Demon's Virtue

"Wait, is that the…" Thomas muttered quietly, and with a broad grin on his face, Zaragon nodded and moved closer toward the young man.

"Of course, it is, each and every piece that I offer is authentic. It is the one and only Ace of Cups. And now, let's get to business, shall we?" Zaragon said immediately afterward, stepping up to the card on the pedestal.

"In exchange for the Imp, I offer you a single use of the Ace of Cups, or alternatively, 30 Gold Coins." The man explained with that same broad grin on his face, while the Avalin, Thomas and James were looking at each other immediately.

"A use of the Ace of Cups… or 30 Gold coins…" James repeated quietly, "If we use the Ace of Cups, can't we get far, far more money than 30 Gold Coins if we handle everything properly?" The Black-Clothed Light Elf asked, and Avalin immediately looked at him with a frown. "What do you mean with 'Everything'? Are you trying to tell us that we should steal from people using the Ace of Cups?" She asked, and with a light frown, James started looking down nervously, unsure whether that was what he was insinuating or not.

"And even if we figured that we should do that, I don't even understand why Zaragon is selling a use of the Ace of Cups to us as an equivalent of 30 Gold coins… That would be worth far, far more, wouldn't it..?" Avalin asked with a frown, and the Four-Armed man swiftly explained with a broad grin on his face.

"Let's just say that I have my own reasons." Zaragon said with a smile, but that made Avalin even more suspicious. "Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea… Let's just go with the Gold, that's the safe route." Avalin said and looked at the Imp with a bitter smile. "Or maybe… Maybe we should just go? Maybe we don't need to sell him? He could be really useful in combat if we train him properly, right..?" Avalin suggested, but before she could do so, James began to grind his teeth in response.

"What the fuck, Avalin! That was the deal from the start, you stupid bitch! Just get it already, we're selling him, and that's that!" James exclaimed, and then looked directly at Thomas, "Let's use the Ace of Cups." He told his Human companion, all the whilst Zaragon just curiously watched and grinned.

"Yeah… Yeah, let's do that. Avalin, it's the Ace of Cups, it's been used for the greatest Heists and Assassinations in history! You can steal anything, kill anyone, without anybody even thinking that something's wrong! If you don't think that is the best chance we get to succeed in life, then you're out, Avalin." Thomas exclaimed, and at that point, the Imp started to mentally drift off in response to what Thomas just said.

Steal anything? Kill anyone? This somehow reminded the Imp of something that he had suppressed all this time, a task that he had been given when he first came into existence. The whole reason for the Horde of Monsters to walk together in such a fashion as it was when he was part of that group.

And with the Ace of Cups, that would be possible?

Just when that question crossed his mind, a notification flickered into existence, although it did so pretty weirdly. As if it had always been there, the Imp just never noticed it before.

[Command - Retrieval of <The Fool>]

[Retrieve the one who is to become the greatest Weapon to the King at the cost of your life if necessary]

Seeing this notification caused a feeling that the Imp had felt only a few times before to appear, a feeling that seemed to force him to do something. It was just far, far stronger than what the Imp could have ever imagined any kind of feeling to be.

It was… Suffocating. Just imagining the idea of trying to resist this command made the Imp want to crawl up into a ball and die right then and there because the pain that he felt when he did so was far worse than any death.

"Hm? Is something wrong with it?" Zaragon asked with a frown as he leaned back in toward the Imp, who was currently trying to fight against this pain after dropping to the ground.

"Oh, it's probably just a bit tired, that's all." Thomas said with a wry smile and immediately ran up to the Imp, trying to pull him back up on his legs. "Come on you litt-"

And then, the Imp could feel his body drop back onto the ground, while everything was completely silent. But just a few moments later, the silence disappeared in a storm of disaster, while the Imp could hear James convulse and throw up while Avalin dropped to her legs.

Finally, the Imp seemed to be able to open his eyes and quickly saw Thomas' arm, still grasping the Imp's hand. Although, something seemed to be a little off. All that the Imp could see of Thomas was this one arm, the rest of his body was just… gone. At least that's what it seemed like at first, but soon the Imp could see a pair of legs, smelling like deliciously cooked meat that even still gave off a little smoke.

But weirdly enough, it seemed like the same thing didn't just happen to Thomas, but also Zaragon, who was standing directly next to Thomas while it happened, although Zaragon's body seemed to have turned into something of a mass of pure-white flesh that was constantly moving and growing.

Then, the Imp noticed something else. A large sphere of blue flames in the distance, easily seen through the large hole that now made up half the room, starting directly from behind the Pillar with the Ace of Cups on it.

Slowly, the Imp then stood up and just walked up to the card that piqued his interest that much and caused such pain to appear. He needed to climb onto the Pillar a little bit, but he managed to grab the card pretty easily, and immediately when his fingers touched the Card, Avalin's hand grabbed the Imp's and pulled him away toward the door that they entered this room through, back into the room that they placed all of their items into.

As quickly as she could, Avalin put her armor and shoes back on and simply gave the basket with the Imp's items back to him, so he happily put his cloak back on, put his bag over his shoulder and grasped his book, pushing the card in between the pages to make sure he wouldn't lose it.

"H-Hurry, we need to hur-hurry…" Avalin muttered to herself quietly, shaking all over as she did so, and then immediately tried to push the door open to step outside. But… Nothing happened.

Nothing at all, the door didn't budge in the slightest. Although in return, the other door in this small room opened up again, and Zaragon, now only wearing a scorched lower-half of his suit, stepped through the door, looking even more horrifying than before.

His whole body was covered in cracks as if he was about to shatter just like that, and now that he was shirtless, a vertical slit with sharp blade-like teeth revealed itself on Zaragon's upper body, and even worse, Zaragon's already terrifying expression became twisted in madness and anger.

"Did… I allow… you to leave..?" Zaragon asked angrily, but Avalin just dropped to the ground again, her dagger falling to the ground next to the Imp, who seemed to be just as terrified of the existence in front of him.

"I know… How you can… Repay me…" Zaragon said with a slight grin on his face, before the vertical mouth on his upper body slightly opened up, closing in on Avalin. And the Imp knew exactly what he was about to do with that mouth. After all, one of the things that he was best at was eating… So he knew when someone wanted to eat…

But the Imp couldn't let that happen, Avalin was always so kind to him, while the other two people were treating him horribly, she tried her best to be nice. Even now, instead of trying to help James, Avalin grabbed the Imp, even if he was further away from her than James. She was trying to save him, so now, the Imp had to save her!

He knew that the small wooden dagger couldn't do much, but there was a different weapon that might be able to. Nervously, and filled with fear, the Imp grabbed the dagger that fell from Avalin's hip and grasped it tightly.

Zaragon was currently distracted as he was closing in on Avalin, so the Imp had the perfect chance to step behind the monstrosity in front of him and attack him there, a tactic that the Imp learned by watching the three others fight that much.

He knew that this would work! He would save Avalin, and the two of them would go back to the forest and run away from all of this! Avalin could show him so many more words, so many more things to eat, and so many, many more kind things!

With such thoughts in his mind, the Imp grasped the dagger with both his hands and stabbed it right into the center of Zaragon's neck! A place where it would be impossible to fight an attack off properly!

Surely, the Imp would-

[Zaragon -0 Damage]

Immediately when the Imp saw the notification and the tiniest of numbers attached to the Damage that he did, his mind began to race. But before he did so, Zaragon turned around with a face twisted in immeasurable anger.

"Don't worry… I'll get to you… Later.." He said, showing the sharp teeth in his mouth as he did so, and his dark eyes penetrated the Imp's being.

And while the young Monster dropped backward onto the ground with nothing but terror soaked into every fiber of his being, he had to watch the mouth on the front of Zaragon's body close around Avalin with a loud crunch.

While the bones were cracking and being ground up inside of Zaragon's body, the man himself used all four of his arms to rip Avalin's body apart, pushing parts of her body into the mouth in his face. This pure-white room instantly became dyed red while the person that was Avalin Stinehearth Slowly disappeared into nothingness.

When something died, it was impossible for it to come back to life. The Imp knew that. But even then, this was something that he didn't want to be true in this case.

The Imp didn't know how long he just sat there, but for a while, he simply stared forward and watched the whole thing. Not because he wanted to, but because he had to. His body became petrified, and he was unable to do anything at all.

The Imp wanted to disappear immediately from this terrifying creature that just devoured the one being that the Imp thought of as kind and caring.

And with that thought, the Imp's eyes slowly turned toward the book that was laying next to him, while he slowly moved his shaking, thin hand toward it to pull the card out of it.

He wanted to use this card exactly in the way it was intended. He wanted to disappear. He wanted to be the King of Thieves that ran away from his prison. The Imp just wanted to be… gone.

And while the Imp grasped the Card, Zaragon turned around with a pleased expression as the cracks on his body disappeared, and a full suit re-appeared on him, although he became surprised when he stared at the Imp in front of him.

Although that feeling of surprise vanished quite swiftly together with the sudden disappearance of the Imp himself.