Archive Of Potentialities.

Oneshot: A Shadow's Contentment.

The Demon Lord’s shadow, Souei, scanned the perimeter that had been marked as an extermination target. It was a night with clear skies, the moon bathing the area with light, and in equal measure, spawned shadows.

“Have you confirmed the identities of everyone present?” He asked the female dragonewt standing beside him within one of the numerous shadows cast by the huge building stationed in the middle of nowhere.

“Yes, Lord Souei. Everyone is accounted for, down to the least significant grunt.” Souka replied, feeling slightly giddy at the prospect of finally rounding up the group that had been a thorn in Tempest's side for half the year.

“Our guiding and planning bore fruit then.”

“As expected of our Lord.”

They were a nameless group, formed by the remains of the various crime syndicates under the control of the Rosso family and Cerberus. According to Souei’s investigations, a single man had managed to bring this ragtag bunch under a single banner and a single goal.

They aimed to take advantage of the world's current vulnerability, caused by the great conflict that ended almost two years ago and firmly establish roots in the smaller countries in a bid to regain a semblance of the influence their parent groups once enjoyed.

But their ambitions had been firmly crushed.

Remaining relatively undetected for a few months, they had grown confident and bold, making decisions that made them appear on Souei's radar.

And that had become their downfall.

“Begin the operation then. Leave their leader to me, I hear he has a few interesting thoughts about our Lord.” Souei commanded, his emotions firmly restrained.

“Roger.” Soka communicated with the members of her unit positioned around the base, relaying the orders she had received.

And under the illuminating gaze of the moon, yet another arrogant organization was crushed under the boots of Tempest's finest unknowns. There was no noise, no struggle. Just the silence of a creeping and tenebrous death.

.
.

Humans are such difficult creatures, a thought that I once again acknowledged as I stared at one such creature seated across from me, bound.

All in the name of ambition, or some other vain sentiment, they engage in activities that can only be seen as foolish and pointless– from where I stood anyway.

“So you won't reveal who's backing you?” I asked, once again.

“I already told you, there's no such person.” He refused, once again.

Normally, interrogating a prisoner was a job that fell to Lady Ultima and her demons but even they are fully occupied at the moment. So I took this job upon myself.

I can't deny that I'm interested in this person, they had managed to avoid my detection for a while after all.

“Why do you resist?” A question I find myself asking foolish humans these days.

I don't consider myself an especially curious person, even if people misunderstood me as such.

Being conscious of the importance of information isn't the same as blind, unfocused curiosity, as far as I was concerned.

This was the reason I kept asking humans this question, to understand.

And by understanding, maybe I would be able to help Lord Rimuru solve this problem at its source.

“Resist what? You're gonna have to be specific, or do monsters not understand the concept of not wanting to be caught?” Ah yes, jokes.

Humans always have jokes.