"Hell?" Tetsuhiro asked. "W-What do you mean?"

"Your kind truly is incompetent, isn't it?" he grumbled. "How disappointing. I nearly had faith in you." Turning once more, he strode toward the throne. His fingers snapped, and instantly clothes covered his body. The collar decorated with skulls and shoulders studded, a black coat stretched to his ankles. Heavy boots thudded against the floor to echo throughout the room. When he seated himself, the demon crossed one leg over the other and rested his elbow on the arm of the throne.

Swallowing, Tetsuhiro began to rise from—

"Who gave you instruction to do that?"

He stared. "Ah...what do you mean?"

The demon gestured to him. "That. Standing. Who allowed you to do so?"

"N...No one…?"

"Is that a question or a reply?"

Weight seemed to press down on him as he lowered to a kneel once more.

"To avoid any further unnecessary inquiries, I'll take the liberty of explaining what all of this is. As I said, you're in Hell—the realm of demons—which is split into two parts: the north, Naiyan, and the south, Suiyan. Before you, upon the Naiyanic throne, sits me. I am called Tyrannus, and I am the King of Naiyan. You would know me improperly as the demon you studied and fucked back in the realm of humanity."

"But...that can't be. The demon I had was—"

"Innocent?" he questioned. "Gentle? Still bordering on the edge of humanity?"

"Well...yes."

"You didn't need to affirm what I'd just said. If anyone should know of 'Souichi,' it would be me. After all…" He uncrossed his leg, and he shifted from a menacing beast to the gentle, almost fragile-looking creature Tetsuhiro had grown attached to in the monastery. "...I am him."

Tetsuhiro stiffened, and though his heart no longer beat, it still felt something akin to an ache. Images of him being burned at the stake flashed before his eyes, and the harrowing screeches loosed from the demon's lips flooded his ears.

"Have you finished your lamentation?"

Tetsuhiro jolted back into the present, and Tyrannus returned to his normal state. "You succumbed to your lust, and it was all my doing. You see, I've always enjoyed toying with the lives of those dedicated to God. For being so strong and staunch in their faith, they're always so fragile when pushed. In truth, I was just going to set fire to the place, but then you caught my attention. The bored one. The odd one. The weak one. If anyone was going to break, it was going to be you. So I took on a more attractive humanoid form and dripped my essence around you. In all honesty, you did surprise me. I hadn't expected you to succumb to lust. I was more thinking...pride. Wrath, maybe—that's always a fun one. But, lust managed to turn you into quite an attractive demon."

So he was a demon now...in Hell...and had had sex with a king…

"What does that mean, then? What'll...what'll my fate be?"

Tyrannus tapped his clawed finger on the arm of the throne. "Well, that depends on how you act. As for the present future, it's here. In this palace. With me." He settled back in his seat, spreading himself out a bit more. A pang of arousal that Tetsuhiro couldn't stop assaulted his lower half. "You see, demons have one goal: expand the populace. We cannot reproduce, since our insides are mostly gone—you've noticed that your heart doesn't beat, I'm sure—so the only way to keep ourselves from dying out is to turn humans by having them succumb to one, a combination, or all of the Seven Deadly Sins. Those Sins then determine how you'll look. If one demon directly turned a human, then that human is indebted to that demon. In essence, you are my servant. My slave. My bitch."

He stood once more and strode toward Tetsuhiro. "Your job is simple You're to do whatever I say whenever I say it without complaint nor compromise. Should you fail, you will suffer. Should you fail repeatedly, you will face expulsion, either from my palace or from this world." He stopped right before the new demon. "Am I understood?"

Though he wanted to look up, he knew that it was by no means wise. His eyes lingering on Tyrannus's boots, Tetsuhiro said, "I do."

"That has yet to be determined, in truth, but your promise should suffice for now." His hand rested atop Tetsuhiro's head, and he squeezed with just enough pressure to cause a bit of pain. "That leaves only one more thing: your name. Starting now, you are no longer human, and your human name is thus expelled. You are a lust demon—an incubus—and you will now be called Tetsuda. Should I ever release you from my ownership, you'll be able to change your name." He turned his servant's head to the fountain and pond. "Dip yourself in there, just as I had done. That will solidify your place here, both under the demonic skies and under my demonic rule."