The Corruption

Chapter 14

Hananoai temple, Amare Island

Lux stirred in his sleep, trying to twist his body, yet for some reason... he couldn't. He usually slept on his stomach, so his wings could comfortably rest above him, yet for some reason he was now on his side, and while it wasn't particularly uncomfortable or hurtful, he could feel wings growing stiff so, reluctantly, he opened his eyes slowly, still drowsy from lack of rest, given how late he went to bed the day before. His unfocused vision targeted a silhouette right in front of him. With a brain still half asleep, he only lifted his right hand towards his eyes to rub them. His sight eventually focused, finally seeing the details of the person in front of him. "Morning sleepy head!" Immediately, Lux fell off the bed. Crashing right onto the floor, leaving the demon rolling with laughter on the soft mattress, tears building up on his eyes as he clutched his torso. "Killian! Why in the world would you do that?!" The angel raised his voice, eyes narrowing at the figure on his bed as he could feel a vein popping up on his neck. Killian didn't respond. Too busy laughing to even have enough breath to speak. Hearing steps, Lux turned his head to the door, only to find Amartya standing there, seemly also annoyed at the demon. The angel grabbed the shoulder of his sleeping robes to pull it up before speaking. "Good morning Your Grace." The annoyance was still evident in his voice, even though he tried his best to mask it out of respect to the god, who nodded back at him. "Yes, morning. I sent Killian to call you for the reunion with Hananoai, but I see it was a mistake." The god glared at the demon who finally stopped laughing, and didn't look at all regretful of his actions. "I did wake him up though." The other two ignored him completely. "Get ready and come." Amartya spoke before turning around and leaving, while Lux tilted his head downwards in respect, before getting up. Killian chuckled as he walked past him to leave the room as well. Lux only narrowed his eyes at the back of the figure before running a hand through his hair as he stretched his wings. "Great way to wake up..."

Not too long after, Lux walked out to the temple. Stepping through the back door, he noticed a table in the shade of a large tree, a small water pond nearby. On the table, Amartya took the seat at the head of the table, disregarding usual etiquette where the host should have that seat giving his status, on his right stood Hana, with Arthur on her side, while Killian sat on the seat to the god's left, leaving only the seat beside him available. With a polite nod, he took his place, sending a smile to Art as a greeting, which the other angel offered back. "Now, let's not waste more time. Hananoai, I'm sure you have heard the news." It seemed like the pressure immediately grew. All of those present unconsciously tensed up, leaving only the ever-composed Amartya and... Well, the demon was only half listening as always, more preoccupied with humming softly and playing with a small butterfly, but that didn't even seem to bother the god, so the others only chose to ignore it as well. Hana nodded, letting the other deity continue. "Lux spoke highly of your connections in social circles, do you have any pertinent information?" This time, the goddess took some time, raising a hand to her chin in a thinking manner before shaking her head. "I don't think so... All I've heard are about the disappearances-" "What disappearances?" The eyes turned to the demon, whom most had guessed wasn't interested at all in the conversation. His smirk had become smaller, and his eyes narrowed as he looked directly at the goddess with a slightly raised eyebrow, the butterfly from before nowhere to be seen. Lux raised an eyebrow too him. "You mean you haven't heard of the disappearances?" Killian turned his attention to the angel by his side, silently telling him to continue. "Some time ago, there were a few cases of disappearances, demons, angels and... even gods. None of them have been found yet." The demon got silent for a second, sending a quick glance to Amartya who had already caught on to his next question. "Yes, there is most likely a connection between those cases and the disease." Killian smirk returned to usual, but there was a strange look in his eyes, making him almost look serious. "You should have informed me of that... If you remember, I already told you this 'disease' is a curse and not black magic, except" He leaned back, staring at the sky. "The curse is not perfect yet, meaning the user had to learn." The insinuation was understood by everyone present. Test-subjects. Everyone seemed to agree that it did make sense, but the demon wasn't finished talking, and as such he stared at the goddess again. "Lady, did that zombie from yesterday tell you anything important?" Hana was taken by surprise, her eyes widening. "H-How did you-?" The demon rolled his eyes in response. "I can smell the traces of his mana intertwined with yours, yes it's faint, but don't underestimate a demon's senses." Even with the answers, only Amartya did not question it twice. Yes it was common knowledge that demons had sharper senses than any others, but angels were usually much more sensible to mana yet none of the two present sensed anything... "...He did appear on my dream... He said that he was borrowing live force to keep his body 'alive', and that he was going to kill me so that 'he', whoever he is, could infuse my vital mana on his body and make him really alive" The demon froze, his face looking only completely dead even with the smirk still there, like it was only a ceramic mask. "He also said that his real mission was just to stall for time until someone else completed their part of the 'plan'." The goddess concluded, expecting Killian to talk, and yet he remained silent and unmoving. "A plan? Lady Hana, do you mean that something else happened?" Lux questioned leading to Hana nodding once more. They feel into though for a second until the god opened his mouth again. "Killian. What happened while you were unconscious?" To others, it would seem like the demon only tilted his head towards the god, yet to said male, the slight twitch of his hand with the additional clenching of his shoulder muscles made it obvious that Killian had just been violently broken of a deep though, but of course he quickly regained his carefree composure. "Mhm, just a little hybrid trying to break my mind from the inside." Lux, Hana and Arthur jumped at the others while Amatya only narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean." The demon hummed again. "Well, he smelled like a demon, but not fully, I can't quite say, because I never smelled anything like it." Lux cleared his throat before questioning. "But what did you mean about breaking your mind from inside?" Killian tilted his head to the angel with the same relaxed expression. "Quite literally just that. It was most likely the plan. They couldn't easily overpower us directly, or the mastermind would have done so already, whatever he is scheming, doesn't seem to be complete yet. But leaving us alone would pose a problem, so the best way is to tear our mind apart. That's what the flower was for." He explained. The god spoke again. "You already knew before touching it." The demon smiled innocently. "Of course I did, but such carefully crafted plan, it would most likely be interesting!" While the god only sigh in annoyance at the answer, the other three were left quite speechless at his words.