"Let us go feast upon the souls of the innocent and pure."
It was all Rin could do to not spit her coffee all over Beelzebub's face when he made that plain declaration after swallowing a plain biscuit whole. He was... strange. Not what she expected of a Prince of Hell, but then again, how many of those had she encountered in her seventeen years of life to begin with?
Not to mention, Rin struggled to accept the situation even now.
The Holy Grail her family had helped make should never have been capable of summoning literal Satan. Certainly, he was not supposed to be a Divine Spirit in the true sense of the word, but there was functionally very little difference between some bigshot Deity from a foreign pantheon, and his standing in legend.
She painfully gulped down the tea that came back up her throat, "I'm not doing that. You... are not doing that."
Her sole relief was that he seemed willing to respect their contract.
"Hm," Beelzebub rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "With how much you scream, I believed consuming souls came naturally to you."
What?
"I do not scream."
He raised a doubtful brow.
Then, shrugged.
He actually had the gall to shrug her words off.
"Then, how is it that you plan to sustain me?"
Calmly, Rin placed her tea cup on its plate. She tapped a fist against her chest, smiling.
"I have all the mana a servant needs. The container can't handle anything I can't provide."
There was no delusion or lie in her words. The quality and quantity of her magic circuits dwarfed the average magus' to the point of bullying. Her father had reassured her of such when he passed down the Magic Crest to her.
Over the years, she came to realise it for herself too.
"Are you sure a magus can take that tone with myself?"
The retort came to her lips before she could even think.
Most of the 72 Demons in the Lesser Key of Solomon submitted to his will after he subjugated Beelzebub. The Ars Goetia was the foundation of all modern magecraft, engraved by King Solomon himself.
Perhaps it was stupid to taunt him, but she wasn't letting him wound her pride either.
"A magus made you kneel."
A sudden darkness fell over her living room.
For a moment, the pins in Beelzebub's collar began to glow an intense crimson, like the eyes of a great fly. He tapped his skull-headed staff on the ground and rose to his feet. A shiver ran down her spine, but she pushed it down to meet Satan's stare head-on.
-
For real?
Beelzebub was not so intimately familiar with the concept of magecraft, as he was a not a schizo who could spend days reading source material and making sense of an even worse schizo's thoughts, so he had no choice but to take her words at face value.
And yet, he could not help but feel joy over Rin's willingness to bite back.
Sure she was trembling, her gaze kept wandering to the window, and cold sweat formed on her brow... but, he had never met a person who would not throw a tantrum or throw hands. He liked that, but he liked this too.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"I see sense has left you entirely, my master."
He leaned down.
She took a step back.
"Wonderful. This is wonderful. I believe we will have a lot of fun."
Her robes fluttered as he walked past her. She was too confused to even turn and question him. To ease her mind further, he stopped in the doorframe.
"If you are so intimately familiar with the nature of my kindred, then surely, you must know the importance of adhering to contracts." A raspy and hideous chuckle left his throat, "Such a basic detail surely did not escape the notice of a genius, questionable as that claim may be."
The moment he rounded the corner, Beelzebub thought of running to the door... but decided against such a show and kept his pace steady through the corridor, making sure to lean on his staff.
Even if there were no observers, the larp had to be maintained.
Opening the doors without involuntarily breaking the handles proved to be a more trifling task than he cared to admit.
Outside, a star-filled night sky greeted him, marked by only the sparsest of puffy grey clouds. The chill wind felt pleasant on his skin, and he wanted to think there was a certain merry skip to his step as he went to the main gates.
The Tohsaka Residence was a proper western mansion, reflecting wealth that he knew for a fact did not exist. The first floor was laid with dark red brick, and marked by tall windows. The second floor was painted white. Vines and moss had grown along and into the walls at places in a way that made him question the remarkable cleanliness of the interior.
Well... there was only so much a lone girl living by herself could manage.
He stared at the lawn, "Even the grass is overgrown."
In a test of control, he gripped his staff with his right hand and tapped the silver tip against the stone beneath his feet. A focussed cutting force spread outwards like a sword cut. In the blink of an eye, the grass was perfectly sized once more.
He forgot to account for the trees.
"Oops."
They collapsed rather noisily.
Inside, he heard the distinct thud of someone running out and quickly tapped his cane against the earth once more. The collapsed trees were ground to smithereens so fine that they scattered with the wind.
"What happened?" Rin ran through the open door and looked around confusedly. "Did... Did you cut my grass?"
"A demonstration of my increasingly perfect control." Beelzebub shamelessly praised himself.
He expected her to scold him in that strange way of hers again but Rin... giggled. She hid her face behind her hands. Beelzebub curiously inclined his head.
"What is so amusing?"
"S...Satan is mowing my lawn."
"Hm, when you put it that way."
Her giggles were oddly helpless.
When she quieted down a good minute later, confusion flashed through her sea-coloured eyes. She looked about with furrowed brows.
"Where are the trees?"
Beelzebub looked the other way.
"What trees? There were no trees, master."
"No, I'm pretty sure there were trees." She deadpanned, "I've only lived here all my life. Could be wrong though."
"Yes, you are wrong. I think they call the disease schizophrenia in this age. Do not worry, master. I shan't think less of you for your mental illness."
Rin put her hands on her sinful hips. He stared unapologetically, though she didn't seem to notice.
"There's no mental illness! You threw a tantrum because daddy dearest looked at someone else for two seconds and declared war. They call that a bipolar disorder these days."
Beelzebub preened inwardly at the snark she was throwing out even when he was larping as something so overwhelmingly beyond a human. It almost made him think she caught on to his schtick.
He stared up at the sky curiously.
There was reason to be thankful he was not the true Beelzebub native to Fate but instead the one from Record of Ragnarok. The chances that the powers that be would bend him over a table the moment he opened his eyes otherwise were not so slight.
"Master. Do you know any of the other masters?" He asked calmly.
He knew each and every single one of them already.
"Well, the Matou and Einzbern should have one each like me as a rule." Rin counted off on her fingers, looking thoughtful, "But I don't know any of the other four. Wait, I haven't even told Kirei I summoned my servant yet."
"Kirei?"
"This priest I know. He's the Overseer for this Grail War."
And, her caretaker too, was what she left unsaid. Still, even that bit of fun could wait until later.
"The Matou. Where will we find them?"
"...I don't think we need to go after them yet."
Of course, she didn't. No matter how much she tried to avoid the truth, Rin still remembered her sister. The same sister their father had handed over to the Matou family for a 'better' future after choosing Rin as his successor.
Sakura Matou.
Unfortunately for Rin, the Lord of the Flies had already taken an interest.
"You will lead me to the Matou."
"What?"
"You will lead me to the Matou."
Rin crossed her arms with a look of incredulity.
"Uh... no. I don't think so."
"Then I will find them myself."
"No."
Beelzebub clicked his tongue.
"Don't click your tongue at me."
The world grew darker.
An immense pressure made Rin go weak in the knees.
"I am Satan. I will click my tongue at whoever I please."
There was always the nuclear option.
He could always just level the entire district.
-
Rin was unable to help her disbelief at the sudden display of pettiness from someone of his stature. She realised then, that she had to relent. There was no arguing with someone like him either.
"I guess... I can show you where they live."
The darkness receded. Satan smiled at her.
Dammit, she wouldn't be led astray by the Prince of Hell!
He was supposed to be handsome just for that purpose!
She wasn't falling for it! Never!
-
This is pretty fun to write alongside Shadows.