The words lingered in the air long after Chris spoke them.
"I’ll order you, ruler of this realm, if you tell the truth."
For a brief mont, things had begun to change into sothing unprecedented. The candles along the hospital walls flickered. Zylus lay still on the bed, his chest rising slowly, eyes half-lidded but sharp. Even weakened, his presence pressed against the room harshly, understanding the re monts of what this situation had brought with it.
Ruler of this realm.
To any other demon, it would have sounded like madness. A dream too grand to even entertain. To Zylus, it sounded like the norm, sothing he had been expecting this entire ti.
He exhaled softly and turned his gaze toward the ceiling. Kings had co and gone beneath that sa roof. This is how most of them had done it, beco king, from their sheer strength and hard work. But to Zylus, given that he used other thods, he might’ve been the first to do so.
"I’ll tell you," Zylus said quietly. "But you talk as if I’ll do bad to this realm. I can assure you, I’ll save it."
Chris stiffened. The others watched closely. Moovrin stood with his arms crossed, unreadable. Sebastian leaned against the wall, eyes narrowed. Reynold remained rigid, hands clasped behind his back, his great-sword absent but never far. Rasper hovered closest to Zylus, jaw tight, as if any wrong word would send him over the edge again.
"It’s not about that," Chris replied. "I understand I haven’t been the best ruler, and I’m probably the weakest to co out in the past decade, but drus’s death was so sudden, so I had to act tough, and that can only be ."
Zylus laughed under his breath. "Of course you thought that," he rolled an elastic band around his index finger, "guess you forgot I exist."
Rasper clicked his tongue. "Careful."
Zylus finally looked at him. Their eyes t, and for a second, Rasper felt sothing twist in his chest. Not fear. Recognition.
"Weird," Zylus said. "You’ve lost to , and you saw finish off a friend of yours, yet you still feel the need to talk? Shut up."
"Damn you!"
"Stop it!" Reynolds jumped in, "Calm down, I know how you feel, but the people’s safety ans more than our anger, listen to what Chris has to say for crying out loud."
Rasper stopped; he didn’t answer.
Chris took another step forward. "Answer the question. How did you get this strong?"
Silence stretched again, heavier this ti as Zylus closed his eyes.
Images surfaced unbidden. Blood soaking into dirt. A blade of light burning through flesh. The sensation of sothing tearing and reforming inside him again and again. He felt the [Connection] stir faintly, not awakening, just reminding him it was there.
He had rembered it all after all, it felt connected now, sothing he would have to carry on to continue having the title of the ’strongest’ if need be.
"If I tell you," Zylus said, "Actually, fuck that. Why would you want to know? I can beco king whenever I want. I can just kill you here and beco ruler."
Another long silence stretched, and Zylus backed away, sneering.
"I an," he leaned forward, looking directly at Chris, "who’s gonna stop ?"
"Damn brat-!"
Chris raised his hand, stopping Reynolds or Rasper from taking any severe action.
"Please, Zylus", Chris begged, losing his integrity in the process, "It’s for our people’s sake, let fulfil my king’s duty for my final monts.
Zylus smiled faintly. "Fine, fine." He waved his handino each direction, "I got strong training."
Chris giggled, "Sounds like sothing you’d say, that works for ."
He didn’t pry any further, even when the others seed slightly mad at the way he was treating the king, or soon-to-be, ’forr king’ of the Demon Realm.
Moovrin shifted. "You do understand, we are all far weaker than the Spirits; the only individual who had saved us from being attacked was durs." He paused, exhaling, "Now that he’s gone, we have no one. It was a surprise to all of us that the Spirits still haven’t invaded, but we know they’re going to soon. The Gods can’t do anything but watch when there’s a valid reason."
"What was that?" Zylus asked.
"drus entered their territories first, and they used that as an excuse, taking into account the number of Spirits he had murdered." He finished as Zylus nodded.
"Chris, what I’m hearing is that you’re too weak to protect us." Zylus declared, "You ended up being a weakling, didn’t know that would ever happen."
"I know," Chris replied without looking away from Zylus.
Zenos watched from his wheelchair near the doorway, fingers tapping against the armrest. His expression was neutral, but his eyes glead with sothing restless. He had already crossed the line long ago. He was simply watching to see who would follow.
Zylus turned his head toward Zenos. "You already know."
Zenos’s lips twitched. "Enough."
"Then you know why I can’t just say it out loud," Zylus continued. "So truths don’t just change the board. They burn it."
They were now talking about sothing completely different, sothing only the two of them could understand.
Reynold finally spoke. "If this is about the Natural Order," he said slowly, "then we are already at war with it."
Zylus looked surprised, genuinely this ti. "You’ve read more than I thought."
"I’ve buried enough bodies to learn patterns," Reynold replied.
Zylus didn’t know if Reynolds knew he was Half-Spirit, but what he most definitely acknowledged was the fact that he understood the weight of what was happening. Sohow, or soway, drus also interfered with this so-called ’Natural Order’ from Reynold’s perspective. After his death, the severity of consequences began to change, turning into more bloodshed and guilt, followed by paranoia, and then ending with the obvious downfall.
Chris clenched his fist. "Enough fooling around, Zylus, please. You survived light. You healed when you shouldn’t have. You killed Mordain. Whatever you are, it’s beyond our doctrine. That makes you dangerous."
"And useful," Zenos added smoothly.
Rasper scoffed. "Don’t."
Zenos ignored him. "You all keep pretending this is about justice. It’s not. It’s about survival. The Spirits won’t wait for us to sort out our morals. The Gods won’t either. You’ve all felt it, haven’t you? The pressure. The tightening of the world."
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