Chapter 49 : A dance with the devil

"Come in," Lord Leon called, his voice a deliberate measure of tired and firm.

The door creaked open, slow and deliberate, as if something unseen lingered just beyond the threshold. Leon immediately felt a cold rush, shiver down his spine as the feeling of being watched by a thousand unseen eyes fell onto him.

 Then, a hooded figure glided inside, moving with a quiet that set Leon's teeth on edge. It took a seat across from him, resting its hands—if they could be called that—on the desk.

Leon had long stopped thinking of it as a person. It made it easier that way, whatever it was. They had long shed humanity.

"Interesting boy you've chosen this time, Ripper."

A soft, bubbling laugh. Not quite human. Too smooth, too slithering. "A good-hearted boy. Even if his… loyalties are misplaced."

Leon hummed, watching the dark hood carefully. The air around it wavered, as if reality itself shivered.

"He's sharp, I'll give him that. But he's young. And at that age, the sharper the mind, the softer the heart. Beautiful, really. They think intelligence is their strength, but true genius—true control—picks at the heart, not the brain."

Ripper tilted its head, slow, calculating, an exaggerated mockery of human motion. "Yes… soft little hearts. Soft, delicate things. So easy to sway. Like tiny flags in the wind. And always they turn toward the strongest breeze."

Leon leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "And will you be that breeze, Ripper?"

A long silence. Then—"We are."

The certainty in its voice was wrong, like the whisper of a thousand voices layered over one another, their meanings shifting just beneath the surface of comprehension.

Leon suppressed a shudder.

"He trusts me implicitly."

Leon chuckled, slow and deliberate. "Then we'll see. I'll do my part, but if you truly want him… you'll have to convince him." His orange eyes gleamed. "Because if you fail, I'll end him myself."

A low, guttural hiss sounded from the hood. Leon felt a pressure descend onto his shoulders, as if the room was shrinking around him.

"You leave him to me," Ripper rasped. "I will save him."

Leon smirked. "I hope you do. He's clever, adaptable. A fine tool. But tools can become dangerous if left unchecked."

"You'll have to guide him slightly, try not to make it obvious, Leon." Ripper's hood barely moved, but Leon felt the shift of attention, the weight of something unseen pressing against him. "He is dangerous."

Leon raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "To think I'd live to see the day Jack the Ripper came to me to preach about manipulation."

Silence. A moment stretched, too long, too empty.

Leon's voice darkened. "Now tell me, why is he dangerous?"

Ripper remained still, too still. Then, with a slow, deliberate movement, it leaned forward.

"He is smart. He does not waste his strength. He has learned to keep his composure against stronger foes. He is not the strongest MageKnight. He is not the most brilliant mind in the world."

The air in the room grew heavy. Ripper's voice softened to a whisper, crawling beneath Leon's skin.

"But he is dangerous."

Leon clenched his jaw. There was something Ripper wasn't saying. Something it feared. No, they didn't fear. At the very least...it was something they don't understand

His fingers twitched against the desk. "And tell me, Ripper… what happens when he sees you truly?"

The room turned cold. Ripper stiffened, and for the first time, Leon sensed hesitation. Then, in a motion that made his stomach lurch, Ripper twitched. Not a flinch. Not a normal movement. A stutter in reality itself.

When it spoke again, its voice was… wrong. The cadence shifted, broken in places, as if its words were mutilated and stitched together.

"He trusts me."

Leon watched it carefully, suppressing the urge to recoil. "He likes you now. But he doesn't know you, Ripper. What face do you think he'll make when he does? I wonder what you'll do then."

Stillness.

Then, suddenly, Ripper straightened, and just like that, the tension vanished. It tilted its head at an almost comical angle, like a child pondering a puzzle.

"If he fears it too much," it said lightly, "I will save him. Like I saved the others."

Leon clenched his fists beneath the desk.

The others.

He forced his expression into neutrality, but a chill crawled down his spine. Leon exhaled slowly, forcing himself to remain composed.

"Well then, I'll give him another opportunity to step forward."

Ripper tilted its head softly, and Leon knew that it had to be smiling under its hood. "Lion they call you." It laughed, an almost maniacal cackle that had a dozen different pitches ensnared within it. "But to me, you've always been a snake hmm~." They leaned forward, its voice dropping to a soft whisper.

"A silent, soft, slithering, slimy, snake." Then it jumped back.

Leon held back a growl. He would not lose control in front of it. He would not.

Ripper nodded, rising. "I must return. I can't be kept from the Fort for too long. People will notice."

Leon dismissed it with a flick of his fingers, watching as the hooded figure folded into the shadows, vanishing from sight.

The room was empty again. But the wrongness lingered, as if something unseen still curled in the corners of the room, watching.

Leon drummed his fingers against the desk.

'Arthur Gravewalker.'

He smiled coldly.

The boy thought he could sit at the table, with the Lion and the Devil, and win his hand.

But Leon was playing his own game. Arthur would die.

And when he did—

Leon would make sure the world watched.