Chapter 40: Dark vs Holy

Defeat the goddess. Return to his world. Regain his memory or at least the part that had been lost. That had been the plan all along. The only reason he had ventured into hell.

But now?

The fact he had learned and experiences he had had started to mix into a dangerous cocktail inside his mind as the demon looked at him with an expression of blissfully unaware curiosity.

Shizuo was the demon lord he had sought all along. He was without doubt strong, but strong enough to fight the goddess?

Without dying?

The demon from before had already come too close to his liking and his guts clenched at the idea of what facing that monster of a goddess might bring.

"So?"

Izaya had remained quiet for much longer than should be needed for such a question and the way Shizuo seemed all too eager to learn his new role in Izaya's life made him feel appalled to ask.

There were not enough options to choose from. Once Shizuo learned about the goddess he would face her, no matter the outcome- but if he didn't tell him then what was he supposed to do?

If even the demon lord wasn't able to defeat the goddess then no one could.

It was hard.

But he had to make a decision.

With or without his memories, once she was dead there was undoubtedly a chance he could return to his old world.

… but what if not?

What if she was dead and Shizuo died with her and Izaya ended up alone?

It was the worst case scenario Izaya could think of.

But it was an option.

The past few days, spent with the demon, were they really all that bad?

The hole that had unfolded in his stomach upon waking in this world hadn't magically closed, but it had started to fill itself with new memories. With new connections.

Or old connections?

Considering how he seemed to know Shizuo from a different life, was it really a new relationship he was starting to build? Or was he rediscovering what he already had?

Looking at the demon in front of him, so terribly innocent to this impossible quest Izaya couldn't help but feel the reluctance to win.

He was here right now. He was arguably at peace for the moment. With goals in mind and riddles to solve.

Going back to his old life… was it even an option anymore?

An eternity had passed when Izaya's lips finally moved and Shizuo released the breath he had held.

"... say what are the downsides of staying in hell?"

Only to remain speechless himself.

Staying?

Looking at Izaya he searched for some kind of joke or hidden insult. Maybe he was supposed to deduce what it was that Izaya had come looking for the demon lord for. But no such hints seemed to make up his expression and so his lips remained sealed.

If this was no pun then-

"You mean like side effects?" Shizuo tried, unsure what this conversation would lead to. It seemed unreal, or at least not like what he had expected Izaya to ask.

A simple shrug was all that followed and Izaya circled to the curtain hiding the masses of demons.

"Yeah, am I going to die at some point despite your blood? What do I have to expect?" he asked while glancing past the curtain and into the hall.

The demons from before were chattering quietly amongst themselves. Some amused, some absolutely outraged by their new election.

"None of that. My blood is circulating in your veins and acting as a shield from the poison around you," Shizuo explained and Izaya's eyes trailed to his wrist.

He still remembered them. The maggots. Those harbingers of hell that almost took his life because of a misconception brought by humans.

"Meaning?"

Shizuo all but shrugged. "As long as I don't die you have nothing to fear."

"And you can't die," Izaya concluded quickly, forcing a confident smile upon the demon lord's expression.

"At least not easily."

Again silence prevailed and Shizuo let it be.

He could see it. The way Izaya was wrecking his head about his words.

His question had been an easy one, but it seemed he had triggered a lot more room for thought than expected.

"Is this connected to your request that only the demon lord himself can take up?" he whispered softly, almost as if afraid to break some kind of conclusion that Izaya was slowly coming to.

A sigh followed, and for a second he seemed to hesitate before shaking his head with a smile.

"You know what, you already solved my problem."

Shizuo blinked, mildly confused. He was looking for a joke or a pun he had failed to notice, but surprisingly enough Izaya's expression showed only honesty.

He was serious.

But- how?

"What did I do?" Shizuo asked, hoping his favourite human inside hell was going to file him in, but his answer only seemed that much more confusing as she shrugged.

"I'm just going to stay here."

Light as sunlight and barely affected by an answer that should be concerning.

"Here?" Shizuo repeated, "... inside hell?" He was still searching for the error on his part. A misunderstanding perhaps. But looking at Izaya he quickly realized that he was dead serious.

He. A human. Wanted to stay in hell.

"Why?" The question came as no surprise and so Izaya's answer was quickly given and just as ambiguous and evasive as Shizuo had feared.

"Reasons?"

Of course.

Ever since he found this human he had been full of secrets not willing to let go of any of them easily. Why should that be about to change?

And yet…

His reason for staying here- somehow Shizuo couldn't help but feel a kind of warmth fill his chest.

Wasn't it him? The time they spent together hadn't been the longest but their bond still seemed to grow exponentially by every moment that passed.

But no matter whether his hunch was right or wrong, fact was that Izaya had suggested staying inside hell. A place that was most definitely not made for humans.

"... you are going to have a hard time surviving here," Shizuo mumbled carefully as he thought about future problems that might arise with such an idea.

But all Izaya had to offer was a confident grin.

"Now who was boasting about being undefeatable?"

Snorting softly, Shizuo took the compliment as the bait that it was.

"Are you telling me you want to stick around me forever?"

"Have I been a burden so far?"

Of course not. He wasn't going to let any third rate demon harm Izaya as long as he was close by and Izaya was aware of that.

And yet-

Eyes turning soft he pulled the curtain close and guided Izaya's chin away from the hall.

"Who says my service comes for free?" he whispered. Alluring in a way. Spiked with many answers. Izaya was aware of it the second he did. He was offering a multiple choice question with no wrong answers.

There were a lot to choose from because Shizuo himself didn't dislike the idea and so Izaya grinned in mild anticipation.

"I'm willing to pay any price you have in mind."

The perplexion on Shizuo's face was worth the insinuation as well as the groan of defeat that followed from the demon.

"You are going to be the end of me."

Izaya merely grinned at that. "I know," and nodded over towards the hall filled with demons. "Now tell me, what is it that demons do all day down here?"

He was looking for a purpose. A new goal replacing his old one, at least for the time being.

"You are serious aren't you?" Shizuo asked and Izaya grinned.

"Whenever have I not been?"

Shizuo sighed in a short moment of contemplation. The issue was not what demons were doing all day in hell, but rather what problems would arise for a human on a daily basis.

"If staying here is really your wish then you need to learn to defend yourself," Shizuo mumbled aloud, but more to himself than to Izaya.

Surprise reflected on Izaya's expression as he understood the words as calls for combat. "Are you telling me a human can beat demons?"

And it seemed he was right as Shizuo nodded.

"Under the right circumstances."

The right circumstances?

Thinking back to the fight he had witnessed closer than he liked he searched for ways he could have helped. His strength was laughable. So was his speed. And he possessed neither a breath of fire, nor wings.

If all of that were no options then there was only one option left to learn.

"Are you going to teach me holy magic?" Shizuo had used it to heal him. Had casted a spell or something alike in order to protect him during intercourse as well.

A shield, or an offensive power struck him as the only source of power he could draw from.

But to his surprise Shizuo shook his head.

"Sorry, I can't teach you anything that I can't use well." Couldn't use well? Izaya blinked, surprised, at what Shizuo described as bad usage until he continued. "But dark magic is a different matter."

Vivid memories of fairy tales and stories revolving around the abuse of dark magic and prices to be paid for doing so resurfaced from Izaya's mind.

"I thought dark magic always comes at a price? It's more powerful than holy magic for a reason right?" he asked, but Shizuo shook his head.

"Anything used without knowledge is dangerous. Imagine handling a poison and not knowing that inhaling it is just as toxic as swallowing it."

Heh?

"You mean there is a way to get around the side effects?" Izaya quickly concluded, but it seemed he was wrong yet again.

"There are no side effects, humans have just been using it wrong for the longest time. Think about it, holy magic doesn't come with a price does it? Why would one power be useful while the other would kill you? Just because it's a darker shade of color? Doesn't make sense to me."

Right.

Looking at it like that, Izaya also saw no downside to either of them.

"Holy magic uses the surrounding particles in the human realm as source. Humans live there and are surrounded by it at all times, that's why there is no downside to holy magic," Shizuo continued. "Similarly dark magic uses the surrounding particles in hell. The same principle applies here. But if you exchange the two- let's say, you cast holy magic in hell, or cast dark magic in the human realm, the spell searches for the closest supply of life."

Ah.

"It drains your life," Izaya concluded, and suddenly it made so much sense why Shizuo had appeared so pale after using the healing spell on his freezing body.

"The holy magic you used before-" he remembered and Shizuo laughed quickly as he sensed an oncoming wave of concern.

"I can withstand a little bit without dropping dead, don't you worry."

He called that a little bit?

As far as Izaya was aware, the water almost killed him. So basically Shizuo saved his life with the usage of holy magic.

Wait.

Holy magic.

The definition of holy entities in this world still seemed awfully off to Izaya as the goddess looked more like a demon than most demons did, but at the end of the day wasn't she using those exact same powers?

If holy magic was only easily used outside of hell, then was this the reason she had not come looking for Izaya?

Because she held no power here?

"... so if I were to use dark magic in the human realm I would eventually die, right?" Izaya repeated in an attempt to grasp the extent of what Shizuo's explanation had meant.

To his surprise, however, he shook his head.

"Not if you carry enough of hell in you. Like my blood," the demon pointed out and Izaya looked at his arm. The maggots that had traversed his veins had disappeared after Shizuo forcefully fed him some.

And with Shizuo's blood inside his veins serving as a conductor-

"... I would drain you instead of myself?" Izaya concluded and Shizuo laughed.

"I would hardly call anything you can do draining," he announced, but nodded nonetheless to confirm Izaya's idea.

"... So I'm practically linked to you," Izaya concluded aloud.

"Link?"

"We share an invisible bond," Izaya quickly explained and Shizuo hummed as he contemplated Izaya's description.

"I guess you could say that, yeah."

Funny.

Izaya couldn't quite help but suppress a quick snort. For some reason this entire topic reminded him too much of electronics. Of the internet and bluetooth. He felt like a mouse, connected to the grand broad of dark magic only due to Shizuo offering an adapter to connect to the system.

"Alright, what is it that I can do with dark magic?" he asked as he chased away the silly image.

Tilting his head upwards Shizuo hummed for a second as he tried to give an answer.

"You can do anything you can with holy magic except one thing," he said slowly, "Healing. Dark magic is destruction. In essence. Holy magic on the other side is construction. When it comes to injuries you are able to clear poison with the help of dark magic by annihilating it, but when it comes to actually treating torn flesh and bones, subtraction won't help."

Made sense.

At least from what Shizuo had told him so far. And also his combined knowledge from his earlier life seemed to speak in favor of Shizuo's explanation.

"And if I were to heal myself with holy magic inside hell it would drain my own life because of the lack of holy air and therefore kill me faster than it would help, correct?" Izaya concluded and Shizuo snorted upon the way he labeled their surroundings as holy air. "Now we have come full circle."

"That explains a lot," Izaya whispered absentmindedly and looked at the inside of his palm. The markings he had left there had vanished, but he still remembered the patterns he had drawn. "I tried healing myself with a spell I read when I noticed I was suffering in hells atmosphere. But it backfired. I thought I was just too clumsy to use it right."

Taking a step forward Shizuo grasped Izaya's hand with no warning and looked at it as though he was going to be able to revisit Izaya's attempt.

"Might have been a mixture of both. Most spells are spoken wrong by humans and either end up working poorly or not at all," he mumbled under his breath.

True, what Shizuo had spoken earlier had sounded nothing like the latin Izaya had read in the library.

It didn't even sound like a language at all.

It was then that the curtain to the hall shifted by none of their means and the shapes of demons glided past the fabrics.

Startled by their appearance, Izaya flinched and Shizuo quickly shoved him behind his back.

Heads of various sized, jaws spike with gruesome teeth and angry expressions settled upon the two as one of them stepped forwards with a voice made to torture.

"My lord, we have come to devote ourselves to you."

to be continued~

Demon lord business is catching up quick to Shizuo xD

Now, now, what will they do? And most importantly- staying in hell? Is that a good idea, Izaya? C: xD Riddles are about to be found and solved quicker than some might think xD

Sorry for missing last week's update btw! I was actually in hospital cuz of influenza xD I swear if I get sick even one more time this year I'm going to call the bastard that reincarnated me into this world and ask for a refund lmao xD