Chapter 64 - An Exception, Not The Rule

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hunk, Blondie~"

"..."

"..."

"Could you behave like a normal human being for a minute?!"

"Isn't that the way a human behaves? if I were to act like a demoness, I'd have to get on my knees straight away, would you prefer that?"

"Ugh!"

...

Rather than answer, the couple glared at Vera as if allowing her to explain everything before the misunderstanding became apparent.

It had been two days, Valentine and Fayette were almost healed, the pair of the demoness and Rose Thorn had taken the clothes from some of the corpses before being led back by the rather cooperative tree into this particular junction.

Finally, the pair came out of the tree's core to meet the demoness that had aided them... the meeting didn't go as expected.

Even with her attitude, Valentine had to furrow his brows when the demoness seemingly refused to look at them in the eye, she's a sexy light purple-skinned beauty with a pair of long horns, no tail, no wings... a common demoness dressed in some combat attire with few protective plates.

"Thank you for helping Vera all this time, my name is Fayette." Seeing that Vera was too ashamed of her 'friend' to even say anything, Fayette sighed and introduced herself first.

"I'm Valentine, indeed, regardless of whether you're a demon, a human or anything... you have aided Vera and therefore you have my gratitude." He extended his hand forward in a polite gesture, unaware of whether the demons shared this show of appreciation.

Sasha lowered her gaze to regard his hand for perhaps even a full ten seconds before extending her hand to shake it, however, her hand shivered slightly and she ended up slapping it!

"Forget the politeness with me, Hunk... I'm not a human... since you're already healed, we should leave." Once again Sasha evaded their gaze even as Fayette furrowed her brows and resisted the urge to slap her right here, how dare she be so impolite?!

Valentine also didn't take kind of her gesture, but this is a demon they're dealing with, not with an educated human... she even refused to call him by his name and stuck with the 'hunk'. 

"Sasha..." Vera didn't understand why the girl is suddenly behaving like this.

'Do demonesses get the period too?' She could only wonder as the change had been too sudden, she'd speak to her later.

"She's not usually like that... let's go, Volna, could you open the path for us? we're leaving..." Vera uttered those words out loud while Sasha walked away from them into the corridors.

Volna is the name Vera gave the tree against her will... it means wave and she got the name from the delicate waves produced from the tree's waterdrops against the lake.

'Then may you have success in your endeavour, Vera...' despite the fact that she didn't want a name, the tree still accepted to be called that by Vera, her chosen one.

'Will we see each other again?'

'It's unlikely... have you forgotten that I tortured your beloveds, Vera?'

'You said it wasn't you...' At least that's what Vera tried to convince herself with, she couldn't conceive that such a beautiful tree within that clear lake is the one responsible for torturing countless souls.

'... Indeed, it wasn't me... I'm just accomplishing my endeavour Vera... just like you will accomplish yours and sometimes you will have to do things you don't want to or living things that will be painful to you, remember that.'

'...? I don't understand.'

'You will when the time comes because you're prepared and I have chosen you, that's all that matters'

'... Farewell, Volna' 

...

Vera didn't hear Volna's words any longer as they walked through the corridor.

The darkness dissipated ever so slightly as the group moved forward, Fayette and Valentine were hands hooked with their knives ready for any inconvenience and regarding everything with newfound awe, they're leaving this place now... just like that. 

Vera looked at the two of them and pouted slightly from behind, 'I said I'd be more proactive but... it's not as easy as it sounds...' 

She sighed and decided to touch upon this topic later, right now she just saved them and perhaps they're still touched due to the torture they went through in that place, she didn't want to be a bother.

The trio wore their cloaks just in case, they were bloody and dirty, but they were cloaks nonetheless. 

In due time they came upon Sasha who had stopped on her tracks, in front of her shone a big ad pure beam of light coming from the skies, looking they saw two of the three moons shining upon them in all their splendour, the tree had taken them out and it wasn't even night-time. 

"We're out... we should go to my pub first, cover your faces the best you can, due to the fact that we have been there for weeks or months, the chase after you should have toned down a notch, but don't expect them to have given up on you" Sasha uttered with sternness, not looking back. 

"What kind of pub is that?" He wanted to know, not a fan of staying in a place where humans would be slaughtered and devoured on a daily basis, it seems to have become some kind of rule in the netherworld for demons to own such business, at least in this city.

"A normal pub... I'm the owner and you will be able to stay there safe until you plan your next step." Sasha seemed to not understand the motive of that question.

'A normal pub where we drink human's blood turned into wine that is...' She decided to not utter this fact lest they run the fuck away from here.

"Then lead the way." Fayette followed, at this stage, she didn't care whether they were going to see humans being tortured or not so long as they didn't stay for long, it had been their plan to escape this city and that hasn't changed, they only need some time to re-organise.

As for Vera, she couldn't care less whether humans were going to be devoured... she would devour humans and demons alike for god's sake.

"She's a really good person, don't worry Vale, we will be safe there." Vera managed to take some courage to grasp his other hand.

"But she's an exception, not the rule, don't forget that, Vera." Valentine sighed and grasped her hand tightly, she had broken the 'code' but... she's lucky enough to not have suffered any repercussions.

At least one good event has happened to them ever since they entered this hell.

**

**

In the City Lord's mansion the Marques of the City, Warcroft deemed it worthy to hold yet another meeting, once again about the same individual, everything else in the city is within control, except for this single factor.

"Do you have any information on them? it has been a month already..." For a demon, his impatience regarding this subject is obnoxious, he could wait an entire century for an event to unfold, but every day he doesn't know the status of that human, it's as if a treasure has slipped past his fingers.

'I should have got to him when I had the chance...'

"None whatsoever, he hasn't shown up at any of our shops... but apparently, one of the girls has shown up, but she appeared by herself... she hasn't been seen again ever since." Still within the burst of green flames, the green demon, Sandmortelle spoke lightly, he didn't seem to be placing as much importance on this subject as the Marques does.

"Just the girl? could it be that he perished inside?" The demon growled as the pressure in the entire room turned into that of suffocation as even the flames that represented Sandmortelle's presence started to flicker.

This is precisely what he doesn't wish to occur.

"It's likely... less than five per cent of the humans that enter the alleyways ever come out of them, you're aware of this fact my Marques..."

He is, but that man is not just any man... those that come out are always at least bronzes... this person is higher than that, in fact, if that girl could come out, why can't he?

"Keep me in touch... look for that girl and  if they appear I want to know before Sinclair does... hopefully, that bastard Gleipnir will know to back off when he needs to." 

At least a little retribution got him to put this matter to the side of his head, they had regained some of the influence in this city that should be rightfully his to begin with, sadly... the netherworld's bureaucracy could be even more poisonous than the humans'.

"We have regained control of three of the gates, but they still control two of them, two of their demon soldiers have perished, but that's about it... that trash never stepped forward and neither did Count Sinclair" Sandmortelle reported.

"Fortify the gates..."

"Are you sure, my marques? weren't you intending to allow them to leave?" The green-skinned demon furrowed his brows at the sudden switch of orders, but he could still understand where his lord is coming from.

"Yes, but now that we have reached this junction we can't allow them to leave, that silver soul will just end in the wrong hands if I don't take it while I still can, you wouldn't steal it from me, would you, Sandmortelle?"

*RUMBLE!*

Unparalleled pressure erupted as the fire within the chimney changed from yellow to bright red, just as did the Marques' eyes!

"I would never, my lord... it belongs to you." As if he hadn't been intimidated even as his own projection struggled to stay 'green'.

The world's furious' shake stopped, giving way to a sudden calm and serenity as the fire of the chimney once again morphed back to its usual serenity.

"Good, you're dismissed." The Royal Demon waved his hand in dismissal and the Demon Magistrate departed with a task in hand and an objective within his mind.

But today wasn't going to be a calm day for him either, he didn't notice how an individual appeared nonchalantly inside his office without him even noticing, not an easy feat for most demons in this netherworld.

A dark-skinned demoness with a gigantic pair of wings.

!!!

"It seems we have a chat due, Marques Warcroft."