For nearly an hour, Demonkin continued to pass through the portal. From my little window, I was able to watch the entire process from beginning to end. The strongest of the creatures passed through in the beginning while the weaker ones were forced to wait their turn. With every passing minute, the portal became more and more unstable. The casualties increased in turn. By the end of the hour, more than half of all the Demonkin that passed through the portal were injured or dead. I watched with curiosity as the mountain of corpses continued to grow. It proved how little the Demons cared about the Demonkin that even a fifty percent chance of death was not enough to dissuade their invasion.

“My count might be off a bit but I think you have killed more Demonkin in the past hour than my army has in the last month,” I remarked with a casual glance at the Demon Abigor.

The Demon was leaning against the nearby wall with his arms crossed. His hands constantly twitched, clenching into fists again and again. My nonstop comments over the past hour had annoyed the Demon to no end. If it wasn’t for Andras’s command, there was little doubt he would have already charged into my prison cell.

“Weaklings can always be replaced,” Abigor said with a scoff.

“But not you, right?” I replied with a smirk. The Demon narrowed his eyes. His silence bloodlust was more threatening than any words but I pretended not to notice it.

Outside the window, the two Demons struggled to keep the new arrivals under control. It was easier for them now that the Demonkin passing through the portal were weaker but it was still a time-consuming effort for them. By my estimations, the two of them would have to spend the entirety of the day before all the Demonkin were one cohesive army.

An entire day I could spend, sowing doubt into the mind of my guard. Even if he knew what I was doing, it did not mean my words would have no effect. The Demons were not the only ones capable of creating chaos.

Ultimately, all Demons were creatures driven by a singular obsession. Ambition, fear, pride, desire, I just had to pinpoint where this Demon’s weakness laid and exploit it.

Despite Abigor’s annoyance at my sly remarks, I could tell he was really frustrated about something else. Most likely it was being forced to stay here and watched me while the others took control of the army. Whenever I let silence fall in the little prison, his eyes would drift to the window and he would start to fidget restlessly.

“Just out of curiosity, where is Seir, the teleporter Demon?” I asked, “Did he ever return after his little secret was exposed?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care,” Abigor replied gruffly.

“Aww, don’t be like that. You are going to be stuck here watching me for hours. What else is there to do but talk to pass the time?”

“I can think of a few things,” Abigor replied. A dangerous glint of red flashed across his eyes as his gaze shifted to me.

I once again ignored the dangerous bloodthirst radiating from the man by shifting my injured leg. The pain kept my mind focused on the task at hand and away from my own dark thoughts and doubts.

“Did you know Seir was an agent of Gluttony? It must have been quite a shock to learn that one of your closest allies was actually an enemy. Out of all the Demons that remain, Gluttony has a pretty good chance of becoming the next Archdemon. I wonder if he is planning on making his move against Envy soon. You know, eliminating the weakest competitor first.”

Abigor shifted uncomfortably. His gaze returned to the view out the window. “Envy is not the weakest.”

“Oh, you’re right!” I replied with a loud clap of my hands, “Wrath stayed behind during that final battle. He didn’t run away like Envy. Even when surrounded by four Division leaders, he did not back down. Honestly, I have to respect his bravery. Not many could have done what he did. If it was not for the unique skill of his subordinate he would have died then and there. Still, he was struck down by Azreal’s talent. He will not live long and a dead man is no threat. No, Envy is obviously the best target to eliminate first and it would explain a lot of the inconsistencies I have noticed during this invasion. Your willingness to sacrifice so many Demonkin through an unstable portal, The mind-boggling amount of resources Envy would have had to spend to get all seven of his generals into this realm safely ahead of time, and the fact that Berith could show doubt about her master’s orders, all of it points to the fact that Envy is desperate… afraid even. The others are eyeing him like a juicy piece of meat and he needs a notable victory to prove his power before they move in for the kill.”

“You think too much,” Abigor replied with a huff, “So long as I am around, nothing can threaten my master. I am unkillable, and through my power, so is he.”

“You’re rather confident,” I said with a soft chuckle, “But do you really think Envy will keep you around after this? There has already been one traitor found among you, with Envy’s personality, do you really think he will risk the possibility of a second?”

For the first time since I started talking, my words got a serious reaction out of Abigor. He stopped leaning against the nearby wall and moved towards the gate of my jail cell. he paused when he reached the lock, realizing he did not have a key to my cage. His fingers bit deep into the metal of the lock but he did not tear the door off its hinges and simply glared daggers at me from a few steps away.

I had a big smile on my face as I continued to taunt the Demon. “Honestly, your power of regeneration is the perfect disguise for one of Gluttony’s Teeth. Nobody would even question if you survived a wound that would kill a normal Demon. I wonder if that is why Andras is keeping you at a distance. He probably suspects the same thing and doesn’t want to allow you the opportunity to convince Envy otherwise.”

My words finally pushed the Demon over the edge. He repped apart the metal lock as if it were made of paper and threw the remains of the gate deep onto the stone of the nearby wall. His footsteps fractured the floor tiles as he walked.

“I am going to teach you not to talk so much,” Abigor said as he cracked his knuckles.

…

..

.

My provocation of Abigor had worked a little too well. He was obviously the violent type and as soon as he decided to disobey Andras’s orders, he held nothing back. This was the downside of my plan. It was obvious the first person Abigor would vent his anger out on would be me. I was mentally prepared for what came next from the moment I started talking. What I didn’t expect was that Andras did not notice the commotion of my cell getting torn open. Maybe he was distracted by the countless Demonkin still swarming in every direction or maybe I was just unlucky but whatever the case, I was left alone with my “Guard”.

The only upside was that Abigor was not very creative for a Demon. He mostly used me as a punching bag. He taunted me to keep talking after knocking the air out of my lungs and especially enjoyed hitting me in the face.

I would have to remember to thank Mare for improving the durability of my body just before getting captured. A normal human would have likely died after being treated so brutally but I remained alive and unfortunately, conscious. Still, I played my part well, pretending to be far more injured than I actually was. Abigor’s attention was painful but he was unaware of how strong my body had become. Since he still treated me like a normal human and didn’t want to kill me by accident, most of his hits after the first few were more like love taps. At maximum, they would leave a few bruises rather than the broken bones and internal bleeding they would normally have created.

I played the part of the victim perfectly for nearly three hours. I remembered Marilyn’s lesson of acting out what people what to see, screaming in agony when he hit me and cried pitifully when he taunted me. Over time, Abigor’s anger subsided and I pretended to fall unconscious.

It was then that I heard the expected footfalls of another person entering the prison. Wind blew through the hall as a tangible bloodlust exploded outwards. The furious voice of Andras roared. “I gave you a direct order not to touch her! You dare disobey me?”

“You’re not my master. You don’t get to tell me what to do.” Abigor spat back. His own aura of bloodlust rose up to clash with Andras’s.

I heard the sound of something slicing through the air, followed by blood splashing to the floor. Andras did not even give the other Demon a chance to explain before attacking him.

Abigor roared like an enraged animal as he launched himself at Andras. Several blades of wind slashed across his body but as quickly as the wounds appeared, they had already started healing. The wind could do nothing to stop Abigor’s charge. The two bodies collided with a sound like thunder. Stone walls collapsed as the two bodies barreled through them.

Inwardly, I started laughing, while doing my best to remain “unconscious”. Demons had always been quick to fight when the was no obvious strongest and these two were no different. Andras had the stronger domain by far but Abigor’s talent allowed him to shrug off any attack the other Demon made with ease. This led to an uneasy stalemate between the two that was bound to break into a fight eventually. All I did was speed up the process slightly.

It was unfortunate though that I could not watch the battle. For now, it was better that I continued my act. If both of the Demons thought I was heavily injured it would be easier when I decided to make my move.

The sounds of fighting continued for nearly two hours before coming to an end and I heard the sound of collapsing buildings and crying Demonkin more than once during that time, the unfortunate casualties caught in their wake. The fight had undoubtedly been vicious but eventually, a winner was determined.

Andras, the wind Demon, was the one that returned to the prison. He limped as he walked and had several large injuries across his body. None were fatal, unfortunately, but the sight of his disheveled form still made me want to smile, especially the large cut across his neck. Andras may have won but it was clear he had only done so by the barest of margins. My guess was that he was only victorious when Abigor ran out of energy rather than pure might. Healing talents were always draining.

I continued to lie slumped on the floor. I heard Andras mumble a string of curses as he stood outside my cell. He pulled the metal gate out of the stone wall and reattached it to the front of my cell by twisting the metal bars around each other.

“I wanted to test those healing abilities of yours and see if you could regrow missing fingers but it's pointless like this. There is no fun in it if I can’t see the fear in your eyes in anticipation.” Andras said under his breath. He was talking to himself more than me as he worked to make sure my cell was secure. Outside, several Demonkin roared as they started fighting again, causing Andras to sigh. “Tomorrow… Tomorrow you and I will spend all day together with no more interruptions.”

I listened carefully as Andras’s limping footsteps echoed. I waited another three hours after he was gone before moving. The entire time, I could feel my body working overtime. I did not know the limits of all Mare had done to me but my wounds were healing at a rate visible to the naked eye despite being in a prison cell that prevented the use of any talent or domain. I could actually feel my bone stitching itself back together with each passing minute. It was very itchy.

After three hours, I was sure nobody else was coming into the prison. The sun had long since set and the timing was perfect. I sat up and looked around the cell with a smile. Flexing my arms, the chains binding my wrists to the floor snapped like cheap plastic. “Physical strength comparable to a Demon is convenient. Not even the suppression in this cell can do anything about it.”

The steel locks on my wrists broke just as easily as the chain links and in just a few seconds, I was free. Rubbing my wrists, I carefully stood up. My leg still hurt but it was good enough to walk on.

I laughed joyously as I eyed the metal bars of the cell. Just as the Demon had twisted them into a knot, I could too. There was nothing left that could stop me from leaving!

“Weeks spent trying to break into the city and you just carry me in. Now, I just need to reach the palace and it will be my victory!”