Lucy lowered the microphone, looking away. There was a lot for her to take in. It all felt very bitter and depressing. She really didn't want to accept his story. She wanted to believe, from the bottom of her heart, that he was lying. But she knew that he wasn't.
"This can't be true..." she stammered, her hand shaking as she talked.
'Even the president?'
"You mean to tell me all the mazoku in the world are posing as officials they killed?"
"Well, not really. Not all mazoku are made out for such positions, after all. We have varying personalities and talents, just like you. We are given appropriate tasks by our masters and blend in with everyday citizens. For example, there are a couple of mazoku working at your very newspaper."
"…!"
"Off the top of my head, there's Anna the online editor, Bruce from accounting and…one you seem to personally know…I've seen you with him at the conference that day...tall, dark hair? hmm, I forgot the name he goes by…"
'No…he can't mean Toby, right?'
"Well, I think you can remind me yourself."
"W…why would you know him?" she asked, sobbing a little. She felt alone and betrayed. People she knew, people she was close to…people she thought were her friends…were all monsters in disguise? When did they replace them? Did they even exist to begin with?
"Ah, he's the one who told me about you. Quite in a lot of detail, actually. You really shouldn't open up to people you don't know too well."
Lucy felt her knees wobble as her reality began to shatter. She really did trust Toby. And he ratted her out just like that. Why...?
Xellos continued undeterred, a wicked grin spreading across his face.
"Truth of the matter is, I wanted us to meet all along. You see, while you were expecting to play a game of cat and mouse with ME, I was doing it too. I guess you never noticed, but I never ran away from you in the first place. I was there, waiting for you to call me. When you seemed demotivated, I left you clues to keep you looking. Even my master found you amusing and ordered me to play along. I'm sure you met her, right?"
Lucy remembered the mysterious woman from the park. Then…that was...?
"...so I followed my orders and came to your summoning ritual."
As he said that, he stood up from the chair, his eyes opening all the way. She felt fear, not just a slight unease like before. True, undiluted fear. His stare was hypnotic, like a snake's.
He snapped his fingers and his clothes morphed to a medieval priest outfit, complete with a black cape and a wooden staff adorned with a large jewel. For the first time, he seemed to be serious with her. She felt like she was losing ground, quick.
'It's fine. It's fine. He's still stuck inside the spell. He can't harm you' she reminded herself again and regained some of her composure.
"You…well, you outplayed yourself! Now you're trapped here for as long as I say!" she pointed at him with confidence, though her heart was racing and she felt very scared.
Xellos closed his eyes and smiled as if she were a silly child. He pointed at the translucent circle around him.
"Oh, you mean this?" he said, pushing through the barrier with his hand and shattering it on impact.
Lucy let out a small yelp and backed up a couple of steps. She suddenly felt very vulnerable and unsure of herself.
"How did you...?" she stuttered, not managing to end her sentence.
"This spell might be used to capture evil creatures, sure, but it can only contain low level mazoku. Not one of my stature, for sure. Still, I congratulate you on managing to use a spell of this difficulty with such little experience! I must say, you have some latent talent in you!" he smiled, clapping at her like she made some sort of impressive achievement.
"Y... you mean…" she felt tears stain her eyes.
"I was never trapped to begin with, yes."
"Then why bother? Why did you stay here? Why did you tell me so many of your secrets?"
He walked towards her slowly, his right hand using the staff like a cane. It seemed to be more for show, since it was the first time she saw him use it. She backed away at the same rate, keeping her distance. He reached her quite quickly and snatched the recorder from her hand.
"Well, my first reason is that, I was feeling quite bored. This little game we played was rather fun. I enjoyed having someone new to talk to. Telling someone about these events felt like getting something off my chest, if you will."
He crushed the recorder in his hand effortlessly and dropped it to the ground. Lucy stared at it in shock, feeling her knees going weak.
"Secondly," he said, opening his eyes once again at her "I'm confident none of it will leave this room"
She realized she was in danger. She felt scared, but mostly angry.
"You…you dare to look down on me? You…how can you stand yourself after everything you did?" she said, clenching her fists. She wasn't going to take this lying down.
"I'm only following orders. It's best not to think about it." he stated simply.
"You have no will of your own! You're nothing but a slave!"
"I prefer you not use such harsh words. My relationship with my master is far more than that. First of all, I'm paid a hefty monthly wager, thank you kindly. Also, while I'm required to follow her command, the way I go about it is my own business. Secondly, I have my own private life, too. I own my own house, my own ceramic plates collection, my own cats…" he listed off his fingers proudly.
"Thirdly, I actually enjoy what I do. It's what I was made for, after all" he finished, smiling again.
"…How many…"
"?"
"How many of you mazoku are out there?" she said, still upset.
"Oh, I'd wager a couple hundred million, maybe more."
"You're immortal, right? How old are you?"
"I was created during the War of the Monsters Fall, so I'd say, about 2322, give or take. But don't go around telling your friends, please. It'd be a damper on my social life" he snickered.
She couldn't even process it at this point. Such an ancient monster she messed with. She had to end this somehow. She had to do something about it. And she had one last resort.
She brought her hands to her chest and closed her eyes. She had memorized the chanting by heart, but this was the first time she tried to do it. It was the only thing she knew that could stop him.
A bright fiery energy sparked inside her for a second, then started gathering in her hands. She opened her eyes, glaring at him with intense hatred.
Xellos raised his eyebrows at her in surprise and waited to see where she was going with this.
The creaking wooden floorboards of the dilapidated building started shaking with power and all the dust on the shelves and furniture started floating in the air, as if moved by a massive indoor hurricane.
Her emotions flooded her, numbing her mind and body as she let out the powerful wave towards him.
"FIRE BALL!" she screamed, the burning energy engulfing the room completely and blowing all the windows off the building.
She panted heavily, feeling weak.
The entire room was engulfed in smoke, the ashes of the furniture around her giving off a suffocating stench.
She coughed heavily, feeling her lungs fill up with fluid. She dropped to her hands and knees and spat out blood. She looked down at the charred floor, her vision getting foggy. She started crying as she felt completely drained. The spell had taken its toll on her body. It used up all the energy she had inside of her. She felt her heartbeat slow down, her lungs unable to take in air anymore.
She had won though. It was all worth it.
She smiled weakly at the thought and fell on her side limply, tears still falling down her cheeks.
The smoke started clearing as it left through the now open windows. Xellos walked up to the girl and looked down at her with his expressionless face. She laid on the floor with the spellbook in her bag, her red hair sprawled all over her back. She wasn't going to get up anymore.
He stood there, looking at her body silently for the longest time.
Minutes went by before he finally opened his mouth and started talking to her, even though she wasn't able to hear him at this point.
"I have to say, you took me by surprise with that spell. It was indeed powerful, the most powerful I've seen in centuries. I expected no less from her descendant." he smiled, but he knew it was a bitter smile.
He had realized this from the start. He realized why he wanted to see this girl. Why he felt the need to talk to her and get to know her.
She resembled her quite a bit. From her hair to her eyes to her attitude, she reminded him of her. She was probably never aware of it, since she didn't bear her name. Her genes were probably passed down through her maternal side at some point. She wasn't up to par, but she did have it, she had her spark. The thing he hadn't seen in anyone else in forever.
'Lina Inverse…'
His mind raced. So many things came flooding back to him. The times he had spent with Lina still lingered in his mind. He missed them, he truly did. He really did feel like she had left an influence on him. She was the only human he felt had ever mattered on this planet. Her existence had been like a firefly on a pitch black night: brief, but intense, and something that gave him comfort and guidance.
This girl reminded him of something he didn't want to admit for over 1300 years.
He realized that he never wanted to forget Lina, no matter what.
He smiled a genuinely happy smile at this thought.
He picked up the spellbook and put it back in the golden case. He knew he should destroy these since they were strong evidence against his kind, but he didn't want to. He'd rather keep these as a memento of his own past.
He looked down at his costume. The spell ruffed him up a bit and his clothes were dirtied by the soot, but he wasn't hurt. He morphed his clothes to a clean, more pedestrian outfit and started leaving.
He reached the doorframe and turned around to look at her one last time with a soft, unusually kind glint in his eyes.
"Goodbye, my dear reporter. May we meet again somewhere for your next article."