Summary: M-21 has been set up as a sacrifice to summon a demon.
Contains: torture, M-21/Kentas
Sacrifice!M-21 and demon!Kentas au. :D
Give
By Dark Ice Dragon
Pain slammed in M-21. Every nerve screamed, crowding his skull as they demanded his attention, and the Union sadists wouldn't stop. They sometimes varied it up to make sure he was paying attention, to make sure he didn't get used to the level of pain.
To make him glad when they pulled back again to the shallowly cutting up his body.
They wanted to bleed him dry, but they wanted to drag it out for as long as possible. Do it drop by drop.
It had been days since they'd first dragged him into the room, a small barred window at the top of the room telling him if the sun was out.
They'd decided he too troublesome to stay working for them, but there was one last use for him: to use up his life to summon a demon. His ears had been filled with chanting from the other mages in the room, to the point he could guess how long he'd been overcome by pain by where they were in the chanting.
A murmur rippled out from the bastards, disrupting the chanting, and through his fuzzy version, M-21 saw the sigils drawn around the room start to pulse and glow.
Shit...
The demon was coming.
xOx
He had been too weak to fight against the scientists and other modified humans when he'd first been dragged in; there was no way he could escape now, when he hadn't had any food or sleep since they'd started.
The bastards cut out his vocal chords after the first time he'd goaded whoever was working on him, taking them out again whenever they grew back. They'd sliced through his lip scar, deepening it until they'd gone through his lip, because it amused them.
They'd done this shit enough to know how to make the sacrifice last for days if needed so all M-21 was lie there as each drop of blood strengthened the sigils around them.
There was something latching onto M-21's mind, separate from the pain pounding there. It grew at the same rate at the sigils and he shoved at it, wanting it out.
All that did was the presence grabbed hold of him harder, now that he'd just given it more access and he shuddered, no strength to do anything else as he was sliced across the chest, scattering his concentration.
The demon was in his mind and there was nothing he could do about it. Struggling against it drew its attention to him, prodding at him as more of it encompassed his mind.
Whatever it found, M-21 felt its satisfaction, the demon securing its hold on him. Energy fizzled through M-21 and his hands spasmed.
He squeezed his eyes shut when all the sigils flashed and the mages cried out in surprise.
Panting, M-21 cracked his eyes open to look at whatever had appeared in the middle of the main summoning circle.
The demon was mostly human male shaped, twice as wide as M-21, only wearing white trousers that helped to put its solid muscles on display. The differences were the brown wolf-like ears perched on top its head, bracketing the strip of hair that ran down the middle of its head, its arms and the sides of its torso were covered in brown fur, fingers ending in claws, and a bushy tail swept low behind it.
The demon was staring at him, frowning. M-21 bared his teeth, glowering as best as he could.
"Demon Kentas!" the mage that had been chanting the entire fucking time declared, stepping forward and bowed. "We welcome you to our realm, and you can devour the rest of the sacrifice to seal the contract."
M-21 gritted his teeth at that, giving the restraints one pathetic tug.
The demon didn't say anything, one ear swivelling towards the mage and then slowly turned its attention to the mage, its expression blank.
Did it not understand the language? That couldn't be right — demons had to know all the languages or else how were they supposed to tempt humans?
"Why do you think I would contract with you?" The demon's voice was as deep, rough to the point it sounded like it was growling at the same time and M-21 wouldn't be surprised if that was true.
M-21's heart soared at the demon's words and he let out a croak of a chuckle. Even if he was going to die, at least the bastards would die with him.
The mage spluttered. "We summoned you!"
The demon raised a bushy eyebrow. "You didn't. They did." The demon pointed at him.
...What? The mages had used his blood but... Wait. Was that-
"You sacrificed nothing to summon me," the demon continued.
"Effort! Time!" The mage snapped, gesturing to the entire room. "We set this all up and spent months researching this!"
"And they paid in blood." The demon's voice was calm and controlled, but it still held that deep rumble behind every word. Its gaze flicked M-21's restraints. "Unwillingly."
Had...the demon contracted to him? Was the pressure in his head the confirmation, not the demon preparing to eat every part of him?
There was uneasy shifting from the mages. Good. Let them piss their pants in fear before the demon killed them all
"So I'll listen to what they have to say."
He was going to lose his life, his soul, for this but he wanted payback.
M-21's tongue was thick and unresponsive and he had to work his jaw open from it being clenched all this time.
"Kill..." he rasped, seeing the mage next to him lift their knife above him. No-! He wasn't going to have enough time-!
The demon appeared in front of the mage, grasping the hand holding the knife and twisted it out of the mage's grasp as the mage cried out. The knife clattered to the ground.
The demon looked at him, patient, their hand still on the mage. "Yes?"
"Everyone here," M-21 finished, and he sucked in a breath as he felt anticipation, an eagerness to spill blood. They didn't come from him, but it was something he wanted.
"As you wish."
M-21 lost consciousness as the first scream filled the air.
xOx
Sunlight was streaming through the barred window when M-21 woke up and he stared up at it, dazed. That couldn't be right...
"You slept for nearly the whole day."
M-21 turned his head, and the demon was sitting cross-legged next to him. M-21 wasn't sure how they (he?) was balancing like that, but maybe the tail and being a demon helped. They were covered in dried blood, most if it around their hands, but there was blood around their mouth like they'd torn out something with their fangs.
"That's what happens when I'm not allowed to sleep for days," M-21 with a snort, licking at his dry lips. The pain that had been his entire world had faded back to a dull throb.
"Days...?"
"Yeah, days." There had been a rota of sadists, switching to a fresh one once the one working on M-21 began to get tired. They wouldn't want the ritual to fail because the bloodflow stopped.
M-21 glanced at the restraints and huh, they'd been sliced through. Over the edge of his table, M-21 saw the scattered remains of the mages there and felt a surge of satisfaction at the sight.
He tried to sit up but grimaced, his muscles either refusing to listen to him, or flaring up in pain. His head would have thunked against the table, but the demon (what had the mage called them? Kentas?) caught him.
Everything moved and M-21 found himself in Kentas' arms, his head cradled against the demon's shoulder.
"What-?" M-21 croaked out, his eyes wide.
"You can't move right now," Kentas said as he walked for the exit, "so I'll carry you until you can."
"Why?" The demon had carried out his wish — wasn't he supposed to pay with his life?
Kentas peered at him, concern creasing the space between his brow, like the demon was wondering why M-21 was asking such a simple question. "You're my husband now, so I'm looking after you."
"What?" That outburst caused a coughing fit and M-21 spat out blood. How had he-
"The ritual was a marriage proposal," Kentas explained to him. "You're strong, so I accepted." The demon grinned down at him.
The demon thought he was strong after he'd been tied up and tortured for days, completely helpless?
The grin faded as the demon's gaze wandered. "Though...usually only the demon has to accept because the summoner already said they're interested by performing the ritual. You didn't." The demon peered at him and M-21 glowered at the reminder. "Do you want to be my husband?"
"You're...asking?"
Kentas chuckled at that. "You're the one who's going to be married to me, so of course!"
M-21 stared at him, not understanding. Were all demons like that or was it just Kentas?
...Did it matter? He was connected to the demon now, could feel what the demon did, and Kentas had no intention of hurting him.
And...it would be nice not to be alone anymore.
"Sure," M-21 said with a sigh.
When he thought he was going to give his life to the demon, he didn't think he would give it in this way.
Written for writing-prompt-s' 'As the demon stared at the mortal who summoned it, all that could be heard was a sigh before the words, "You do realize this is a marriage proposal, right?"'