Chaos

Festering Darkness

"Chaos! Where are you!" Azrail's voice bellowed down the hall, bouncing off the empty walls. I listened to his feet make long strides, drawing closer and closer. I could feel my body growing cold and feint, but I still had much to do. If I remember correctly, part of my plan didn't involve him coming to retrieve me. He was supposed to stay above and secure the outside premises.

I was sewing Lucille back up when he reached the door to our room. With every second I didn't answer, his voice grew louder and more frantic. 

Snipping the thread, I scurried to grab a lab coat from the adjacent observation room, dressing Lucille in it along with my socks and combat boots. Only then did I answer the ancient vampire's call.

"In here."

Soon after the words escaped my mouth, the stubborn metal door was thrown off its hinges. Standing in the frame, the fearsome Azrail Diathyst emerged dishevelled and nerve-wracked. It usually annoyed me to see him worried about my well-fair; This time, however, I could fully understand and admit that I looked awful. 

Garish, blue and red bruises were sprouting on my sickly, pale skin, barely concealed by the slits Primrose made in my body suit. My face was rid of the black blood from the surprise saline wash; despite that, however, my own blood took its place. It gushed freely from my lips whenever I coughed, often due to the dry and musty air irritating my inflamed throat. 

My feet were in an awful state, too, ripped and bleeding with every step. If I were a normal person, I would be dead.

"Chaos!" his brows furrowed with dread seeing my ill state, and he took me in his arms. I was helpless to stop him as I preserved my strength to kill Primrose. That was the essence of the deal I made with Marma, and I had to make it worth every effort it took to put Primrose down.

I kissed my teeth in aggravation, prying myself from his grasp. "Enough."

Behind him, the elderly witch, Marma, joined us in the already cramped space. She had a gash on her forehead that once oozed with blood, now clotted and healing. The witch looked extremely exhausted, no doubt the aftermath of completing the ritual circle I put up.

"Well, ain't this a sight to see..." she sighed. "The circle is complete. You've destroyed the core, right? Primrose won't be able to recover once the deal bearer is broken."

I guess she figured out Primrose was cursed during their battle. 

Under normal circumstances, breaking a barrier would only return the mana back to its crafter; However, unravelling that magic as we did was equivalent to reversing the spell's purpose; meaning the mana would return only to attack her. A protective barrier is taxing on the summoner, so I predicted it would pack quite the punch on its return. 

That would be enough to weaken her, but she still had the demon's powers to rely on and her own. Therefore, when I ordered Marma to proceed with the ritual, my real intent was slightly more obscure.  

If you give someone a strong impression, they'll believe the worse has gone to pass, so my intent with the unravelling was to distract and mislead her expectations. Primrose would believe that was the climatic punchline of my attacks. She's stupid enough to fall for that tactic.

That is why the core had to be broken, the item that held both the source of her power and the bearer of the demon's power. A normal person wouldn't be able to bear the weight of a demon's power, which is why her magical core took on the burden. Luckily I had already planned to destroy her core, demon deal or not. 

"You're a useful bait. Don't forget your place." I pushed the lumbering vampire away and picked my gun from his waistband. Marma had taken too slow to initiate the ritual and sustained injuries, she's as old as she looks and wants to lecture me?