look at the vision on occasion, until she dried her eyes with the arm of the shirt she’d been given.

When she met his eyes, he reached into the air, pulling forth a small knife, just like the one she’d signed her first contract with. He handed it to her, hilt first.

The moment she pressed her bloodied finger to the longer contract, the first one burned away with a snap of Maledict’s fingers. Then he took the form from her and put it away in the air, along with the knife. "We have an accord, Nona, though perhaps you may want to think of a new name, once you become a half-demon." He turned back to the vision. "Now, your first task is to remain silent while I-"

Suddenly the vision flashed white.

Maledict shot to his feet. He stepped up to the artifact and started slapping, then punching at its chain, but the vision only wavered before returning to white.

Nona saw the light first, from out of the window on her right, outside of Maledict’s vision as he continued to beat at the artifact and swear.

When Maladict finally noticed her, he sped past and threw open the window, stepping out onto the balcony.

A pillar of white light burned a hole through the clouds to the east, emitted from the green disk of the Heaven moon, like a crooked lance of pure mana.

"Perdition..." Maledict said, his face paling. The look in his eyes told Nona he somehow knew what he was seeing.

A moment later, the doors behind them burst open and several of his attendants and warriors appeared at once.

"My Duke, there’s been an attack-"

"I’m well aware," Maledict turned, his face dark as the beam of light behind him faded and he approached the couch, passing it and Nona.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the magic vision chain, which had fallen to the floor, and after a long while while Maledict simply held the edges and concentrated, the chains once again went rigid and showed the battlefield in a new vision.

Where once the battlefield had been dark yet full of life, now it was scoured grey.

No fires burned.

Nothing moved. The army of Wrath had been destroyed in a single strike, and Leviathan herself was still at the lip of the Mouth of Death, like a tombstone, all color gone from her ash-covered visage.

"Get up..." Maledict growled. "GET UP LEVIATHAN!"

Suddenly, the mountain stirred.

The ash fell away as the mountain rose on its feet, the metallic slag of a once-massive shield sloughing off her shoulders. Her eyes were red with rage, and her roar filled with so much force, that after many seconds even the city of Tzal heard it, from hundreds of great measures away.

She turned, and there before her was the Mouth of Death, a blackened ring extending into the grand courtyard of Heaven’s gold and white city.

Leviathan charged into the portal, wordless rage at the massacre fueling her. In mere minutes, she slaughtered hundreds, then thousands, painting the burned dias from burnt black and pristine white to red as every part of her body was used to rend and destroy.

Before her might, the Heavenly Host was battered, but they were many and she was one. Though she killed thousands, she began to tire. Even her much-vaunted ability to regenerate any injury began to wane, carved from her fraction by fraction by the angelic captains who wielded mana-destroying black blades.

Then, with a gleam of light, a massive high seraph descended upon her from above, his black-bladed sword striking down into her spine. He had red hair and blue wings, and a terrible face with utterly white skin. He stood atop her like a blood-stained statue as she began to collapse.

Leviathan fell, shuddered once, and died.

Maledict glared into the vision with hatred.

"I thought she would make it... I wanted it to... not be true..." He clenched and opened his fists as the angels began to fly past her killer and into the gate.

With a smile on his face, the high seraph looked up, right into the source of the vision.

Maledict reached up with both hands, grabbing the chain and sundering it into pieces with a grunt. One piece landed on the couch next to her, causing the cushion to smolder where it came to rest.

He turned. "General Sreev, prepare to evacuate the remaining citizens and the army. Have the volunteers prepare to lure the Host, and retrieve as many of Wrath’s troops as we can find. Prioritize the fliers and mages. If they are relying on the skies and their weapon, we may only have a day at most... and summon Janice to escort the girl."

The General nodded into a slight bow of his very tall, lanky frame. He turned with a look, arms swaying oddly gracefully, and the demon behind him immediately turned and left the room.

Then the General spoke with a voice like a dusty book, "My Duke, the portal is still open. All the civilians have left. There’s only the army and your mages here, but if we move the army now, we will not have the supplies to siege the Lakelands. We will not be able to lure as many as you wished into Tzal... Is the plan-"

"We are changing the plan!" Maledict inhaled, "You have seen what I saw. The future will not change for those who refuse to change it. Had she listened, with Leviathan’s help we could have been two steps ahead of our extinction. Now we are only one. If we do not take the army now, then we will lose far more than mere supplies and this city when the Heavenly Host arrives. We’ll delay only if we have to... a week at most."

Janice walked through the doors, the demon who had left did not. The look on her face was grim.

Maledict gestured at Nona. "Take her to the Arcanium Goetia while I rig the gate to destroy itself. Gather every soulstone in the reliquary. I have one last ritual to perform."

"Yes, my Duke," she replied, walking forward and placing a hand on Nona’s shoulder.

As soon as the girl stood, Janice lifted her, carrying her to the balcony while Maledict dismissed his demons. She leaped off, and Nona held on tight for her first flight.

As soon as they were away from the castle’s tower, Janice said, "I do not envy you child, if you are going to the Arcanium Goetia now, it can only be because you have chosen to become a half-demon... just as I once did."

"You became a demon?" Nona asked.

"A half-demon. I pass better than most, but that is what I am," she chuckled ruefully. "I used to be an elf."

"Are you... sad?" Nona asked. "Because you changed?"

Janice burst out laughing. "Oh no, not at all. If anything, I am free here to be who I am. Though I envy your decisiveness, if we are truly about to become sisters, you have my respect. It is not a decision I could have made at your age."

Nona asked, "What was it like?"

"Pain," Janice said.

Nona tried to think about what Janice was saying as they landed before a massive mansion, every window was dark and its garden was growing wild with black, red-cracked vines and flowers that were mostly wilted.

Janice let her down in front of the doors. She stepped forward to open them, and Nona remained where she’d been placed.

Then the half-demon turned. "I will not fault you if you choose now to run," she said. "Maledict is far too busy these days to look after every contract that’s slipping out of his hands... Surely yours will be destroyed when the city falls."

Nona clenched her fists. "I won’t run away," she said.

Janice smiled. "Then start thinking of a new name. It may be hours until Maledict arrives." She turned and walked into the foyer.

"Why Janice?" Nona blurted out.

"I like Janice," the half-demon turned. "Someone I loved once said I looked like a Janice." She paused to chuckle to herself. "That impetuous bard... but I do like the name better than Jansul Iyal Anmes van Amrita... and that’s the short version of that dead name."

Nona didn’t have the humor in her to laugh after what she’d seen, so instead, she just smiled. "You do look like a Janice," she replied, unable to suppress a little giggle when the demon made a face.

Janice rolled her eyes. "Get in here. I can already tell you’ll always be a brat, which means you can count me out of whatever Maledict has planned for you. But I will help you just a little, if you survive the night."

Nona jogged inside as Janice waved a hand, little motes of flame flying out to light the many candles in the main hall.

Though the door was left open behind her, she did not turn back.

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