Page 76 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

Gods. I evaded, continuing in a fight I didn’t have the energy or conviction for. I hated him for hating me, but he only hated me because he believed me to be someone we both hated. Ugh. What was I thinking? Or overthinking. Snapping back to attention, I dodged a blow and leapt away. My thoughts were as absurdly convoluted as Walter’s.

Wally.I needed to end this fast, rescue him.

I hated admitting it, but in my condition, facing off against someone of Eligos’ level could drag out for hours, days even.

There was one thing that’d draw all this to a close.

Relaxing my muscles, I pulled my essence back into my core, circulating throughout my body but showing I meant no hostility.

“You intend to use Beelzebub’s devil essence to break down doors to sealed Hells—all Hells, really—and rally demons to wage wars against every devil in existence.”

“Those who once lived, those still reigning, and any others that conceive themselves into existence,” Eligos said with a bravado I recognized from years of pining over the magnificent demon who sought change. “The devils will be no more.”

We’d only spoken a handful of times in Hell, each a life-changing experience that I clung to, using as inspiration to change into the person I strived to become, the one who walked through the wake of destruction during the coup meant to bring down Beelzebub. Unfortunately, I used that chance to express my eternal cowardice and ran from the battle, abandoning a dying realm. I saw Eligos as a friend, an idol, a role model, and I failed him every single step on the journey to find myself. Only Ihadn’t found myself. I’d found comfort in a lie. A lie I needed to confess, hopeful it’d put an end to all of this. Not for my sake, but for Wally’s. For Mora and Kell, too. I ground my teeth. That was a lie. I frantically desired to ensure Wally was safe above all else and would give anything, even my life, to know he walked away from this unharmed.

“Your plan won’t work.” I crumpled inward, shamefully averting my gaze. “I’m not Beelzebub. I’m not the devil you hate, the one you seek vengeance against. I’m merely a lowly demon. A pathetic demon too frightened to raise arms during the coup, one who slinked across the battlefield and snatched a piece of devil essence then fled to the mortal realm.”

I awaited his reaction. His entire body stilled within the confines of his suit of armor, not a single sound. Those golden irises and the pale-yellow sclera of his eyes vanished in the darkness of his visor. Enhancing my senses, I searched for the faintest trace of Eligos stirring, reacting, doubting, or sinking into the truth of the matter. Nothing. His essence was pure silence, his armor immobile.

Perhaps now he’d see reason. He’d understand this fight was futile, and I wasn’t his enemy.

Mora wailed, then snarled. She slammed one of the demons through a wall or the ground. It was difficult to discern this far away. The other demons had dragged her down several corridors, cornering her at a dead end of some locked chamber, only for them to meet theirs. With the silence from Eligos, the emptiness of the labyrinth and villa alike, every movement of Mora’s battle came in crisp.

A demon struggled to claw their way out of the rubble when suddenly Mora’s talons impaled them, making them gurgle. Her essence rumbled beneath her flesh, erupting from her pores in an effort to devour the first, but before she could, something hacked at her back.

Her boots swished and dug into the gravel of debris as she repositioned herself to strike the second demon, impaling them and redirecting her essence. A third presence struck her, forcing her to retreat, pivot, and knock that foe down in an attempt to devour one of them before the others recovered. This continued for some time, Mora gaining the drop on a demon, bringing them to the brink of death, and another interfering before she slaughtered any demon.

Her emerald essence radiated so powerfully, I could see the color in the clash of combat, taste her aura on my tongue, feel the fatigue in her battle.

I balled my fists.

Mora was better than this, but between the essence she lost fighting off Eligos, the massive amount she poured into Kell, and that incessant need of hers to prioritize a host body. I caught wind of it four moves back when she halted an attack and pivoted to scale the ceiling and return from a different vantage.

Those demons already had her outnumbered, the element of surprise, and the second they realized how to exploit her fancies, they’d overwhelm Mora. I couldn’t allow that to happen. This needed to end.

“Eligos,” I shouted. “You don’t remember me, but I remember you. A demon of virtue, one who prides himself on all the deeds of a true knight. I also know you can spot a lie when you see it. You know what I’ve said to be the truth. I am not Beelzebub. Claiming my essence will not be enough to open his closed world. Take some small solace in knowing the devil Beelzebub can never harm anyone again.”

There was no relief in this confession, not like when I told Wally. Every truth I shared with him allowed me to swim away from that pit of despair I’d spent eons drowning in. But with Eligos, divulging this carried a shame to it. He’d despise me, find the actions repulsive, yet he’d have to concede. Everythinghe did was to strike down a devil for his crimes against our demon brethren. His nobility wouldn’t allow him to punish me for another’s crimes.

Eligos laughed, a slow chuckle that reverberated in his suit of armor, each dragged-out syllable of laughter dinged against metal. I raised my eyebrows. Soon, it changed into a steady flow revealing the hilarity Eligos found for my confession, one that quickly enveloped the stone hall with an unhinged cackle creating a cacophony of clinks and rumbles.

“You think I didn’t know?” Eligos wheezed between each word, incapable of stifling his amusement. “The imposter devil who fooled the world, many worlds, in fact.”

Eligos barely composed himself, plodding forward and bracing himself against a wall.

“What?” I took a step back. “But when you acknowledged me as the devil, called me by his name, and laid the blame for his crimes at my feet… You were pretending?”

“Lying.” Eligos snorted. “It’s called lying. Sort of the same way you lied about being Beelzebub for centuries. I kept my cards close, a necessary precaution to determine the full extent of your power and that of the misfit mage you keep. After all, he wrought havoc down upon his Collective, tearing their system and balance asunder.”

I widened my eyes. My revelation meant nothing; it paled in comparison to his.

“Turned out he was even less of a threat than your demon king or her witch.”

He knew nothing of Wally. Not a damn thing.

“When I arrived in the mortal realm, my essence was in shambles after Beelzebub shattered it—the true devil. I laid in a state of decay, stuck between a cumbersome recovery and a slow death for the better part of a decade. I had no strength, no will,and certainly no desire to devour lesser beings to reclaim my destroyed essence.”

My mind spiraled in perplexed thoughts, unraveling the enigma of Eligos’ words. When did he find out? Had he overheard Wally and me discussing my demon secret? No. We often carefully skirted the words aloud, Walter’s desire to respect my privacy.

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