Chapter 264: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Chapter 264: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The thing could see me. I wasn't sure what to make of that. I was still bending the light around me such that nothing should be able to register visually. A quick check indicated that no light was escaping my carefully designated patterns, so clearly, it was using some other senses. He also knew I was a god.

It was fairly obvious that this thing wasn't really a human. No human besides Arthur had ever called me a godling, and he'd only taken up the name after Beatrice's introduction. But this thing before me seemed to have picked it up immediately.

It was weird. His sudden change in appearance was alarming, but the figure hadn't made any aggressive moves yet. I simply kept the cat safe and watched.

After a handful of seconds of an uneventful staring contest, I eventually decided to respond. I still couldn't actually talk, but I wasn't sure if it could see my illusions even though it knew I was there. So, I took a chance and displayed a simple question in front of me. "Who are you?"

The thing didn't react. Apparently, it couldn't actually see my illusions. Or maybe it just couldn't see me at all, and it was guessing that some godling had saved the kitten. Well, that was a rather out-there guess. I can't imagine what the odds would be, but they were so small that no reasonable being would bet on them. So I assumed it couldn't see me as it glanced around the room, not stopping on anything.

Letting out a beep, I returned the greeting. This was frustrating. I got so used to being able to spell things out using my illusions that communicating without them was going to be very difficult.

The weird red creature took a second to even react to my presence, and for a moment, I thought that it couldn't hear sound. But he nodded. "So you are there."

Dang. He really had been guessing that a godling had saved the cat. This guy must be terrible with statistics. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that his soul was crushed. Hmm. That did seem more likely now that I thought about it. Was it only gods and godlings that had abilities to affect souls? That would be interesting. The system had considered me a god ever since I had formed my own religion back at level 50, but I hadn't gotten soul skills until much later. Maybe it was more of a necessary but not sufficient sort of condition.

The demonic ghost didn't seem to be able to perceive it the same way. He couldn't perceive my energy or me because of. My hiding. It's weird. It's weird that he couldn't see me because of my sensory disruption skill, but I couldn't project something to him at the same time.

I responded in kind, indicating that yes, I was here. And what was he going to do about it? The creature tilted its head, and I watched its processes and thoughts play across its face as it swung wildly between emotions. Concern, wariness, fear, arrogance... it was all over the place. Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

This was not a stable creature, despite how posh it had sounded when it first greeted me. Slowly, its fanged maw turned up into a grin. "I will tell my lord that a welcoming party has been assembled to greet him when he finally comes."

Before I had a chance to act on my decision, the guy spoke up again. "Uh, why am I still here?"

How could I talk to him? Looking around the room, I floated a piece of paper to myself. I watched as the guy's eyes tracked the paper. Good, he could still see the world, even if not my projections or me. Hovering the paper in front of me, I used the narrowest beam of my sanitization lamp to burn tiny inverted letters into the paper for him to read.

I watched the demon's red face turn the same color as the floating piece of paper as my words appeared. Once my first sentence was fully completed, he wet his lips before trying to speak.

"What is your name? Uh-- I can't tell you that. I can't give you that sort of power over me. Just banish me and be done with me!" The guy blustered.

"Why can't you tell me your name?" I printed.

"Well, uh... What demon would tell you his true name?"

Oh, he was a demon. That was good to know. I kind of assumed that, but it was nice to confirm.

"Why should I banish you?" I asked.

He seemed thoroughly confused by this. For a moment, he stammered before finally getting something out. "Oh um. That's what you do to demons? We get defeated and banished and sent back to our plane. Why wouldn't you? Do you want me around here causing problems? I could do that. I can serve you, too. I'll serve you if you keep me around."

His expression suddenly lit up into a... well, a devilish grin. I didn't think I could trust this guy. Besides, I had no idea how to banish them. "Serve me, how?"

The next line appeared in the paper. The man-demon started sweating, and I could see drops of red liquid pour from his temples and drip down onto the remains of his suit; he wiped his head nervously.

"Your eminence, divine eminence, I can serve you in many ways..." He trailed off, not nearly as confident as he was at the beginning of our conversation.

"What tasks can you perform?" I printed onto the paper.