Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 545 (Patreon)

“The cat,” Belkus repeated. His features were unreadable once more, blue eyes boring into Yoru like drills. “The Rising Moon’s greatest desire at this moment is to pet the cat?”

“Not a desire I would mirror, personally,” Zath observed. “I’d sooner slit my own throat.”

“Is this a cypher?” Belkus asked, tilting his head to the side. “A code to cover your true goals? I know of your distaste to outright lying, but I refuse to believe that the Rising Moon’s greatest goal is to spend time with a mere monster.”

“It is not,” Yoru replied. “I want to pet the cat.”

“Why?” Belkus asked.

Noah wanted to know the same thing. He still didn’t have the complete story, but Yoru — or Yoku — was clearly a powerful demon. A very powerful one. He’d suspected that she’d been strong, of course, but he hadn’t quite realized the extent of it. If Yoru was really telling the truth, Noah had absolutely no idea why her current greatest desire was to pet Mascot.

“Because, when I weighed the probabilities of the potential futures, the one in which I win is the one in which I desired to pet the cat,” Yoru replied simply.

“You imply that petting this… creature will somehow achieve the world you desire?” Zath asked incredulously. “How would that possibly work?”

Belkus looked a lot less doubtful than the other Rank 7 demon. He studied Mascot intensely for several long seconds without saying a word. Noah could practically see the thoughts going through his eyes.

The Demon Lord respected Yoru’s strength. They were enemies, and he was more than aware of what she could accomplish. But Yoru couldn’t flat out control the future. She could only see the most probable paths and take actions to achieve a path that had the highest likelihood of being the one she wanted.

That wasn’t absolute strength, and Yoru hadn’t refuted Belkus’ words when he’d insinuated that he was stronger than she was. There was probably a very good chance that Belkus would win in a direct fight. But at the same time, he had to realize that Yoru wouldn’t have come here if she didn’t think she had a way to win.

Part of Noah wondered if the mind games that came from trying to fight a demon that could peer into potential futures were worse than actually fighting them. He’d be second guessing every single action he made. Wondering if every single coincidence was actually intentional — and a lot of them probably were.

“It is the future that I witnessed,” Yoru replied with a shrug. Her hand drifted up to the mask covering her features. “I will say no more. Do you plan on breaking your word, Belkus? Will you attack Spider’s entourage?”

Aylin stiffened at Noah’s side. Zorin tensed and Zath watched on, expression still hidden behind his helm. Out of everyone in the room, he was the least invested in its outcome. He was just along for the ride.

“You wish to trap me into fighting against Spider,” Belkus said. “To force my hand and destabilize Treadon even further. Your games will not work on me, Rising Moon.”

Yoru’s head tilted to the side — a particularly threatening gesture considering what it meant.

“Do you struggle against the setting sun, Lord Belkus? Do you attempt to hold it aloft in the sky to keep the night at bay?”

“Speaking in riddle will do nothing to alter my course,” Belkus said. He raised a hand. Points pressed up against the inside of his arm. Blood dripped down his hand as bone pressed up, slicing through his skin and winding out like bleached vines. The bone intertwined, tightening into a shaft, rising up and blooming like a bloody flower to form a huge hammer head. Spiked growths emerged from all over the weapon, largely concentrated at its striking surface.

 “Do you know why I do not lie?” Yoru asked, not even slightly perturbed by the gruesome display before her. “It is because I have no need to. I already know you will do exactly as I desire. The wielder of a pawn is not present on the board.”

Belkus’ grip tightened around the bone hammer in his hands. The skin on the back of Noah’s back prickled. He wished he could reach for his runes. He wasn’t sure what he could do directly against Belkus, but it would have been nice to at least be able to try.

It was easy to forget just how powerful Yoru’s magic was. If she’d peered into the future and already weighed the possibilities, then it was very possible that attacking here was exactly what Yoru wanted Belkus to do.

Or perhaps this was what stopped Belkus from attacking. Then again, Yoru’s words could have been meant to cause him to think that, which would therefore make him attack. Just the mere thought of it made Noah’s skull pound and amplified his lingering headache.

Cold prickled against Noah’s skin. It rolled from Yoru’s body in waves, bearing the weight of immense magic just barely allowed to slip through. Yoru may have been emotionally undeveloped, but her Runes were in control now.

She was not just a child.  

She was not just a demon.

She was a calculated future.

One that had built itself. An uncomfortable thought passed through his mind. Yoru had said that the wielder of a pawn wasn’t present on the board. She hadn’t been lying — but Noah was pretty sure she hadn’t actually been referring to herself as the wielder in her analogy.

Yoru was speaking about her own Master Rune.

“Do it, then,” Belkus ground out. His hand snapped open and the bone growth emerging from his palm collapsed inward, slithering back into his body and flicking blood across the floor until it had completely retreated. His hand tightened into a fist. “Take the cat, Yoru. Pet it. Elsewhere. You are not welcome in my palace.”

I’m not so sure Mascot is going to—

Claws dug into Noah’s shoulder. Mascot leapt off his shoulder, dropping to the ground and padding over to Yoru. The small demon bent, scooping the cat up, and placed him on top of her head like a fluffy hat.

“I enjoyed our meeting, Lord Belkus,” Yoru said, turning on her heel and striding toward the huge double doors at the end of the room. “Anticipate the next one. I will be there at the end.”

She slipped out the doors and vanished from sight. The throne room was silent for several long seconds. Then Belkus lowered himself back into his throne, heaving a long sigh.

“Infuriating demon. I rue the day she entered Treadon. It has caused me nothing but trouble. We are all tools in her eyes. She has no respect for anything. No readable desires. The Rising Moon is a corruption that I cannot cut free without severing my own neck — and that is why I called you here, Spider.”

“Her goals and mine are not one,” Noah said, still surprised that Mascot had headed off with Yoru of his own volition. “Though I will not take a stance against her. We are not enemies at this time.”

“I did not expect you to,” Belkus said with a bark of laughter. “She does not have enemies. I have enemies. The Rising Moon has nothing but herself and those who lose their souls in her gaze. So, tell me, Spider. You are not a friend to the Rising Moon. You are certainly not a friend to me. Then who are you? Why are you in my city? At first, I thought you to be a minor demon seeking to slice power for themselves. That no longer seems likely. You keep strange company — and the rumors surrounding you are stranger still.”

“You’re looking for a simple answer to a very complicated question,” Noah said. “I do not believe I can give it to you.”

“A demon who slips past even the reaches of death,” Belkus intoned, placing his arms on the rests of his throne and leaning forward. “And he uses that immense power to cause discord in my city for no apparent reason. Yoru believes that you somehow aid her plan. Sievan sends his men to wait on you, one of which you kill. I trust one as unique as you will find a way to answer my question, Spider. If not, while you not be enemies with the Rising Moon, you will be enemies with me.”

Noah met Belkus’ gaze without flinching. It certainly helped that the demon didn’t have a true domain. If he did, Noah doubted he would have been able to remain standing. Even the power rolling off the Demon all the way from his throne was enough to push Noah’s resilience to his limits.

“A simple answer will answer nothing, but if that is what you seek — I am a teacher.”

“A teacher?” Belkus repeated, small frown playing across his lips. “What is it that you teach? And what is it that leads a teacher to Treadon and causes them to attempt to interfere with its goings?”

I was originally planning to try and build an army from the dregs of Belkus’ society and then leverage that somewhere else to try and build a search party for Wizen… but maybe there’s a way around that. Could I get Belkus interested in Wizen somehow? I don’t know if I want to reveal that Wizen has a key that allows for free passage into the mortal realm, but I need to get my hands on that damn artifact so I can get back to my students — and so Tim can get the transport cannon back up and running properly.

“I teach whatever needs to be taught,” Noah replied. “And I come in pursuit of a man.”

“One in Treadon?” Belkus asked, amusement flickering across his features. “That is why you uprooted my gangs? I had heard you formed them into an information network. Was that purely to locate a single demon? You are not one for half-measures.”

“To locate a single person,” Noah said, inclining his head. “And, once I have found him, I will leave.”

“To go to such lengths… he stole from you?”

  “You could say that.”

“How curious. You are an enigma, Spider,” Belkus said, drumming his fingers against the bones that made up his throne. “I still find myself bereft of the true measure of your power. You carry yourself like an ancient demon but bear the power of a young one. The rumors would make you a new power rising up to challenge me for control of Treadon and yet you show no interest in the city. Every action you have taken thus far, the moves of an invading force, were nothing more than a gambit to find a single man. Something about you is deeply unsettling.”

“Thank you,” Noah said.

“It was not a compliment,” Belkus replied. “Tell me the name of the one whom you seek. I am curious to know what kind of demon could be worth such effort that he could bring you from your hiding.”

Hook set. Now I just have to figure out what the hell kind of bait a Demon like Belkus is going to bite.

“The one I seek is called Wizen.”

And, for the briefest of seconds, something shifted in the Demon Lord’s features.

Recognition.

Belkus knew who Wizen was.