I immediately revised my impression of the Eighth Demon Prince.

I was now, in fact, a little terrified of him.

Because when he spoke, his voice washed over us with such pulverizing pressure that it felt like we were standing under a waterfall.

I had to make an effort not to cave under the weight and sag to the ground.

If his mere voice held so much power, I didn't even want to imagine what he himself might be capable of.

I glanced at my companions. Their pale faces, sweat-slicked foreheads, and pained expressions told me they had reached the same conclusion as me.

This might be a battle way out of our league.

…Thankfully, we weren't going in with the intention to win.

All we had to do was get past him.

If we could just manage that, then I'd consider that a victory in itself.

So we started moving.

I mean… Michael and Alexia did.

I followed a step behind with slight reluctance, weighing my options. Did we really need to fight a Demonic Beast to get out of here?

Why did we want to get out anyway?

We could just live the rest of our lives here in a pretty little hut, or something like that!

But then I considered, really considered, the idea of spending the rest of my life in the exasperating company of these fools…

And immediately decided that facing potential death was much better than that miserable fate.

So with careful steps down the slope of the caldera, our boots disturbing the shallow lilac water and stepping over those slick heather-like flowers, we began descending into the basin.

Every step closer to that demon made the weight on us even heavier.

His spiritual pressure was like an authority. Like the world wasn't asking us to kneel before him, because that was already expected. Like gravity decided, on a whim, that we were not allowed to stand upright.

When we were close enough that I had to crane my neck to meet his smoldering gaze, he finally spoke again.

"Ah! Young children. Have your protectors sent you all here to me as offerings?" The slit of his mouth was far too wide. So when his lips curved up, it would've been a smile, if not for how wrong it looked on his face. "Touching as that notion may be… I find it difficult to believe they would be so generous."

The pressure intensified.

But not explosively. No, that would have been merciful. It increased gradually, inexorably, like a tightening vise.

Luckily, we were already getting used to it.

Unluckily, Vaeghar took a step forward, as if to show he wasn't as restrained as I'd liked him to.

I stiffened. Damn it.

The lilac water parted around his foot in a perfect circle. Let me be clear. It didn't splash or ripple, it simply moved aside, as if Vaeghar's entire body was encased in an invisible force field.

And it was. The very air surrounding him was trembling, vibrating… distorting.

"I smell intent upon thee. I smell… necessity," he went on as I realized that his voice, underneath all that oppressive weight, was so rich and smooth and charmingly deep. "Oh, I do love necessity! It drives feeble mortals to such witless choices. To trespass where they ought not tread and bare their throats to me."

Juliana shifted beside me, undoubtedly as uncomfortable as I was.

To my right, I noticed Alexia had already begun using her powers to not only stabilize her footing, but also to throw the first punch as soon as an opening appeared.

God, she really never missed a chance to throw hands.

Vince, I noted, had gone completely still… way too still, like he did when he was thinking five steps ahead and none of them were pleasant.

"We aren't here to fight you," Michael spoke up, his voice steady through sheer force of will. "We only wish to pass."

Vaeghar laughed, sounding neither loud nor cruel, only amused.

"Pass?" he echoed, as if tasting how ridiculous the word sounded against his tongue. "Through me?"

Then he leaned down slightly, bringing his face closer to ours.

I felt intense heat oozing off from him that, even though it wasn't physical, made my skin prickle like I'd stepped too close to a furnace.

"Foolish child," he said to Michael, "if passage were so easily granted, then fate wouldn't have put me in your path."

His gaze drifted across the group once more, slowly this time.

Lily flinched when it lingered on her. Ray held his ground with a clenched jaw. And Kang's eyes were nothing if not defiant.

To his credit, even Kevin puffed himself up indignantly, which might have been brave if it wasn't also deeply stupid.

Vaeghar looked at our pet bird with visible confusion, then decided it wasn't important and finally dropped his gaze onto the last two people of the group — Alexia and me.

He straightened, looking curious. If he had eyebrows, I'd imagine one of them would be raised right now.

"You two," he said to us, his voice lowering and the weight of it thickening like tar, "look familiar. What is your name?"

I was about to give him some stupid alias. Why would I give a demon my real name, when I'm the relative of one of the people who sealed him here, right?

That was common sense.

But as I soon found out, common sense wasn't so common.

"He's Samael Kaizer Theosbane, and I'm Alexia Von Zynx!" Alexia declared even on my behalf.

I wanted to bash my head against the nearest rock.

Vaeghar tilted his head as his smoldering eyes bore into me and Alexia in tandem. Then he smiled again.

"The descendants of the ones who imprisoned me? Interesting," he scoffed at Alexia, then completely ignored her and turned to me. "Theosbane, huh? Your father was strong enough to warrant my respect. Are you even half the man he was, child?"

He took another step closer, this time specifically toward me. And despite wanting to put some distance between us, I found myself unable to move back.

"Because if you are," he looked straight down into my eyes, "I'll grant you the honor of becoming my vessel."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.