Infernal Academia

Chapter 27 - Suyas' Big Day: Part 2 (The Underling's Brawl)

"Hurry it up, kid.  I'd say you walk at the speed of an old granny, but you're currently being outpaced by one."

Stumbling over his own feet, Cobalt nervously trotted after Corris, doing everything in his power to regulate his breathing.

Regardless of what he did to calm himself, however, nothing could stop the violent pounding of his heart.  His legs wouldn't stop shaking, and the cold was only partly to blame.  No, it was coming face-to-face with the infamous Parricidio that weighed so heavily on the Incubus' mind.  A man whose name was synonymous with violence.  With death...

"Meeting Lory really freaked you out, did it?"

Cobalt stopped in his tracks and looked up at Corris, who stood a little ways away, arms folded.  Gleaning her answer from the look on his face, she sighed and rolled his eyes.

"He's not all that bad, at least not to those he likes.  And as he said, you're a guest here for the time being.  Count your blessings."

"B- But what does he want from me?"

"I'm not at liberty to say.  But seriously, calm down; all your shivering is giving me a headache."

She clucked her tongue.

"I thought you Incubi were supposed to be fearless..." she added, turning on her heel.

His eyes widened.

"W- Wait!  You know about us?"

"Us?  Don't think there's much of an 'us' when it comes to you blueskins.  But yeah, I knew an Incubus once.  Was Lory's friend, as a matter of fact," Corris explained, nodding at the clan leader's audience chamber.

"Really?!"

"Mm.  Solid guy.  Good with his fists.  Made violence an art, honestly, but he was of good blood.  Helped Lory overthrow his pappy when the time came."

He nodded slowly, taking in the information as calmly as he could.  The birth of an Incubus was a several million-to-one chance, so he had simply assumed that he was likely going to be the only one that most people had ever met.  But if what Corris said was true, then there was once another Incubus in Brimstone, at least in recent history.  But if that was the case, then why had Cobalt never heard about him?

"I never knew..." he murmured, stroking his chin.

The elderly Oni shrugged.

"Go figure.  He fell clean of the face of Hell some twenty years ago."

Of course... No matter who he was, no Incubus was safe from their eventual, horrible fate...

"Y- You said he helped overthrow Lorenzo's father?"

"That he did.  A lot of us weren't happy with how Lory's pappy ran the place.  Man was drunk on power, had a lot of people killed who didn't deserve it.  So Lory gathered up some of his friends, stormed the estate and SKKKGGT-"

She drew her finger across  her throat.

"- cut his head clean off.  That's where he got the moniker.  Means, uh... 'kinslayer' in Italian, or something like that," she explained with a grin.

Such information only served to worsen Cobalt's nerves.  For a man to cut down his own...

"Um, this Incubus... What was his name?" he asked, desperate to turn the subject away from the topic of bloody murder.

With a heavy sigh, Corris winced and massaged her temples.

"Listen kid, I'm getting on in years, and I can't remember every Tom, Dick and Harry that Lory fraternises with.  Now come on; I'm freezing my tits off out here."