Chapter 24: The Apocatombs
After the incident with the crone, Indigo refused to leave her room.
Charlie and Vaggie could say nothing to calm her down. Nifty failed to cheer her up. Queenie and Carman's offer of a relaxing makeover didn't work. In the end, the males in the hotel were the ones with the best suggestion: leaving her alone until she felt like talking.
And thanks to the triple locks she had purchased at the Midas Mall, Indigo made sure that her door was locked well enough to keep any demon out.
Well, the demons that weren't her creepy doll of a bodyguard.
That crone… Was she trying to bait Indigo?
Indigo's grandfather is an Exterminator. She knew he'd try to see her on Extermination day.
Indigo knew that the day was almost around the corner. She's not crazy. She wants to see her grandfather and understand why she's in Hell, but… She'd stay indoors, right? It's not like she'd dare to go outside for…
The crone talked so much about envy. Did she know? Is that why she kept trying to tempt her?
Did Mister Alastor honestly have the luxury of walking around the streets, unharmed and untouched, to broadcast the exterminated screaming?
Her head was still tucked under her pillow as her eyes glared at Scrunchy. "For a bodyguard, you suck."
"I'm a bodyguard, not a mental care nurturer. Different gigs." For some reason, Scrunchy was filing his nails as he sat by the window. "Besides, a creepy old lady walks up to you speaking shit. They all do that down here. Either you deal with drunk, perverted addicted pervs who walk up to you with crazy questions, or you deal with demons in D-rated stereotypical disguises. Forget about the dumb crone."
"Easy for you to say!" Indigo threw her pillow at him. Scrunchy grabbed it and tossed it back to her. "She seemed to know I eat envy!"
"Or goading you to feel proud that come Extermination day, you get to live while who-knows-how-may will cease to exist." Scrunchy crossed his legs and leaned against the wall.
"And Alastor? What do you make of him? You don't honestly think he'd go out…"
"On Extermination Day? I totally do, boss!" Scrunchy jumped on his feet. "He's the almighty Radio Demon! Carnage and bloodlust are his game and sinners, hopeless or dead, are fair game. Either he gets free meat on the streets or he gets kicks from broadcasting demons dying. He probably gets promos from the Devil, you know? One of those 'remember you're in Hell and retribution will follow you'. The Radio Demon's only helping with this hotel so he can get kicks from demons despairing when they realize redemption is vain."
Indigo threw the pillow away. She sat up on her bed, realization splashing her face. "When you put it that way, it DOES sound like something Alastor would do."
"But what would YOU do, boss?"
Indigo glared at Scrunchy. "What are you implying?"
"I ain't stupid, boss." Scrunchy held his hands up. His fingers fused and morphed into sickles, making him look like Candyman. "Fancy toy your grand-père gave you. How exactly did you think you were going to see him when the day comes? Were you going to step out of the hotel and put yourself at risk? Or are you going to let him inside the hotel and put everyone at risk? 'Hi, everyone! This is my dead grandfather! Turns out he went to Heaven and kills demons annually for a living!' You gotta admit, if it doesn't get ya evicted for bringing an angel on hotel grounds, you could get ostracized for just being related to one."
Indigo blinked.
She REALLY hadn't thought this through.
How on Earth was she going to meet her grand-père? Scrunchy made valid points everywhere. Just because the angel wanted to see his demon granddaughter didn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't point his holy weapons at the others! But… Indigo needed to talk to him… without risking eviction.
"If I could meet him off the hotel grounds, I technically wouldn't be jeopardizing the hotel's safety…" Indigo pondered out loud. "But Angel Dust or Alastor would probably make sure I stay in my room. How do I meet him out of the hotel… without necessarily leaving the hotel?"
Scrunchy roamed around the room. Indigo was confused by the scorpion, who started looking through the shelves and drawers and under the furniture. "Scrunchy, what the heck are you doing?"
"Remember when you were seven and we played Alice in Wonderland?" Scrunchy looked behind the trophies.
"Not really." Indigo scratched behind her neck.
"Really? That was the night your dad went out of town to collect more books for the store. Mrs. Ruggiero was having another issue with her husband, so your dad offered to let her and her lover at the time stay over as long as they kept an eye on you. When they thought you were sleeping, we played Alice In Wonderland. You tried to find me, but you couldn't. I was the White Rabbit and you were Alice…"
"And I hope you have a point?"
"Mrs. Ruggiero went to check on you… right when ya doodled a door with a permanent marker! They couldn't clean it off and they didn't have paint to cover it, so they moved the furniture around! Claimed to your dad that it was to readjust your bedroom's Feng Shui." Scrunchy pointed around the room. "The Feng Shui organization of your room actually balanced out!"
"Scrunchy!" A couple of red admirals flew towards Scrunchy, but he effortlessly dodged the butterflies. "What's your point?"
The scorpion just walked over to the large bookshelf set where Indigo kept most of her books, DVDs, and action figures. Scrunchy unraveled his cravat, leaving it to move like a scorpion tail. The sting pierced the wood and dragged it. Pulling the bookshelf revealed what was hidden behind it.
A childish doodle of a door on the war. Drawn with permanent marker. Scrunchy's tail turned into a cravat again. Using a nearby pair of scissors, he cut over the black outlines and kicked on the wall.
The door suddenly opened. Indigo gasped and went to check it out. Butterflies followed her and glowed in the darkness so Indigo and Scrunchy could see what they were looking at. A small, red bricked tunnel stood before them.
"I… did not have that back home," Indigo stated.
"Nope. But then again…" Scrunchy noted the mountains of cobwebs forming large clumps in the tunnel. "Doesn't seem like anyone's been using those secret tunnels…"
Indigo cautiously put her foot into the tunnel. Once inside, she gagged. The tunnels DEFINETLY hadn't been used in ages. Their stench was worse than New York sewage water mixed with gravy, pepper, and cigarettes. Scrunchy morphed into a mask to let her breathe. The door closed behind her and a stone wall coated it. Indigo struggled to force it open, but to no avail.
The glow-in-the-dark butterflies moved ahead. All Indigo could was follow them. The further she walked, more pathways opened up. Many were marked with sigils. Some of the floor tiles were open. It made it easy for Indigo to dodge the exposed trapping pits but harder to digest the presence of fossilized skeletons in the pits.
Rusted Exterminator helmets and armor were hanging from the ceiling. Some rodents chewed on old bones.
The butterflies caused her to take numerous turns. She soon realized that after several minutes, she was getting stuck in dead ends and constantly walking in circles. As if trapped in a maze.
"How do I get out?" Indigo sighed. "Man… This would have been more exciting with Octavia…"
Indigo suddenly fell. She was quite certain that the stone floor was flat under her feet before an opening opened under her feet. She slid down the darkness and in circles. Scrunchy morphed into his regular form and slid downwards with her.
"WHERE THE HECK ARE WE GOING?" He shouted.
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW, YOU MORON?" Indigo shouted.
The slide was getting sootier the further they went. A light appeared. Indigo and Scrunchy fell, landing on something cushy before finally landing on the cold floor. Soot coated them and where their butts landed. Indigo coughed and raised her head.
To her horror, she found Octavia on her bed. The Ars Goetia quickly removed her earphones, the music on high volume, and sat up. She was shocked by the sudden presence of her friend and her friend's self-labeled 'lackey' in her room.
"Indigo?"
Indigo quickly looked behind her. The mirror slid down to hide the passage they had fallen from. She ran to lift the mirror up, but only found a wall behind it. "Oh, well that's just great!"
"Indigo, why are you and Scrunchy in my room?" Octavia got off her bed. "And why are you covered in soot?"
"How should I know? Blame this guy!" Indigo kept feeling the wall. "Where is it? Damn, you stupid secret tunnel!"
"Secret tunnel?"
"The boss found a network of secret tunnels within the hotel." Scrunchy dusted himself off until he was spotless. "We landed in your boudoir when she spoke of you. It seemed like the tunnels were unused for centuries. Wouldn't be surprised if Exterminators died down there…"
"Exterminators? Oh, you found the Apocatombs?"
Indigo and Scrunchy stared at Octavia. "The WHAT?"
Octavia gave Indigo a tissue box to wipe herself. As Indigo wiped herself clean, emptying the tissue box, Octavia used her magic to show a holographic map of an underground maze under each of the first six rings. "The Apocatombs. My dad told me all about it. Lucifer and Lilith first created them during the earliest centuries of Hell. Back then, the exterminators weren't as… selective about their preys. The Apocatombs were the ideal last-resort bunker for the nobility. If Exterminators got too close to catching them, the nobility would use their seals to create an opening for them, and the Apocatombs would guide them to their desired destination while changing the paths behind them. While they fled to safety, the Exterminators would die, lost in the maze."
"I guess that makes sense…" Indigo frowned. "But… the Apocatombs looked unused. It smelled horrible." She wrinkled.
"Yeah, well, the Exterminators got less picky. Now all they kill are low-ranked demons or Overlords who get unlucky. The nobility gets to survive scot-free… and the few lower classes who got really lucky. They just stopped using the Apocatombs that often, so Lucifer and Lilith sealed them off and took away the nobility's capacity to access them… How'd you even find them?"
Before Indigo could answer, screaming echoed from the hallways. "FIRST THAT IMP, AND NOW YOU'RE LETTING OUR DAUGHTER ASSOCIATE WITH FILTHY SINNERS?"
"Is that your mom?" Indigo asked nervously.
"She dropped me off… And she and my dad have been arguing over who I've been 'associating with'." Sweat poured down Octavia's face. "I gotta get you out of here!"
"If only we could hide back in the Apocatombs!"
In her panic, Indigo didn't notice that the floor suddenly popped open under her, Octavia, and Scrunchy. The aristocrats and servants didn't even realize that two teenagers and one living plushie had fallen into yet another dark corridor. The trapdoor suddenly shut above them. Glow-in-the-dark butterflies flew out of Indigo's hair to light the way.
"Octavia! Are you OK?" Indigo helped her up. The Ars Goetia princess was coated in soot. Indigo noticed that Scrunchy was still in his regular shape. "How come you didn't morph into a mask?"
"This tunnel is a lot less smelly than the one we got into from the hotel." Scrunchy sniffed the air. "Smells a lot like… candle ashes?"
"Probably my dad…" Octavia coughed.
"I'm so sorry, Octavia! I didn't mean…"
Octavia shushed Indigo by placing a finger on Indigo's lips. She felt the cold, delicate texture coming from the avian skin. Feeling it reminded Indigo of the talons of a bird of prey. Except she wasn't intimidated by the bird of prey before her.
With her spare hand, Octavia summoned the map of the Apocatombs. "OK. So, my dad explained to me that the demons with direct access to these tunnels can summon them from anywhere. Probably because they've been sealed off for such a long time, they automatically accepted the first demon that opened them. Since you did that… you can automatically summon them to take you anywhere you want in Hell." By further filtering the map, they could see that the tunnels could move as they please, but they still had to form the shape of six pentagrams floating on top of one another. "My dad said that the main focus of the Apocatombs was the main bunker at the very center of the pentagrams. Aside from seals creating random openings, the nobles could also directly go into the tunnels through gates spread out throughout the rings. Since we're in the Pride Ring, ten gates would be spread out based on the Pentagram."
"So, if we find the gates, we position the bunker…" Scrunchy said.
"And I can get back to the hotel!" Indigo pulled out a piece of paper and pencil from her hair. She started sketching a circled Pentagram on the paper. "OK, so right now, we're technically under Runesville, which is southward."
"Yes." Octavia knelt down and pointed at the Pentagram's bottom left side. "We must be near points 5, 9, and 10."
"Technically speaking we're in the Wrath Sector…" Indigo got up and cleared her voice. "I want a direct path to point #10!"
The stones on the walls and floors shifted. Scrunchy morphed into a brooch to pin himself on Indigo. Octavia hung on to Indigo. The cement keeping the stones together turned into a volcanic orange hue. The stones finally formed a single tunnel leading onward. The girls looked at each other and walked forward. Sure enough, the more they walk, the more it smelled like ashes and heat. Eruptions could be heard from above.
When the tunnel ended, they found a ladder leading to a manhole lid. The same kind of lid they used the block the sewers' access from the public. Indigo rolled up her sleeves and climbed up. Octavia's eyes were fixed on her in apprehension. Indigo pushed the manhole open…
A field lied out before her. Orange trees and vanilla orchids framed a garden. By a mansion, some demonesses were playing croquet while enjoying afternoon tea.
Indigo covered the opening and rushed back down. "It's Rosie's mansion! One of the gates is her property!"
Octavia jotted that down on the sketch. "I'm not surprised. Before the Radio Demon came, a lot of Overlords took over the lands previously owned by heirless nobles if they were exterminated or executed. I think the noble who previously owned that turf died during one of the Exterminations following the American Civil War." Octavia got up, a pinch of excitement appearing on her lips. "Why don't we try… going directly to point #2?"
"I want to go directly up to point #3?" Indigo called up to the air. The stones flipped again, but rather than creating a new tunnel, they floated and aligned. A serpentine staircase appeared. Octavia and Indigo smiled at each other and quickly walked up. Each step they took turned the stones lime green. Another manhole appeared before them. Octavia took the honor of lifting it open. They peaked outside and were met by a red sky coated with lime green clouds showering gold. Demons were fighting and mauling each other to gain first pickings of the money falling from the sky. The area they were was an urban landscape of skyscrapers that combined modernization and traditional architecture from the Qing dynasty and the Swiss Renaissance. Well, for the business and banking skyscrapers, evidently. All the commoner buildings such as the apartments, cafés, and schools were either torn down or boarded up.
"Looks like the Greed Sector," Indigo whistled.
Octavia whistled. "Mammon's Banking District. They got one in all the Rings' Greed Sectors excluding Envy. The one place where capitalism is so bad, the housing is horrible!"
This became too fun for them. Soon, Indigo started saying what points they wanted to be taken. The Apocatombs constantly created colorful paths that went downward in slides, zig-zagged, upwards in stairs, or even rapidly took them like a conveyer belt. Each manhole took them to quick stops all over the Pride Ring.
Point #1 was Asmodeus' Love Hotel in the Lust Sector. Apparently, only people planning to 'serve' the sin himself during his diplomatic trips could check in. Nearly all the buildings surrounding the hotel were strip clubs, sex toy shops, aphrodisiac vending machines, and parks for orgies. The two asexual teens closed the manhole as soon as they opened it.
Point #3 was Morpheusville. A small city with 16,000 sinners that did nothing but sleep. The roads were made of pillows, all occupied by snoring sinners. Under the red sky with little pink clouds, Hellborns were angrily working, dragging carts filled with plants and flowers to small factories. Octavia quickly explained that since Sloth was responsible for drug-making in Hell, they were in high demand in Hell, but only Hellborns could actually manufacture the drugs. All sinners living in the Sloth Sector slept.
Point #8 was Indigo's room. They didn't bother staying long.
Point #5 led back to Runesville, specifically right across the street from the neighborhood's Stylish Occult, exciting Octavia.
Octavia freaked out when they looked at Point #9. The red clouds hinted that they were in none of the six sectors. It was a pitch black forest unfamiliar to Indigo, but at an altitude where they could see Pentagram City from above. Just 20 feet away from the castle stood a large gothic castle. Feline and amphibian gargoyles decorated the wall surrounding the castle, bearing their scary mouths at the empty pathway as if to scare any newcomers. Transparent figures flew above the wall and dropped off demons desperately begging to be saved. Octavia quickly pushed Indigo back in the Apocatombs and closed the manhole.
"What was that?"
"B… B… Bael's castle…" Octavia choked out a pellet ball.
"Uh… Who?"
"Bael, Indigo!" Octavia freaked out. "He's the apex of the Ars Goetia! The highest ranking! The #1 King! Despite Hell's hierarchy, he's the only one that can wet Asmodeus' pants out of shitty fear!" She shook Indigo by the shoulders. "NEVER use that point! That tawny frogmouth demon is scary! If he asked for your execution, my dad and I could do nothing about it!"
"OK! OK! I get it! We won't use that point!" Indigo exclaimed. Octavia stopped shaking her and they went on.
Point #6 appeared to be in the Gluttony Sector. Unlike the other urban points, this one was in a vast field. Demons were eagerly waiting around a building-sized altar fashioned in ancient Mayan architecture. A beam from the sky and landed on the altar. When a confused human looked around, the last look on their eyes was that of horror when the demons instantly crawled up the altar. Indigo's eyes widened. Octavia quickly closed the manhole. They didn't need to see the demons devour the human sacrifice.
Point #7 led them to the Envy District of Pentagram City.
It was the first time that Indigo ever saw the Envy District. High-quality businesses and shops filled the perfectly flat streets. Fancy cars with silvery decorations drove by, causing any passerby to get vicious heart attacks. Though the sky was clear, thundering sounds echoed constantly. Despite the luxurious living, people were fighting with one another. One nearby teenager even murdered a random jewelry clerk without even stealing anything.
Hearts were filled with envy. Indigo licked her lips.
The manhole was in an alley. Across the street from the manhole was an electric fence surrounding a plain field of black grass. Towering the field was the most Neo-Futuristic tower Indigo had ever since. It was like the Space Needle was being constricted by large cables rooted into the earth. The lights coming from the windows were electric blue, not quite with the vibrance of man-made electricity but with that of lightning bolts. Thousands of antennae stood on top of the tower, sparking soundwaves and bolts into the sky.
"Vox's private tower…" Octavia said sourly.
"That's where Alastor's rival lives?" Indigo asked.
"Yeah… I ought to give Vox a piece of…"
Octavia stopped.
Indigo had slipped out of the manhole. Octavia followed her, wondering why her friend had gone out of the Apocatombs.
Then she saw it.
Two demons brawling. One was a boa demon while the other was a Hellborn djinn. Knowing the district they were in, they had to be arguing about something one was envious about the other. The djinn was taunting the boa for their envy.
Indigo directly walked towards them, not fast nor slow. Octavia thought Indigo was going to calm them down.
Then she remembered that Indigo was a sin-devourer.
Indigo grabbed the boa's mouth and forced it open. They wailed in agony as she pulled their upper lips upward and the lower lips downward. The boa demon screamed in agony, failing to hit her with their tail. The djinn demon was cheering as if this was fun.
Indigo was expressionless.
"INDIGO! STOP!" Octavia grabbed her from behind. Indigo didn't budge. She was more frigid than an iceberg. She kept pulling on the serpentine demon's mouth. "INDIGO! STOP IT!"
"Why? It's so fun!" The djinn squealed.
"Mind your own business!" Octavia snapped.
"But it's so fun!" The djinn demon exclaimed. "What's more fun than the torture of an envious sinner?"
An envious sinner?
Octavia cursed herself.
She should have known better! She didn't even think to ask if Indigo had eaten her daily dose of envy. They were in the Envy District. Envious demons ran everywhere. For Indigo, who hadn't eaten any envy yet, it was a buffet for her.
Octavia snapped her fingers. The boa demon shrunk to the size of a shoe. Indigo snapped out of her hungry trance. "W… What?"
Without giving her the time to blink, Octavia grabbed the shrunken boa demon and tossed it into her mouth. The djinn demon clapped in excitement.
"That was so awesome!"
"GET LOST!" Octavia screeched, her voice deepening to that of 36 angry owls. Her purplish-blue aura rose from her feathers in anger. The djinn demon quickly bowed and ran off. Or, as it was a djinn, turned into a pack of smoke that slithered away.
"O… Octavia?" Indigo asked in horror. "W… what did I do?"
Octavia saw the tears. Indigo already had the feeling of what she had done. She just asked in the hopes that Octavia would say otherwise… Octavia just hugged. Caterpillar eggs fell behind her. Indigo was crying over her shoulders.
The Ars Goetia then noticed the nearby ice cream shop.
Minutes later
HateMen-Dazs was Hell's version of Haagen-Dazs, but with the ironic twist that it was a women-only company. Really envious women who had great grudges on the males who disrespected them and took pleasure in their misery rather than that of the whores the males cheated their wives with. The pure irony for the company of where 'the best cold dishes are served'? For an ice cream company where only women were employed, they still had enough decency to be welcoming to effeminate men and diverse enough to hire trans females.
There were times when Indigo SERIOUSLY forgot that she was in Hell.
"OK! One Vanilla Sesame Guillotine Gourmet and One Mega Red Devil Strawberry Bathory Beauty with Chocolate Fudge and Blood Cherries!" Wen, their HateMen-Dazs waitress, brought forth the orders the girls had placed. Octavia gave her a small nod of gratitude. Indigo, meanwhile, had her face pressed against the booth table's surface. She didn't even lift her face when Wen put her Bathory Beauty bowl near her.
"Aw, what bitchy man hurt ya, sugar?" The Asian water monitor demon asked.
"I hurt myself…" Indigo's muffled voice groaned.
Octavia looked sadly at her friend.
"Well, here at HateMen-Dazs, we turn your self-hurting smiles upside down so you can self-indulge and plan to kill the guys you hate later." Wen inconsiderately pulled Indigo by her shirt's collar, forcing her to sit upright. Indigo glared at her. "Most men are morons. That's why they all end up here."
"Not all women go to Heaven." Octavia took a bite of her Vanilla Sesame Guillotine Gourmet.
"Of course not. Just the conforming, pushover, hopeless high school virgins, make-your-daddy proud broads." Wen flicked her tail.
"You think that's why I'm in Hell?" Indigo was getting frustrated. Red admirals were threatening to fly out.
"Girl, focus less on the bastards who think you're underserving." Wen pointed at her. "YOU deserve yourself. Any testosterone-filled bitch who tells you otherwise is gonna get exterminated first. Live YOUR own mojo, girl! And enjoy your order!"
Wen winked at them and headed back to work.
Indigo looked at Octavia. "I can't believe I got a pep talk from a lizard in an ice cream shop owned by non-TERF radical demonesses. Why is my afterlife so insane?"
"I… really don't know how to answer that," Octavia admitted. She watched Indigo lethargically grab her spoon, sink it into her Mega Red Devil Strawberry Bathory Beauty with Chocolate Fudge and Blood Cherries, and shove it into her mouth. Indigo's eyes widened… And Octavia was treated to the scene of Indigo rapidly eating through the scoops three times the size of her own head. She wasn't even relishing it. Indigo was eating like she hadn't eaten in three decades.
It wasn't like when Angel Dust gave them panna cotta. Indigo really enjoyed that dish. Octavia knew that butterfly and other pollinator demons went gaga for nectars and berries. But then again… They were in the Envy District. Leviathan would only tolerate the most envious things in anything he and his family had on their turfs. It probably included all the ingredients in the ice cream she and Indigo were eating. Perhaps the most envious sugar, the most envious cherries, the…
Indigo had finished her bowl. Not a single cherry pit or drop of fudge was left. She had licked it clean.
To test her theory, Octavia pushed her Vanilla Sesame Guillotine Gourmet forward. "You can finish that, if you want…"
"Isn't that what you ordered?" Indigo frowned.
"Please? Eat it?" Octavia begged.
What she saw next frightened her. For the first time, Octavia was afraid of something other than losing her father. Her friend… Her closest friend… Indigo's eyes stared desperately at the ice cream bowl. Octavia could see the flashes of purple in her eyes. When Indigo reached her hand out, her spare one grabbed her wrist.
The hunger was in her eyes, but Indigo was forcing herself to not touch it.
Indigo REALLY wanted to eat envy… but she tried to fight herself to not do it. Not in front of Octavia.
The other people in the store didn't even bother staring at them, thinking of their own conversations and personal problems. They didn't notice Octavia opening a portal and dragging Indigo in it.
"Octavia…" Indigo choked. "I'm so sorry…"
The Ars Goetia pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her friend's tear. "I know…"
The tear on her handkerchief turned into a caterpillar egg hatching into a gaudy commodore. Octavia chuckled at the sight of the butterfly.
She guided Indigo to sit on the nearby chair before the former started searching through the cabinets.
"Where are we?" Indigo asked.
"Back at my home. My dad's little clinic's full of homemade herbal concoctions… bingo!" She found the jar of purple kelp soaking in bioluminescent fluid. She took out a leaf and forced into Indigo's mouth. Indigo immediately tried to spit it out.
"Eh!" She gagged. "What is that? It's so… Eh!"
"Colchis Kelp." Octavia forced Indigo to keep eating the leaf. "The one plant that my dad has that comes directly from the Envy Ring. It's ironically a medicinal herb…"
Indigo, all grossed out, chewed the foul-tasting kelp leaf and swallowed it. To Octavia's relief, Indigo's blue skin started warming up and Indigo breathed in relaxation. "Hey… I feel better…"
Octavia corked the jar and hid it in her shawl. "I guess flesh and plants directly imported from the Envy Ring have a soothing effect on your hunger than general envy. Maybe I can come up with some kind of elixir or pill to satiate your hunger…"
"Octavia, don't." Indigo held her hand. "I don't want to inconvenience you!"
"You aren't…" Octavia cupped Indigo's hand with all her fingers. "I WANT to help you! I… I don't know why, but I want to."
Octavia felt her cheeks warming.
The clinic door slammed open. Octavia let go of Indigo and put herself in front of her.
It didn't stop the vile beast she had for a mother to spot the sinner behind her. She threw Octavia aside, causing Octavia to crash onto a shelf of empty vials.
"WORTHLESS… SINNER… GARBAGE!" Stella Goetia lifted Indigo in the air by grabbing her T-shirt's collar. Indigo was startled and unable to react… until the swan demoness noble started strangling her.
"Mom! Stop!" Octavia grabbed onto her mother's arm, anger fueling her. "Let her go!"
"YOU'RE AN EVEN BIGGER DISGRACE THAN YOUR FATHER!" Stella shoved her daughter, kicking her aside.
"OK…" Vapor escaped through Indigo's teeth. "NOW… I am FUCKING PISSED!"
Octavia couldn't believe it.
Indigo straight up BIT her mother on the arm. And she contended with ripping apart some flesh.
Octavia couldn't believe it.
Indigo had sinned…
The Radio Demon must have really rubbed off on the young demoness.
Indigo… was willingly attacking violently… to protect Octavia. Again.
Stella Goetia refused to give up despite releasing the smaller sinner, but Indigo refused to indulge her. The bite exposed Stella Goetia's bone. Indigo grabbed Stella by the neck and pinned her against the wall. Her spare hands' fingers prolonged and grew sharp nails. Her bleeding fist savagely beat Stella Goetia. Frost grew on the floor Indigo stood on while vapor escaped through her teeth.
"YOU… do no… hurt… OCTAVIA… IN… FRONT… OF… ME!"
Octavia could have stopped Indigo from beating her mother. She could have…
But…
There was something just… fantastic…
Why was it so beautiful when Indigo mercilessly beat up somebody of a higher rank? Stella now seemed… powerless, compared to Indigo.
Someone put his hand on Indigo's head.
"I think you're done teaching Stella, little one."
Octavia recognized that male voice.
Indigo let go of Stella. The swan demoness noble desperately gasped. She'd never met a lowlife peasant who could almost kill her with her bare hands.
The newcomer stopped touching a calmed down Indigo who had no look of regret. He bowed before her and looked over to Octavia.
"Well done, Octavia. You have better tastes than your father."
Great, Octavia grumbled mentally. Grandpa Paimon…