Chapter 90

“He’s arrived.” Baba lifted her head.

We had been sitting in relative silence for a few hours now. The girls had asked me a few times what my plan was, but I had only responded that they should be patient. I was beginning to worry though. Things were taking longer than I had hoped. Had I bitten off more than I could chew?

Of course, I had expected the true nature of the queen before we had done the unity ceremony. Yet, I was in an extremely difficult place. If I had refused to allow the queen and my mother to unite, the insane queen would have shown her true allegiance, and then there would have been no choice. That’s why I had prepared things in advance, but even I had to admit that those things depended on a lot of luck. I had to walk an extremely thin and dangerous line. At that moment, I was looking over the cliff and hoping the edge didn’t give way before a rope was thrown.

Explaining all of these concerns to the girls would only worry them unnecessarily. Thus, I could only wait for the rope to drop. In the meantime, Baba had turned toward the dark hallway where the guardhouse was, the place where people could enter and leave the dungeon. A few moments later, the door squeaked open, and a person came through. He didn’t walk nearly as briskly as the queen. His steps were slow, and I could hear the thump of a stick with each step.

All of us watched the arrival of this visitor quietly. There was no point in asking Baba who he was, as the answer would arrive shortly. As he drew closer, I was finally able to get a look at him. He was a short old man. The little bit of hair he still had was white with age, and his face was so wrinkly that even his eyes looked like they were closed. His body was covered in modest brown robes, and he had a walking stick which he was putting more than a little weight on. The man took his time, passing the first few cells without even looking at those insides. I thought he was coming to speak to me, but he surprisingly put his back to me, turning to face Baba in the cell across from mine.

“So, we finally meet again. It had been an eternity, mmmm.” The man spoke in a low, grave voice that felt as filled with wisdom as it was filled with age.

As I looked at the man’s back, I started to feel a sense of familiarity. It was like I had met this man before, but I knew that wasn’t the case.

“It has been a long time. Have you not regenerated since then? I knew you always liked to wait until the last second.” Baba retorted.

“Regeneration goes against the natural order of life.” The man sighed. “Holding out as long as I can is the best I can do to respect those under my charge. All this time, I still hoped I could bring you to the righteous path.”

Baba chuckled darkly. “What can I say? I was made this way.”

As they spoke, I quickly started to understand who this was. This was the second of the three god’s magus. He had been sent forth by the very god that had brought me to this world. That was the feeling I was getting from him. He was made in the image of the god who had sent me here. The mana he gave off, as well as the atmosphere, felt very similar. This made me both extremely curious, and also very cautious. While his master had inevitably changed his opinions on things, the magus seemed to still believe in carrying out his god’s mission. He wasn’t to bring light to the world, wiping out the darkness once and for all. For all intent and purposes, that made us mortal enemies.

“In the past, I had always stayed out of your affairs, and you had always stayed out of mine.” The old magus went on. “Even when my god brought heroes to this world, and I trained them, you never interrupted in those affairs.”

“You’re not the one in chains.” Baba frowned.

“When you chose to aid a devil, you went too far.”

“Oh, come now, I wonder who aided him more, me or you?” Baba snorted. “You’re the one who sent the faery queen to the humans. He only exists because you created him.”

The old man glanced at her, but he didn’t comment, which seemed to only prove her words as true.

“There is just one thing I haven’t figured out,” I spoke up. “Why are you imprisoning me here? Isn’t your plan to use me as a reason to take over the human throne and initiate your holy war?”

The old man slowly turned around, glancing back at me. “So, you are the devil prince? I have yet to have made your acquaintance in person.”

“Grand Magus.” I nodded in my seat, waiting for him to say more.

“As for your question, it is fundamentally flawed.”

“Flawed, you say?” I raised an eyebrow. “Please enlighten me.”

“There is no reason for us to conquer humanity in such a way. The humans are already reverent to the celestials, and those in charge would happily serve us. Furthermore, creating a reason to attack the devils is a simple manner. After all, we were able to use them to destabilize the elvish nation, didn’t we?”

“You?” A voice cried out from a few cells down, which would be Saria’s voice. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I have been at this far longer than any of you. Those devils have remained held up in their lands for years. If we didn’t continually use them to spread fear and chaos, the other nations likely would have already forgotten about them as a threat. The world must never forget their looming threat.”

“That’s my home.”

“It is all done in the name of the light. Children are fools who cannot see the danger in front of them. That’s why the parents must create clever lies to keep them in check.”

“I see… so you’ve been pulling the strings and keeping the fear of devils alive.” I cut in before Saria could interrupt more.

I was concerned about getting as much information from this old man as possible. Reacting to his words was a waste of time when there were other things I could learn. For example, I would have never guessed that the celestials had a hand in what happened in the elfland. I would have assumed it was the devils, which was what they wanted everyone to assume anyway.

“I didn’t come here to chat.” The old man shot me a look again, and then he waved his hand. “You’re free to go.”

I heard a clicking noise, and the door to my cell started to creek open. I stared at the door in confusion.

“You’re letting us go?”

He chuckled. “I’m letting you go.”

I glanced behind him at Baba, who had a somewhat severe expression on her face. I then turned back to him.

“I’m sorry, I’m a bit confused.”

“And here I was thinking you were clever.” The old magus responded dismissively.

I didn’t let his grating words get under my skin. “Illuminate me.”

“When it came to creating a devil, there are points in the history of the human race that a queen sat on the throne. At those times, we could have sent any faery to impregnate her and create a situation where there was a devil in the royal family. Knowing this, why do you think the celestials used the faery queen, the source of their armies, to bring about a devil?”

I lowered my eyes for a moment as I thought about it, but the answer I came up with felt confusing in its own right.

“Because a fairy queen’s child differs from the children spawned from male drones?”

He nodded. “The other races were created by the pairing of human women and faery men. They were enough to create the beastkin, the elves, and the dwarves, which contain parts of their chimeric form. However, a fairy queen is different. First off, calling the faery her children is arbitrary. She makes faery, she doesn’t birth them. It’s a process of magical production that involves taking her mana and duplicating it.

“The princesses and you are the only true children of the faery queen, those born of her body, rather than her mana. In that way, you all received a small piece of her directly, a piece none of the other children received. You have the blood of a faery queen running through you, and that comes with certain perks. You have her beauty and looks, for example.”

“I don’t think you turned the faery queen into breeding stock for good looks,” I responded dryly.

“You are a devil, but you are a special devil. You have a bit of the glamour effect built into you. It results in those around you being more willing to trust you, and finding it easier to succumb to your charms.”

“What?”

He chuckled. “Did you think you were able to seduce all of those elvish princesses on your own charm? Well, calling a fundamental aspect of your biology something other than your own abilities is foolish.”

“But… my sisters should have that ability, right?”

“Did you ever find your sister lacking in charm?” He chuckled. “You can identify it however you want. Perhaps, you always saw it as the natural charisma of a leader. The point is that such an effect won’t simply work on humans, it will also work on devils.”

“Devils…”

“The devils are impossible for the celestials to control.” He sighed. “The devils are immune to the celestial’s influence. Glamour and charm bounce off of them. We’ve had to rely on subterfuge, and if it worked as well as we had wanted, then the demons and devils would already be gone!”

“So, you created me?”

“You have the blood of kings, the blood of gods, and the blood of devils. I suppose I can understand why Baba was attracted to you. You are a perfect balance, something that would have been alluring to them.” He turned and looked back at Baba, who flushed slightly. “You are the only devil capable of controlling others devils, and through them, the demons. In some ways, it’d be more accurate to call you a devil king!”

“You think I’m going to help you?” I asked incredulously.

“You have no choice.” He shrugged. “You will flee this castle, just before the celestials arrive. You will flee to the devil’s land. There, you will take control of the devils, raise an army, and come to destroy us. That is what you were built for.”

As his words cut through, I was filled with shock and disbelief. His plans were far more insidious than I ever could have predicted. I had thought they wanted me to become a devil to justify eliminating the human royalty. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. They didn’t want me to become a human king. They wanted me to become the devil king!

“How would that help anything?” Olivia cried out. “Why would you make a devil king?”

The man only kept watching me, ignoring Olivia, so I spoke. “They want the big war. In the past, the devils never put up a major fight. They always depended on subterfuge and subversion. They would flee when they were overwhelmed, defend when it was advantageous, and hide their true power. The other races could never exterminate them because they never knew the true depths of their power. However, if you unite them under a single banner, a common enemy hated by all, and the devils would become easier to deal with.”

“E-even so…” Olivia looked over at me with teary eyes. “You’re the prince.”

“My identity is exactly the motivation they need.” I sighed. “I’d be an embarrassment to humanity. For their own prince to become a devil king, it would be the biggest slap in the face. The last circle of hell is reserved for traitors and deserters. I’d be both to the human realm. I’d be the unifier of the devils, and the face all humanity’s hatred. The celestials wouldn’t need to control the humans, the humans would be the ones that want to bring me down more than anyone.”

“Y-you just don’t have to do it? Who says you have to go to the devil race and betray the humans?”

“Hmph.” The old man gave an irritated noise. “Even if you’re willing to sacrifice your life for him, will he be willing to sacrifice you?”

Olivia took a step back and gasped. By the looks on the faces of the others, they had already figured it out. I was being let out alone. The rest of them were still in cages. They were hostages. If I didn’t do what the faery wanted, then they would kill my sisters, my wife, everyone. They already had all of the cards in their hand, and I hadn’t even realized it.

“You already know what is expected of you.” The old man turned and began walking away. “Once you’ve escaped, the queen will reveal she’s been under your control all this time. You will be implicated for assisting the devils in Peri. They’ll be easy to control. With the king dead, and you bringing us the last two living royalty, it will be all too easy to push them into a war.”

“The elf king is dead?” Olivia cried out.

“They were bound together by their souls, our father and theirs,” I interjected. “If our father is dead, their father would have followed.”

“O-oh…” She fell into a silence.

Olivia had been the closest to the king of any of my sisters. She knew that he was unwell, but I had never mentioned his death specifically. Had she thought about it more clearly, she would have realized this. Saria and Bala had already shed their tears by my side. They had already lost so much, that this extra thing only felt like a drop in the ocean of their sorrow. I had done my best to keep them distracted. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough time to cope with such trauma.

“The beastkin would be easy to fall in line too. They already want a war, and perhaps with the promise of land, they will loyally march forth like the beasts they appear like. As for the dwarves, we have some plans in the works. You won’t need to worry about that. When the time comes, all eyes will be on you, and you will lead the devils to their final battlefield, and we’ll make it their grave!”

“Heh, you seem pretty confident that I’ll do as you ask.” I put on a vicious look. “What? You’ll hold my sisters and the elf princesses over my head? Why do I care about them? You might as well kill them since they mean nothing to me.”

I knew it was a weak strategy, but I had to give it a try. Olivia looked away with a hurt look, but Lucilla gave the slightest nod like she understood while putting her arm around the other girl. Well, if they understood what I was doing, then there was little change the grand magus would be fooled. I just needed to plant a seed of doubt in his mind. That’s what I was hoping, but when he broke into a raspy laugh, I realized that my deception wouldn’t work there.

“Nice try, devil, but the faery queen has the memories of that milkmaid.” He shook his head. “Do you think I wouldn’t know your true feelings? The celestials know everything about you. You won’t be able to deceive us. You will do as we ask. Although, since you’ve asked so nicely, I think I might take you on your offer.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It seems to be that the threat of death wouldn’t be enough for you. You would conspire against us every step of the way. You might even hold back your strength or attempt to do some other kind of deception. I need your performance to be believable. I believe they call that the carrot and the stick, although in this case, the carrot is a poison that goes down painfully.” By the amused sound in his voice, I was growing increasingly wary.

“Speak clearly! What are you talking about?”

“You need the proper motivation, a true reason to hate us. If you’re going to gather the entire devil nation against me, it needs to be real. That’s why I’ve gone ahead and provided you with a little bit of motivation. Without the devil armies at your disposal, you’ll never be able to get revenge.”

“Revenge? What revenge?”

He let out a soft laugh as he reached into his robe, A few moments later, he pulled something out. He was holding it from the hair, a small spherical object that appeared to be dripping red fluid onto the ground. As I stared at it, the features slowly started to register, and I started to grasp what the object in his hand was. It was my daughter’s head. He had severed her head, her vacant eyes stared ours with a look of horror on her face.

“Naaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Lucilla finally managed to get a look too, and as she realized what she was seeing, her scream of protest turned into agonizer horror.

The magus started laughing, the head swinging back and forth in his shaky grip. My mind went white, and I leaped out from my cage, aiming for the grand magus’s neck. I didn’t have a weapon on me, but I would tear off his head with my bare hands if I had to. As I flew at him, his haunting laugh seemed to fill my ears. Just as my fingertips were about to reach his neck, he made the slightest hand gesture.

I felt like I had been struck by a car. My body went flying down the cell block. The doors to the guard room swung open, and I flew right through it. I could barely see a glimpse of the unconscious guards before I left the guardhouse and slammed into the wall directly across from it. Blood spurted out of my mouth as the force of the heavy blow finally came crashing home. However, I didn’t care. With a roar, I leaped toward the doorway and back at the grand magus who was still standing hundreds of meters away in front of my cage, holding the head of my daughter while Lucilla screeched. His haunting laughter echoed toward me like a cacophony.

The doorway vanished and my hands struck nothing but brick. The guardhouse, and the entire dungeon with my family inside, disappeared as they had never been there. I was somewhere in the faery castle, surrounded by enemies. My only escape would fall right into the enemy’s hands and I was completely alone.