Chapter 251: THE MASTER OF SIN. Despair

“What a treacherous creature. It turns its back on its master at the first sign of danger. There can be no trust for one whose very blood screams ‘traitor’!” God of Paladins declared with a face contorted as if he just drank a cup of his own urine.

“Knowledge is power, God of Paladins. Even the knowledge that is dubious at best,” Goddess of Wizards chided him, not turning her piercing eyes away from me. “But here’s one piece of certain knowledge for you, demon. There are tortures that are beyond that of flesh, tortures that you can’t even imagine, that my magic can invoke on you. They are so painful because my spells inflict them on your soul itself, which is in its most vulnerable here, in the mortal realm. If you lie or don’t reply, I will gladly use these torments on you and see if you truly are that used to everything.”

I had to admit that these words made my needles stand on ends, which couldn’t have missed the gods’ notice. It was in the way the goddess spoke—like I was a worm and she wondered if my halves will still live if she cut me in half.

“I will answer. I will tell you all you know, oh divine ones. Just promise that you will let me go after we finish talking, so I at least had something to look forward after the end of this conversation.” I finished my speech with a smile I had to stretch on my face.

While my eyes were on gods, my thoughts were on the cultists Devourer put in my care, in a way. Did they escape? They were just humans, so many the gods didn’t pay them notice. Maybe they believed that the fire was just an accident… Then again, one could only think so before meeting me around.

I could hope they escaped any templars, but as for gods—there I could only pray to Luck that there were no other gods around, tracking them from hiding.

“Impossible! A fiend’s foot shan’t sully the ground of the mortal realm! A fiend’s breath shan’t fill the mortal realm’s air with its stench!” God of Paladins reddened with anger from my request, so expected from someone at my position.

“I’m not letting my enemies go, including you,” Goddess of Rangers supported.

“I’m not as categorical as my friends, but I agree that you have no place here, demon.” Goddess of Wizards shook her tongue. “No matter what you think, you are in no position to demand things. Here’s a small proof of it…”

She opened her book, and I tensed, expecting an attack. Maybe I could’ve dodged, and I knew I would at least try, but when it came, it was invisible and without warning.

A strange energy filled my body, reaching, it seemed, for my very heart with its long, icy fingers. A feeling of awful gloom descended on me. Everything was pointless. I was going to die and tell the gods everything, and my resistance changed only how much I would suffer.

Didn’t I have enough already? If I die this time, I might just forget myself and let go of this existence. Then again, who said it won’t be as bad as my current one?..

The feeling disappeared as suddenly as it appeared and I gasped for breath, finding myself clutching at my heart.

I bit the inside of my cheek and let the sharp pain clear my head a little. That magic! It was absolutely awful. I knew despair, but never before in my memory was it so full, deep and dark. I knew that if I were ever feel a despair like that in Hell and die, there won’t be enough determination to survive in my soul to stay in Hell and not go to the Wheel of Reincarnation.

Goddess of Wizards met my raised gaze with a satisfied smirk. “Negative energy is called negative because of the emotions it provokes in the hearts of people it touches. This is why we are very careful with giving access to it to mortals… though it has many interesting uses. Well, demon, do you agree to talk now, or do you want to feel more of my magic?”

I decided at that moment that, as much as I wanted to stall for time, I couldn’t wait for the goddess to throw more of that negative energy at me. If I were to give up under its influence, I was afraid I will just tell the gods everything, including things I didn’t want to.

I expressed my submission with a deep bow and lowering of my eyes. “I will speak, goddess, and I will say truth and nothing but truth, even though you didn’t even promise me such small mercy as a swift death afterwards, and I may only hope for it.”

“All talk,” Goddess of Rangers bit out.

“As one should expect from a demonic fiend!”

Goddess of Wizards’ smirk widened. “I promise to kill you painlessly if you tell us what we need, demon. I am not in a habit of torturing anyone for nothing but my enjoyment.” From her pleased face, I had doubts. “Demon, what do you know about Devourer’s whereabouts? How does he hide from our spells? How did he summon you here?”

“Well…” I paused and sighed. I knew too little about magic, spells, and other things to come up with a believable lie. Coming up with one was just a risk of alerting the gods present. Telling the truth wasn’t an option, either. I, some might say, got attached to Devourer’s idea and idea of seeing the gods dead. Especially after that spell.

“Well?” Goddess of Rangers urged me. Her fingers toyed with the arrows in her quiver.

“Well, this is hard to explain in a short amount of time. There are many factors, you see, factors that I know thanks to my exalted and trusted position around Devourer. Not just anyone knows all these things that are necessary to find him when he hides, and it’s even harder to accurately relay these facts, especially to people who, like you, oh the divine ones, are so intent on still being alive!”

The end of my speech came at just the right time—by Goddess of Wizards’ darkening expression I felt that she came to an idea that I was simply wagging my tongue with no substance in my words and was a moment away from calling me on it.

As it went, I could, at least, die in battle. I knew I had no chance to escape from the gods that could teleport and seek creatures with magic, so I went for an attack after distracting the trio with a long and sleep-inducing speech.

It gave me just the window of opportunity to get close enough with my claws to Goddess of Wizards that for a fragment of a moment I had hopes of wounding her.

Then a brutal strike of a fist in a metal glove threw me aside, breaking my cheekbone and filling my head with cotton. I hit the ground a good couple of meters away with a dull thud and the force of the strike rolled me for another meter, where I landed in the moat.

“Thank you, God of Paladins.” Goddess of Wizards looked calm and collected except for the slight furrowing of her brows. “So this is how you want this to be, demon? Very well. Friends, please, leave this to me. Just keep watch for any interventions.”

I brought myself to the shore and braced, expecting another attack of the negative energy, and it didn’t make itself wait. Just like the last time, its influence was impossible to miss, but the strength of it made it almost just as impossible to resist.

They were gods? Was it surprising that I was just a fly in comparison? It was possible that I couldn’t have hit Goddess of Wizards even if God of Paladins wasn’t here—she probably had an invisible magical shield around her. If only I could do things like these…

No, I couldn’t bear this anymore. Through the mist of despair and anguish, I gathered a shard of determination, the same thing that kept me alive for so long. Today it will bring quick death to me and success to my mission.

I put my hands on my throat. Would’ve been easier with a knife that lied in my bag, but reaching for it seemed like too much effort right now. My fingers tensed, leaving scorching lines in my skin—

“Oh, I don’t think so, demon.”

And I froze. The only thing I still could do was moving my eyes. The drops of blood from my neck slowly crawled down my skin, but I knew the wounds weren’t deep enough to even let me bleed out.

I stared at Goddess of Wizards’ smug face, feeling like the last shard of resistance in my soul crumbles to dust.