The Prince of Demons

Lux

Nil began sweating; his body was twitching violently. I turned and faced him as his was fluctuating violently. It was compressing, expanding, surging, and waning all on its own; it was forming a maelstrom in the room. Senna opened her eyes and ran over to Nil’s side. She did a quick check and shook her head.

What’s wrong? I asked her. She looked at me, and then back at Nil.

“I do not know. I do not know why he is not waking up, or why his is fluctuating like this.” Senna cried, sounding immensely distraught.

Nil will be okay. He is still breathing. I replied, looking at Nil.

The fluctuations became much more intense. Nil was beginning to toss and turn, moving around violently. His eyes shot open, but the white part was pitch black, making the amber portion haunting. Blood began seeping from his eyes, as his absolutely exploded. Something was horribly off. Senna was visibly panicking. I could feel myself breathing fast. Azzeck, Nez, and Nox burst into the room, and hit the wall that was Nil’s . There was pure confusion on their faces. His was becoming even more violent, and his back arched all the way out, which did not seem natural. There were several cracking and popping sounds, which only made them panic.

Please stop. Wake up! I pleaded with Nil.

*

Nil

Utol moved us to a much larger empty space and produced a comically oversized deck of cards. I tried counting the number of cards, but it kept shifting. This was not good; I challenged a Lord to an immense gamble, and it was a game I had never played. She said this game should be possible to win, doesn’t mean it is probable. She shuffled the deck and dealt us each three cards. My hand was a card that had a letter A, a field, and the number sixty. What kind of deck is this? Utol revealed her hand, which was a mountain, a scale, and fire.

“I will make a .” Utol told me. Beneath us, a massive dragon appeared.

“Question, are we safe from whatever we make?” I probed, wondering what the limits were.

“Of course; they are made in a separate dimension from us. That space down there we can see but are completely separate from.” Utol assured me.

“Does time pass normally in this dimension?” I asked as I was trying to form a strategy.

“It can be forcibly reset, if need be, if the side getting defeated just wants to concede to avoid waiting a long while.” Utol replied. So I could use time as a weapon.

“And say for example, I set a super long timer on something, you won’t wait it out so my soul dies from the passing time?” I questioned her, checking my idea.

“As I stated earlier, I am not going to resort to cheap tricks to beat you. You have my word.” Utol swore.

“Good. Field of absolute zero temperature for sixty millennia.” I replied. Below, the dragon was frozen solid after struggling for about a minute.

“What is absolute zero?” Utol asked, confused that her dragon was so easily defeated.

“Foreign world knowledge. So, this game is somewhat fair. How do we determine a winner?” I answered with a smile.

“First of us to get two consecutive wins. Dealer is the defender, meaning they go first. We each get sixty seconds to think, and then fifteen seconds to say our realization.” Utol explained with a giant smile on her form.

“I agree to your terms. The game is on.” I replied, and felt a powerful shiver of that was somehow comforting.

Utol flipped a coin, where we were each a face. It landed with Utol up. She shrugged and when she grabbed the deck, it shrank down for her as she shuffled it. She dealt us each three cards. I took a deep breath and looked at my hand. The letter H, a piece of metal, and the sky. My mind raced, thinking of options. Time expired. Utol revealed her hand, showing a letter M, a tree, and the number one hundred.

“One hundred-thousand-year-old .” Utol declared, and in the pocket dimension a massive tree bloomed.

“A hydrogen bomb dropped from the sky.” I answered, revealing my hand.

It appeared, fell down, and detonated, shaking the dimension. The tree survived the initial impact, showing immense damage, but clearly still alive. Utol smiled, and made a scoreboard appear, and marked it as a win for her.

“Hold on a second, the worst part hasn't even started. Can you fast forward time in the dimension?” I requested.

Utol looked at me and made a motion. Time elapsed in the dimension, and the tree decayed to nothing. Radiation poisoning, even can’t save you from that; good to know. That was definitely a gamble. Utol looked at me in shock, erased her point, and put it on my board.

“What kind of world did you live in?” Utol questioned, with wide eyes. Or what I imagined were wide eyes.

“I will tell you after one of us wins. No giving you any hints on what to use.” I told her.

“Foreign world knowledge. This game is going to be fun. Your deal.” Utol said with a smile.

I grabbed the deck, and a maelstrom of possibilities entered my mind. This is weird. I did a classic couple bridge shuffles, cut the deck, and dealt us each a hand. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I shivered. What was with that deck?

“Interesting feeling, isn’t it? All the possibilities, all the variations, all of what it can become. It is exhilarating, isn’t it?” Utol replied with fiendish glee.

I looked at my hand: a rock, a shell, and the sea. I went through what I read, thinking. There had to be something. What if I tried something imaginary? Or something theoretical? Something once thought to have existed? Time expired.

“I choose an ancient .” I replied as I revealed my hand. Below, the turtle appeared.

“A true myth from Tenebrae. Luckily, if enough people think something is enough to have existed, or believe in the myth, it will work. Something you just make up won’t work. I make a ten ton hammer.” Utol replied, revealing her hand of a ten, an H, and a metal symbol.

A massive hammer appeared, crushing my turtle, shattering the shell, and ending its life. This was going to be difficult. We looked at each other and smiled; neither of us were going to win this quickly. It’s a game of who can win as defender.

“Before I deal the next hand, what is ?” I asked, curious as to why she chose it.

“An incredibly rare metal from space with an immense conductivity for , is great for making weapons out of, but it is quite heavy unlike normal . Now, deal the next hand.” Utol snapped at me.

*

Lux

Nil suddenly stopped shaking violently, and his body collapsed back into the bed. All the that had been rampaging through the room suddenly stopped. He was immensely still. He had stopped breathing, and I didn’t hear a pulse. Senna and Azzeck went ballistic, trying to heal him, but the did nothing. His eyes shot open, just as black as before, and another maelstrom of started rampaging through the room. For some reason, his thumb was bleeding.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Nil roared into my mind.

He’s speaking to my mind! That’s good, isn’t it? I told Senna. A wave of relief flooded over her.

“Was it coherent?” Senna asked me. I shook my head.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! Nil roared. More gibberish, which gave me a small hope.

*

Nil

I was starting to lose track of how many games we played. The scoreboard was moved to the walls, each one littered with our score. Utol and I glared at each other. No matter the outcome, I at least put up a valiant fight. I’m starting to worry I’m going to run out of things she doesn’t know.

“This game has been quite intense.” Utol replied, sounding a bit exhausted from the sheer number of games we played.

“I am shocked there wasn’t a trick.” I shot back.

“Shut up and deal .” Utol ordered. I don’t think she expected it to last this long either.

I picked up the deck, now used to the sensation of handling it. I shuffled it, cut it, and dealt us each a hand. I was on the defense. I looked at my hand. It was a one hundred, a sixty, and a one thousand. Three numbers? This was not good. Wait, time for a last gambit. I might have this. This might work; it was either going to cost or win me this wager.

“Sixty to the power of one hundred all to the tetration of one thousand Joules of heat.” I answered, revealing my hand, Utol looked perplexed, as nothing appeared to happen in the pocket dimension. There was a hint of fear in her form. Please heat immunity not be a thing. Or not be able to go that high.

“A colossal .” Utol said, revealing her hand of a C, some horns, and a black square.

The demon was reduced to ashes within seconds. I won as defender! That is the first time either of us did that! A wave of excitement rushed through me. Wait. THAT IS TWO WINS IN A ROW! I jumped up in victory, victoriously pumping my fist.

“Now, what kind of world did you come from?” Utol pressed, sounding immensely irritated.

“One without ; a world based entirely on science and technology. Tenebrae relies entirely on , not an understanding of how the world around them works. Mine relied entirely on understanding the surrounding world. Then again, we had nothing anywhere near as dangerous as , just a penchant for fighting with each other in innovative and brutal ways.” I explained to her.

“YOU CAME FROM A WORLD WITHOUT ?!” Utol asked incredulously.

“Both of you reacted like that.” I noted, a bit amused.

“Both of who?” Utol checked as she processed what I said.

“Kron and you both reacted with immense shock at that fact.” I clarified.

“You mixed in a lot of things from . How much did you read?” Utol pressed with audible irritation.

“A lot in my free time. Now, I won, so the is mine, along with a of my pick. And the is absolutely neutral in ?” I snapped, wanting to be out of here.

“What’s the rush? And yes, the is absolutely neutral, much like your . They themselves are neutral but have other properties and abilities they can bestow or augment, like how the interacts with your you have for an .” Utol explained. She sounds so bitter.

“Wait, I never told you that. How did you learn that? And the rush is I was almost dead, I am sure my family is quite distraught.” I replied, feeling relieved I had won.

“I am a Lord, and in some of the matches I did of you, to see what made you tick. I am willing to throw in a , plus the one you got naturally from this, to assist with making that more difficult in the future for such a good game. It was way beyond what I was expecting. Now what do you want for a ?” Utol elaborated for me.

“That , you said it was rare, how rare?” I inquired. It was definitely an idea.

“Immensely. You could rule Speranza for centuries and never see an ounce.” Utol answered.

“How difficult is it to forge with? To make into a weapon?” I questioned. It would be nice to have some, but the raw metal might just be useless no matter how good it was.

“Astronomically.” she replied with what I could imagine was a smirk.

“Can you get it made into the weapons I want?” I asked.

“Weapons? How much do you want?” Utol snarled. Relax, I wasn't being that greedy.

“Just two. A sword, and a flintlock barrel.” I answered.

“What is a flintlock barrel?” Utol checked.

“Can we still do the Realization game thing? Just no need to make it in a separate dimension.” I replied, wanting seeing how viable this idea was.

“Imagine it.” Utol ordered with bit of a sigh.

“Flintlock pistol, with a rifled barrel and a minie ball.” I stated, and one appeared in my hand along with the minie ball.

“That does not seem dangerous.” Utol said, and I could feel her disappointment. I loaded it, cocked it, and fired it. The bullet shot out, embedding itself in the ground.

“It does wonders. It is the precursor to a much more dangerous weapon, but for practical purposes, this version is what I need.” I said calmly. I also don’t know how the more dangerous version works.

“Yes, the ball leaves fast, but I fail to see the danger.” Utol replied with a bit of yawn.

“Now, imagine the ball infused with , I can use to rapidly load it, and use to increase the volume in the explosion, thus increasing the strength of the shot, I have been trying to learn and practice the for this for a while.” I explained. She still seemed unimpressed.

“You know just because the weapon can withstand the abuse doesn’t mean the can. Fine, I see the potential of that being quite dangerous. If you help me get some support in Tenebrae, I will get you both weapons.” Utol offered.

“Deal.” I answered. Utol vanished for about an hour, and then returned with the barrel and sword in hand.

I tried picking up the barrel and couldn’t even make it budge. It felt like I was trying to lift a mountain. I put my hand on the sword, and it didn’t budge either. How heavy are these things? Wait, she said quite heavy as a Lord, the weight of these has to be incredible. Utol started chuckling.

“Put a drop of blood on each of them.” Utol instructed. Ah. Some was needed.

“I am a soul; how can I bleed?” I checked.

“Good point. I will get them from the source.” Utol replied, and my thumb started hurting. She put a drop of blood on each.

“Now put a bit of into them.” Utol lectured. I did as she requested, and the two of them shined for a split second, which was odd because of how black the metal was.

“What was that?” I probed as I stared at them.

“Security. If anyone other than you, or someone with your temporary permission, tries to wield them, they will be unmovable. The longest someone can borrow one of these is ten minutes. I was not going to risk someone stealing these from you. Now, I already began the into your body, but there was a minor side effect from you coming so close to death, the , or the . It will be permanent, but nothing major.” Utol informed me in a bored tone.

“What? Define ‘minor side effect’ for me please.” I pressed.

“The whites of your eyes may now permanently be a black color. All in all, a pretty small price to pay.” Utol replied with a shrug. I sighed. I guess I could live with that.

I picked up the gun barrel, and nearly dropped it. It required both hands to lift it. Utol tossed a small to me and smeared my blood on it. I channeled into it and it glowed. I didn’t recognize the on it. I put it on, and went near the barrel, which vanished.

“A .” I concluded out loud as I added the sword to it.

“Correct. Now, I have spent a lot of time here thanks to someone, so I must be off. Now when you return, I will still be the , which might be a bit painful, but I think you’ll survive.” Utol explained as she snapped her fingers, and my world dissolved into pain.