XVIII Devil’s Style

Orathan chuckled a little too loudly in Elfric's ears.

"I wish that you would cease laughing your ass off inside my head," Rick scoffed.

'You are getting more and more daring with every passing day, Elfric Woods,' Orathan stated. Elfric could already picture the creepy smirk that's probably on his face right now. 'Just a couple of days ago you were screaming at yourself in the mirror.'

Elfric cleared his throat. The memory wasn't something that he would want to remember but it wasn't like it was his fault! It was the first time that he has encountered such a thing. All this talk about superpowers and modified humans, celestial beings…he never believed in any of that.

He wasn't a full-time atheist but, some things were just too hard to believe. Seeing all that hard-to-believe stuff before him was quite…unsettling that he had to rethink everything he thought was right. Rewrite everything that he had faith and believed in. Now, he can casually sit in his room and have a decent chat with the devil inside his head. He would have to watch himself from talking out loud in the presence of anyone, the least he needed was people thinking that he was crazy.

Elfric from a week ago would have probably thought the same.

'Now, you want to wipe out everyone that knows you?' Orathan finally added as if he was giving him a moment to rethink his life.

"I never thought that the devil would be so dimwit," Elfric sighed. "If I need to make my appearance in public, I can't possibly show my face. And I'm not exactly a typical person that you could bump into every day."

Orathan hummed. 'You got a point,' said he. 'How the hell did you turn out like this in the first place? If I couldn't tell them apart, I would've taken you for an Elf.'

"First it's a disease," said Elfric. "Second, don't change the subject…we need to take care of everyone who knows my face right now. Everything should be wiped out. My face, name, everything. I can't risk anything to track me down to me and my family." He was furious at the thought.

'How are you planning to do that?' Orathan questioned. At this point, he was questioning Elfric's mental health, wondering if he has lost his head after he had his whole life turn upside down. 'As I remember, you have met like 10 of the Gotham's and you have been in their tower once. That's more than enough to track you down.'

Elfric sighed. If he put it that way it only makes It harder but, it wasn't a choice that he could choose from. "There isn't anything that we can do now," Elfric breathed out. "I need to take care of this before I meet anyone else. Every new person that hears of me is an extra threat to my family."

'What do you suggest then?' Asked Orathan. 'Do it like the devil and lit their den on fire?' he mocked.

Elfric couldn't get the way he pictured Orathan out of his mind. A carbon copy of him lying down in the nothingness inside him, and casually chatting with him as he had his share of snacks. But…there was some truth hidden in his words.

Elfric smirked. 'W-Why are you smirking like a witch?' Orathan stuttered.

"I still can't get over the fact that the Devil can stutter," Elfric chuckled devilishly himself. "But that doesn't mean that all your ideas are worthless."

'Eh?'

"Let's set them on fire?"

'Literally?'

"Literally," Rick replied. "Let's set their tower fire, make sure everyone there is dead."

'Can't they run away?' Orathan asked again.

"No need to worry, they will be dead before they make the climb," said Elfric.

'So you kill them then set them on fire?' Orathan quoted, trying out the words for himself. No matter how many times he quoted them, he couldn't find a better plan. 'You are the devil, Elfric Woods.'

"And this time…" Elfric paused, pushing his chair back, and stood up by the window. His eyes couldn't help but soften as he saw the recked appearance of the slums. With the strength that he acquired, he has also been bestowed with the responsibilities of all these people. To fight for those who can't help but give in to the system that has been set by the aristocrats of this city. Giving up hope for the law to change their life as the law was made to keep the barrier between the Nobles and commoners, creating almost a sacred line that no one dared to cross before.

Before him, at least. He was going to be the one to bring down this system atop of their heads, and he is going to make sure to deliver it hard.

"This time we are the ones that are going to stop them in their path," Elfric finally added.

~~~~

"Explain,"

Crane cleared his throat, he couldn't bring himself to raise his eyes to look at his father as he roamed the perimeters around him. Zeph clearly failed his job to prevent his father from knowing and now he was going to pay the price.

"First, you order my men without permission," Shaw interrupted the second that Crane opened his mouth to talk. "Second, you hide the fact that your brother died because of failed ritual. Third and most importantly, a commoner seems to be walking around with a devil on his tail spreading chaos. Care to explain why I only came to figure all of this now?"

"L-Lord Shaw," Crane stuttered. "I didn't want to bother you with the none sense that my brother caused before his death. I didn't think that things were going to escalate so quickly." The words came straight from his heart as he clenched his fists next to his thigh.

The second that Lord Shaw's balm was on Crane's shoulder he felt the chill of death down his spine. It was so gentle yet it only made fear course through Crane's veins.

"The devil that your brother was trying to summon seems like it was none other than Orathan, Crane,"