The Riddle Of Magic

Chapter 62: Acidic Desires II

✨Mature Content Warning: Sadism / Sexual Violence 

The Princess of Hell was too exhausted for the azure Radio Demon's madness. "Partnership?"

"That's right!" her captor's hands moved, draping around her shoulders lightly. "There's nothing you wouldn't give for your partner, right? I'd have the same thing."

"How could you ever expect me to give anything to you?" Charlie asked quietly, fighting to avoid squirming. "You're just going to do what you want, why bother asking me? I could fight you, but you'll just drain me, and then hurt me or Baxter."

Probably both of them, purely out of spite.

"Exactly! Isn't that just so boring? That's all I really have here. All this power from my darling Queen, but it's all still trapped within a cage." He rested his chin on her head. "The power of the dark has the counter to the spell chaining this universe closed. Charlotte believes breaking those binds will bring our doom. But why break them, when we can simply bypass them?"

"Bypass wards?" Charlie asked, before realization struck her. "The Umbral Sea?"

"To a point, but Nox Magia grants far more value than merely Phasing. I lost it the day the kingdom closed, but its power will set us free."

"How?"

"Ah," She felt the rumble of his chuckle against her back. "So, you haven't solved the Riddle yet."

It had never sounded so ominous before. "The Riddle of Magic?"

"So you know about it, but don't know what it means, hmm?"

The princess thought she might understand it, but didn't want to talk about it with this imposter, who had given that magic up. She wanted Alastor to ask her, to hold her and celebrate the answer with her.

"We were waiting," Charlie mumbled. "I was supposed to master my spells to understand it, then he would ask me... to answer it."

"And he thought those spells would help?" the azure Radio Demon asked, not seeming convinced.

"It... was about understanding him just as much as the Riddle, I think," the blonde demoness admitted, terrified to try to hide something regarding Alastor's magic from his alter, lest he sense her deceit and punish her for it.

"I see," her captor remarked vaguely, though it seemed to satisfy him. "In any case, your being able to successfully work with Nox Magia serves the benefit that we need. Just between you and me, I think your power would be an even greater benefit than Alastor's!"

She didn't want anything between them. "Benefit," Charlie huffed. "You say it like I have a choice, like all of this would help me just as much as you."

"I told you, it's a game where everyone gets what they want! You want your citizen set free? You want to go home? That's the benefit of being on my side, partner."

The princess stiffened. "You'd let us go?" she asked, instantly suspicious. What was the catch?

He nodded. "I help you and you help me! Isn't that what teammates are for?"

A bastard relief built in her, despite knowing this had to be some kind of trick. "And if I don't agree, then what?"

"Then we wait, I suppose," Blue shrugged.

"Wait? For what?"

One of his hands trailed down her ponytail, holding it up, showing her the black ribbon. "For the war."

Charlie felt her skin grow cold as a shiver of dread coursed through her. "Al."

The Other Radio Demon chuckled again and she shuddered in his grasp. "Do you know how I knew that spell was there? Because I could smell it, my dear. Just as I can smell the traces of Nox Magia on you, even now. It's so much stronger now than it was back in your world. It's tied into your own power now, do you know what that means?"