Near the Core

“How…” Phenex mutters as he sees the girl wiping sweat from her brow with hot steam lifting off of her hands from his attack. An attack the filthy human actually managed to block without getting severely wounded.

I don’t… am I so weak as to fall prey to a disgusting human? One of the creatures responsible for His Majesty’s rage?

Even Phenex doesn’t know what exactly it was that set the Demon King off on the humans. None of the demons do. Not even the Demon Lords, if rumor is to be believed.

But what he does know is that, according to the history passed down by his father, his father’s father, and various generations before that, the Demon King one day snapped, turning all of demon kind against the humans, committing what they believed to be genocide against the race until the Assaults appeared one day. And for something like that to have happened, the filthy humans – weak creatures that most lower Class demons are taught to despise with all their hearts – must have done something unforgivable to the royal family.

Or even to demon kind themselves.

And now I’m going to fall prey to one of those monsters…

Phenex stares wide eyed at the human girl as she continues walking towards him, all of the other Guardians in the main area of the building having already escorted the humans away and are beginning to return. Which seems to actually make the girl begin rushing as she starts sprinting towards him.

As if she’s a hunter who doesn’t want her prey stolen from her.

Prey… is that really what I am to this thing?

The demon watches her as she gets closer and closer only to eventually narrow his eyes and let out a growl, tightening his grip on his sword.

No. I will not let myself be defeated by a lowly human being! Never in a million years!

He then charges forwards straight at the human, only for her to tilt her head and her eyes to flare slightly as a discomforting burning sensation spreads throughout his body, almost making him lose his balance. Then a stabbing pain resonates from his chest, following which a stream of red mist leaves it going straight towards the girl.

Life drain and blood boil…

The girl continues stepping forwards, no longer with a grin on her face as she glances at the other Guardians beginning to head closer to them before she focuses on him, her eyes narrowing. And right when they’re almost about to reach each other, Phenex raising his blade to strike, he feels a sudden stabbing sensation radiate from his chest, making him look down to find that damnable blood shadow standing there with a blade made out of blood stabbed straight through the bare opening in his armor.

“Wow, that really is a useful skill,” the girl mutters, making his attention go back to her, just to find her already halfway crossing the distance towards him with her claws raised and large amounts of red steam rising off of her pores. Then the next thing he knows, he’s lying on his back with a massive gash going up his torso.

This…

The girl turns around and looks down at him before tilting her head and speaking to him, “Ya know, this was an interesting hunt. Absolutely the best I’ve had in the past month.”

Phenex’s eyes widen at the human’s tone of voice and mannerisms towards him. One treating him with actual respect and not the usual loathing and disdain the humans have for the demons. A loathing even greater than that of what the demons have towards the humans.

The girl then kneels down and stabs her hand straight into the armor on his chest, making him cough out a mouthful of blood in the process before she reaches back with one of his hearts in her shapeshifted arm.

“Now it’s time to sleep,” she says, and for some reason unknown to Phenex, he finds a small amount of comfort in her words.

And in her scent.

Phenex frowns.

That’s… now that she’s so close to me, isn’t that smell similar to Lord Valruth, of the Blood Lycan clan? The one who just visited… but she… ah. I see.

The demon’s eyes close as he takes in the girl’s scent, enjoying the comforting feeling it gives him. One reminding him of home much more than the filthy scents belonging to the forces he brought with him.

A much purer scent.

“It was a pleasure working with you, Phenex,” his fae says, appearing in the air and bowing once towards him, then once towards the girl before vanishing for the last time without even waiting for Phenex to say goodbye in return.

But that doesn’t bother Phenex.

Even if she was my enemy. Even if she was human. This human gave me an honorable death in a way, despite all of the terrible things I’ve done to get to my level. All of the demons I’ve slaughtered like pigs.

He then hears the shouting cheers of the other filthy humans aside from this one honorable one, but he doesn’t let it cloud his thoughts. For these are his last thoughts.

The light begins fading from the demon’s sight before everything goes dark and his eyes close. Never to open again as one last thought rings out in his mind.

Thank you, strange human.

Scarlet

I can’t help but feel a tiny bit conflicted after killing the demon, because this was the very first actually fully sapient demon I’ve ever killed, the acolyte not counting considering its strong lack of intellect and its clear instinctual drive to kill humans. But for some reason, the sight of the demon smiling ever so slightly in the end has me taken aback, no longer feeling conflicted.

Strange.

Very strange.

“It would appear as if your scent made the demon feel nostalgic,” Tar says, answering my pondering thoughts. “And by the looks of it, this demon wasn’t as ill-mannered towards humans as many of the demons in their world according to his fae. Just one of the many cruelties of war, I suppose. Because even if he wasn’t a cruel bastard, he still would’ve slaughtered every human in this Fracture if given the chance.”

Right, war… wait, my scent?

Actually, never mind. We’ll talk about that later.

Right now, I need to deal with the core.

Before someone else takes it out from under me.