18: The Banquet

"Oh, nom, nom, nom, nom…the human intestine sure taste good but not the head though."

"Do you even know how to eat a human properly? The human head is the most delicious part. Give me that. This is how you eat it."

The demon put the severed head up in the air and squeeze the head into pulp while drinking the juices coming out from the neck.

"Ahhh, that's the stuff."

The demon wiped off the bloodstain from its mouth.

"I am going to get for another one…"

"Hey…"

The two of them stopped feasting. They felt a chill in the air and an awfully eerie presence.

"What's is this? Could it be Lord Bael?" asked the demon. The other demon shrugged.

They looked at the end of the street where the source of the eerie presence came from.

"Lord…."

They heard a word of prayer and saw their headless body.

"What just happened?" asked the demon.

"Ah, our heads are being sliced off."

"But by who?"

"I don't know."

Their head rolled down the street and they saw a man with white robe standing at the other end of the street, walking away from them. The man did not even look back at them. And at their last moments of consciousness, they did not even what killed them.

…

…

…

Jolly was hiding behind within a building, looking out at the window to see 2 humans sitting around a long table, feasting on human corpses. He recognized one human but could not recognize the other. He made sure to concealed his own presence while observing them. The one he did not recognize was composed and elegant while the one he did recognize was seen smiling and nodding his head whenever the elegant spoke. The elegant one despite looking polished and very much like a human possessed an incredibly demonic soul that it would make anyone vomited by getting near him. Jolly focused deeply on the two to hear them what they were saying.

"What a splendid feast you have prepared for us, Matthew."

"Of course Lord Bael. A promise is a promise."

"Lord Bael?" Jolly started to feel nervous. "One of the Demon Lords. This is not good."

Lord Bael took a pause from sipping his cup of questionable drink. He sensed something. Matthew shuddered at the coldness he felt. Jolly was instantly knocked out his concentration by the strange interference.

"What is this feeling?" Jolly felt a more disturbing presence approaching the long table. "James?"

"There is a disturbance, Matthew. It seems the Exorcist you sent away is survived and has been killing away my people."

"Impossible!"

"Well, I did manage to see the last moments of those demons before they had their head being severed. He is as quick as the wind and his Soul is so cold….Hmm…. Now he is here…."

At the end of the long table stood a man in a white robe with two blades at his side.

Matthew looked at him. His body started to tremble. But then he started to laugh.

"Hahaha! I can't believe you are alive, you should-"

Within a few seconds, the man was on the table and one of his blades stabbed through Matthew's mouth and another through Lord Bael's head.

Jolly gulped at the scene. No mercy but Jolly has to warn James to leave the place immediately because a Demon Lord is not a being that he could handle alone.

Both Lord Bael and Matthew's body collapsed to the ground.

Matthew's body was lifeless but not Lord Bael.

His human body got up from the floor and all sorts of cracking sounds could be heard coming from the body. The veins were pulsing all over the place.

"Foolish humans, you think you can-"

Swoosh….off goes Lord Bael's head and his body was sliced into pieces by James.

James wait and wait.

The body parts started to reassemble back and a twisted figure was assembled in front of him. It was a monster with wings on its back and two large eyes that looks like a fly. Its mouth was lined with thousands of tiny sharp teeth.

"I guess I underestimated-"

Swoosh….off goes his head

Jolly who was looking at it from the windows were shocked. To see a Demon Lord at the mercy of a newbie. Even he could not deal such damage to those untouchable Demon Lord and James just ended the 2 of the lives the Demon Lord has accumulated.

But this time, the body didn't fall down but still has consciousness on its own. The body swung its right arm at James but the next thing happened was that the entire body was sliced into halves.

James wait again.

The body spilled by the demon started to gather and fused into Matthew's body. A hideous monster was created. It was Lord Bael's true form. The form was tall but skinny and his jaw has two long lines that extended back into his head. The long line started to split apart and reveal Lord Bael's massive mouth. Lord Bael hissed at James. It has been a long time since he has to turn back to his original form. He can't believe he would be defeated by a mere Exorcist.

Lord Bael transform his hand to make it bigger and slammed it down at James. But Lord Bael soon found himself to have all his limbs severed and his wings being cut off. James was so quick that he could not see his attack.

"Hey, monster!" said James. "You love to eat, don't you? Then let me give you something worthwhile for you to eat."

James shoved one of his blades into Lord Bael's mouth.

Lord Bael wanted to laugh because it was just a blade and he could regenerate quicker than all the other demons. But his confidence immediately went to zero when he found himself unable to heal and started to feel pain. For the first time, Lord Bael screamed in agony but the blade muffled his scream away.

"What's the matter?" asked James.

Lord Bael's limbless body wriggled like a helpless caterpillar.

"You must be the one responsible for all this. You have the worst smell of all the demons I have approached. You must be the one."

Lord Bael's started to scream at James.

"Oh, you hungry? Here, have one more."

James shoved another blade into Lord Bael's mouth.

James squatted down beside Lord Bael's body. The blade had gone through his mouth and was firmly planted into the ground. Lord Bael's started to feel his energy dissipating.

"The blade is draining my energy away. I can't heal because of the blade. I must take it out," said Lord Bael but his limbs were already being cut away by James.

"Hmm, not enough, here have some more."

James tore the table legs away and shoved it into his mouth one after another.

As that is not enough, he went to the nearby stall and broke it into a few long pieces and shoved into Lord Bael's mouth.

"Look at you poor caterpillar. You looked malnourished. Here, you have to eat more so that you can grow out from this hideous form."

James shoved a few chair legs into his mouth. But soon, even the mouth started to run out of space for James to shove things inside. Hence, James started to shove the extra items he found on his caterpillar-like body.

One by one, he inserted small and sharp objects all around the body. Lord Bael had already stopped screaming a long time ago. His body has also stopped wriggling.

"Ah, was that too much?" asked James. "You shouldn't be that greedy you know. Now, look at you. Void of life and looking like a disgusting piece of shit."

"James."

James turned at the voice calling him.

"Jolly?"

"Let's go. Everything is over."

James looked down at the grey ground for a moment and look up at the sky. The cloud started to clear away and the sky is turning bright again.

"Jolly, is this a dream?"

"No, it isn't."

"I see, then