"Heh," Sesshoumaru scoffed weakly. "I'm covered in blood..."
"You'll be dead before long," a demon told him.
"Is this your version of entertainment?" Sesshoumaru looked over expectantly at the circle of grinning faces. "I could think of better things to do with my time than this."
"You would believe that," another demon said.
"So much for trust," Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Traitors," he insulted unemotionally.
"Now, now, My Lord," one of the demons mocked, "we simply couldn't stand by and watch as you allowed yourself to become weak and pitiful. You had your arm sliced off, and yet you refuse to destroy your brother. And the fact that you have regained it has nothing to do with that. Even worse, you adopt a human girl! How can we idly sit around if you're losing your mind!"
"I don't know," Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, not about to argue that he still had his sanity. It would be pointless to try and convince his former lieutenants that he wasn't crazy. "So what is it that you plan on doing? Watching me die? Killing me? What?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"Should we tell him?" one of the demons looked at the other-they were the main ones in charge.
"I'm sure we can answer his questions," the second one agreed. "He's going to die eventually anyway, why not let him know? It won't change any of it."
"Alright then," the first demon nodded. "Well, Sesshoumaru, to put it simply...we're just going to kill you as painfully as possible"
"That's comforting," Sesshoumaru replied sarcastically. "I almost wish I hadn't asked."
"You can always surrender the girl to us and save yourself that agony," the demon said.
"Suggesting the same thing four hundred times isn't going to change my mind," Sesshoumaru said.
"Suit yourself. Corporal-you and your soldiers need to chain him up. We'll throw him in the dungeon for now and see if that changes his mind," the lead demon instructed.
"Yes, Lord Satsujin!" the demon answered promptly, then snapped to his army. Five demons ran over with a strong set of shackles, preparing to hold Sesshoumaru still if he struggled.
"Are you going to fight me on this, Sesshoumaru?" Satsujin asked as the soldiers stood near the dog-demon, waiting for the signal.
"What would you do if I were to kill these ones? Heh. You'd take long enough to blink before sending more of them to beat me by sheer numbers. I'd rather be led away with an insult than dragged out of here unconcious," Sesshoumaru replied offhandedly. "Get it over with. If you're really going to pull me around like a pup on a leash, then be quick about it."
Satsujin nodded and gave the soldiers his signal, and they went over to place the strong cuffs on the demon. The chains were made especially for strong demons-after all, they were made at the request of the demon-lord himself, and Sesshoumaru had many fights with other powerful demons. Had he known that keeping them alive would allow the traitors to free them, he would have killed them at the start.
Sesshoumaru growled in protest as the shackles were locked around his wrists and looped around his waist, but offered no further struggle. It would have been a waste of effort; he knew that much. This wasn't a band of humans, or a fight with a single strong demon. He was surrounded by over a hundred rivals, not a single one of them without merit. A Lord that he had managed to capture with some difficulty, a few War Generals, and his own specially chosen lieutenants and corporals-there was no question of the victor if it came to a battle, as much as Sesshoumaru hated to admit it to himself.
"This is going to be delightfully amusing," one of the other demons grumbled out happily. "We should make him do some dog tricks for us before we kill him!"
The other demons began to laugh at that, and Sesshoumaru stopped and snarled at the comment. The guards shoved him forward, and he stumbled slightly before moving. He growled softly under his breath, vowing that he would never give them the pleasure of forcing him to be their heel-hound. He was no faithful terrier that would sit at anyone's feet and wait for a command.