Akira and the Incubus
Chapter 3 – Part 2: The Pact
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The demon's nose twitched when he sensed a foul smell of heavy perfume and citric acid in the air. Foul it may be, Shiki knew it was the smell of freedom - even if it was only temporary. When his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the vicinity, he took a quick glance at the interior of his Caller's home. From the look of things, it would be wise to assume that the person was rich. Golden frames adorned the walls, and various marble statues – many of which were questionable – aligned themselves in the hall as if to guide guests towards the master room. One particular statue stood out – a goat sitting on a toilet - and it was creepy enough to send chills up Shiki's spine. There were pretty trinkets and ornaments everywhere but they held no value to the demon. The carpets were red, so red that it was almost like everything was swimming in a pool of blood, and in the middle of it where Shiki was standing was a white ring – a ring of salt. There were also several other strange tools and objects lying on the floor but they were unidentifiable.
Before the demon could become suspicious, he heard a startling voice from behind.
"Wonderful! Fabulous! Excellent! The spell worked wonders!"
Shiki stood up from his crouched position and turned around, only to find a blonde masked man standing before him, his arms outstretched in glory. He was clad in white and carried a dead animal or something – Shiki didn't know what – around his shoulders. There was faint makeup on the man's face and the pungent smell of perfume was coming from him. Hoo…he hadn't seen anyone so overdressed in a long time. All the demons in Makai – the ones who took human form – barely wore anything. Sometimes it was just scraps of rags dangling off their bodies but most of the time it was nothing. It wasn't as if demons had anything to be ashamed of though so no one really cared.
"I am Arbitro, owner of this magnificent manor, and I have summoned you because I have need of your abilities. Will you help me?" The eccentric man bowed his head, his silky hair falling over his mask as he did. Shiki had opened his mouth to answer but no words could come out. "Oh dear, I forgot to remove the Siren's Chord." Arbitro picked something up from the floor and put it into his pocket. "Now you can speak."
"Overly cautious are we?" Shiki mused, a bit irritated to find that the strange man had complete control over him. "No need to be so paranoid. We demons cannot directly influence human lives unless told to do so by another human."
"It is merely to secure my safety. I am not so weak that I'd be afraid of demons."
Shiki's eye involuntarily twitched. "Of course not." Something about the flamboyant man's arrogance annoyed Shiki but he couldn't afford to be on the man's bad side. Arbitro was his only ticket to freedom and damn it to hell he was going to get it no matter what it took.
"Well? Won't you grace me with your name, dear demon?"
Shiki mentally shuddered. "I am called Shiki, a demon of …incredible power." He lied. There was no way he was going to tell the truth to Arbitro. He may have once been a powerful demon but that was a long time ago. Now, he was a lesser demon and his powers were near useless. He had degraded from being a noble demon to a lowly incubus. It was humiliating but Shiki had long passed that stage of grief. Now he sought freedom from Makai and strived for an existence worth living for. But before all of that, Shiki wanted revenge – revenge against the Makaien King for stripping him of his powers and turning him into the scum that he was in the demon world.
"Oh ho? Incredible power?"
"Indeed. You were lucky that I was the one to answer your call. If it were any other demon, you would be sorely disappointed as many of them are...scum, and do not deserve to be blessed with your presence."
"I agree entirely. You are quite a handsome piece. No low-ranking demon could be as beautiful as you are." Shiki paused a little before smiling at Arbitro's flirtatious comment. He had his sights on the demon's 'package' before looking up again. "Tell me, are you a noble demon?"
"Why, aren't you the intelligible one. I am indeed. I could even become King if I wanted to."
"Truly?" Arbitro beamed, no doubt believing that he hit the jack-pot. "Then you should be able to handle my request with complete ease."
"And what is it you wish from me, my liege?"
"There is someone I wish for you to eliminate. He is an eyesore to me and perhaps a threat to all of us living in Toshima. The sooner he goes, the better for everyone."
"Do you want me to drive him away from Toshima then? I can do that quite easily…"
"No, that wouldn't be nearly enough. I want you to kill him."
Shiki's smile fell. Damn. Damn it to hell. There were many things that Shiki could do that other demons could not. However killing somebody wasn't one of them. He couldn't kill. As much as he would like to have the ability to kill, his powers were ill-suited to do it. The closest to killing he could ever come to is to do it via Dreamland but that wasn't what Arbitro wanted.
Damnit, I will not go back to that dreaded place. I will not!
"I…I apologize but…" the demon hesitated to speak his next words, "my powers lie in the world of dreams. I cannot kill any mortal with my abilities."
"Wh-WHAT?" Arbitro exclaimed in shock. "B-but then what was all that talk about you being str-"
"Wait!" Shiki stopped him rather too abruptly. He thought it'd appear too suspicious so he repeated it again in a softer tone. "Wait. Do not be so hasty. Let me finish."
"O-Oh? Do you have some secret weapon? Something even better? What is it? Tell me!"
"Of course," but the truth was that Shiki had nothing. There was no secret weapon, no secret power. All he had were illusions, and they certainly wouldn't be able to kill a human.
Think, think! I cannot be sent back empty-handed!
He dreaded the idea of going back. He hated that dull, deserted wasteland that was his home. There was no way he was going back there after just a few minutes of freedom. He needed to convince Arbitro to let him stay.
"Out with it, demon! Or I will send you back! I have no need for a useless demon who cannot even kill a man-"
And then an idea struck Shiki. It was risky and not completely fail-proof but it was better than nothing. He thought this man, Arbitro, was easy to manipulate and so attempted to influence his ego.
"I may not be able to kill him but I can weaken him. If you allow it, I can drain him of his strength and soul until he is all but a crippled man. And then when the right time comes, you, my liege, can deal the final blow and claim victory for yourself."
Truth be told, Shiki was certain his words would mean nothing to Arbitro. There was no logic to what he said – it was safer to let a demon do the dirty work. Arbitro probably didn't want to stain his hands with blood. There was no need for him to do so and risk his life at the same time. All he needed to do was sit back, blackmail the demon and wait for results…
Shiki closed his eyes in despair, waiting for this obnoxious fruitcake to send him back – back to the hell that he belonged in. And then he heard something incredible.
"F-fantastic! A superb idea! Why hadn't I thought of that!" Arbitro's eyes shone with excitement. "If I were to deal the final blow to him then-" his eyes wavered as if he was contemplating something and he began pacing. He started to mumble incoherently but Shiki didn't give a rat's ass what the pansy was thinking. Arbitro agreed with his idea and now is in need of Shiki's powers. That's all that mattered. The blonde tycoon spun around to meet eyes with the demon. "Perhaps we have indeed come to an agreement. You can weaken him enough for me to take credit for his kill. Oh, why hadn't I thought about this beforehand? Oh, Arbitro you are a genius!" He started to ramble to himself but Shiki could only catch a few words. Something about a woman and ambitions. Pity he wasn't a mind-reading demon. Well, unless he dived into the man's dreams, but there was no way in this lifetime that he would dive into this madman's dreams. Who knew what kind of bizarre things he'd see.
"So you will agree to make a pact with me?" Shiki asked patiently, hardly able to contain his anticipation for his long-awaited freedom. "What will it be, my liege?"
Arbitro met the demon's stare with a malicious smile. "Of course."