The Riddle Of Magic

Chapter 60: Bitter Division

As he sat listening to his fellow Overlords chat, the subtle twinge of something like a warning prickled at the back of Alastor's mind.

Laurence really did have a lot of sway around their population, didn't he?

Not just around the Hotel's patrons - the whole of Pentagram City. The elephant demon's path had crossed most, and yet he didn't appear to have any servants. He had his various secretaries and assistants under his employ, but he seemed to favor playing manager rather than use his status as Overlord to control souls.

That wasn't technically unusual, many demons fussed around with industry when they amassed enough assets - Vox was one of the most notorious of their ilk - but it typically was the case of the consolidation of power. In the former TV Demon's instance, he had control over electrical currents, so why not create devices that would expand that influence beyond the ring they were trapped in?

Velvette had used social media for the same purpose. Come to think of it, most Overlords he could name claimed a business as part of their territory!

But Laurence was one of the few to sell spellcraft as service, and Alastor knew why it made him uneasy. With other industries there was something concrete in their operations, a focus on technology of a certain sort, or a service of a certain type - security, weaponry, drugs, information, sex, or social influence, for instance.

The Ink Overlord's spells let him arrange deals across a variety of enterprises, bypassing territorial thresholds. It made his strategies impossible to predict, save for his want for greater power through his network.

And knowing that the pachyderm worked with prophecy and was interested in acquiring his magic left the Radio Demon in the unpleasant position of waiting for some kind of escalation. Overlords were always expanding their control, seeking to take as much as they could until they inevitably were turned by a greater power.

Laurence didn't bring up magic today, save for an anecdote about a customer who all three Overlords had dealt with, but Alastor wondered how long that would last.

He'd cast a spell of forgetting on the elephant demon as an effort to salvage their working relationship, but it wouldn't last forever. Charlie might have been satisfied with his momentary strategy to dealing with the other Overlord, but it wasn't a true solution. Sooner or later that spell would break, and Laurence would remember the prophecy he was working towards.

The harsh reality was that nonviolence hadn't truly fixed anything. Sparing the other demon hadn't settled the matter of dealing with him - it had simply delayed their confrontation to a later date.

But how far off was that future? Years? Months? Decades? Or days?

That problem would inevitably show its face again, and Alastor doubted that encounter would end so casually.

Vox and Laurence shared a laugh at some joke, while the crimson deer demon smiled politely.

He should have trusted his instincts and removed both the sorcerer and his seer from the picture while he had the chance, before letting him get close. It wouldn't have been so unexpected from someone with his reputation - Hell would have continued on, the Ink Overlord forgotten just as so many others had been after being conquered by the Radio Demon.

The trouble of the other magician's influence would have been avoided if he'd kept to his older code of devouring every spellslinger he met. But violence had become so dreadfully boring - it was more entertaining to make deals and watch what came of those encounters.

His lovely partner hadn't been the impetus for that decision, but their partnership had arguably been guided by that mindset. They'd both been tired of the status quo, though admittedly for different reasons.