“The same reason you would have.Power and status.After the angels left, I saw an opportunity.Especially given the Architecti massacre.But she, erm… she was meant to stay trapped, and we were meant to rule the mortal plain.”
“Well, clearly, she didn’t stay trapped, did she.”
“It appears not.”
Bad move.Read the room Ignatius, Arcadius is not in the mood for sarcasm.He grips Ignatius’s neck and slams him into the wall.
Ignatius’s expression morphs.There’s only so much a demon with an ego that big will tolerate.Lines of darkness etch into his features.He’s either about to switch this up and steal the power from Arcadius or he’s about to get murdered.
Not to be a douche, but I am hoping for the latter.
“Don’t fuck with me, Ignatius.I want to know how she got out.”
“L-Lucy,” Ignatius chokes, his face turning a delightful shade of purple.And I get that I shouldn’t like it, but… I’m a pitiful human and revenge is always a delight.
“What use would it be telling the city that I trapped Architecti?We’d live on edge.In a state of always waiting for her to escape.That is not how you control a population.”
“How aboutgiving the archdevil the heads up?At least that way I could protect us from a homicidal fallen angel hell-bent on trying to take over celestial and demonic kind.”
“She’s a homicidal psychopath?No.That’s not… Did you not see the vision?It was Interitus all along.”
“I don’t give a fuck which angel it was.I want our dominion over this realm and the underworld secured.”
Ignatius scoffs.“You don’t give a shit about the demons or the humans.You started this eons ago when you waged war against the angels.Hundreds of humans and demons alike died while you were busy war-mongering in the name of contract law.”
There’s a growling, hissing sound and the room grows colder still.I have to ram my teeth against each other to stop myself shivering.
“And you’d prefer what?A celestial leader?A whimsical city with no contract rule and no order?Filthy humans running around deciding their own fates?No way to bind them into contracts?How the hell do you think that’s going to go for demonkind, hmm?”
“I…” Ignatius starts but Arcadius cuts him off.
“Under this grand regime, how do you propose we get magic?”
Ignatius remains silent, the best move he’s made all day.
Arcadius doesn’t wait for him to formulate a thought.He continues his tirade.“We’d be cut off.You would be responsible for the destruction of our entire species.Or do a few measly human souls lost in a war mean more to you than the survival of our race?”
Ignatius shoves Arcadius off him.“Of course not.”
“As I thought.Now where is she?Do we have soldiers hunting her?”Arcadius says.
Ignatius stares at the floor.“She, erm… she escaped back to the underworld, chasing Interitus, we think.”
“You think?What good isthink?”Arcadius paces around the medical suite.
“Chancellor.There are… other things you don’t know.”
“Then enlighten me…” The words are ground out as if he’s chewing on gargoyle stone.
“I thought I had Lucy under my control.”
Arcadius’s voice turns sharp.“Yes, well, there are lots of things you thought you had under your control, and it seems you were sorely mistaken about them all.”
Ignatius stays silent, a weak attempt at keeping information to himself.It’s the wrong move.Even from here, I spot the throbbing veins trickling down from Arcadius’s horns.They pulse in his temple and through the thick cords in his neck.He’s on his last thread.
Ignatius spots Arcadius’s move too late.
Fist.
