17The Star Maker was observing the two groups approaching his home. His eyes would have been seen if the night was present. Just like the stars, they couldn't be seen on a bright day. He took a sip of his beverage. From his point of view, the two groups were close to one another, yet a large wall separated them.
"I can feel it. Among all of you, there is something dangerous. One of you aren't a child of the mother of all," the Divine being declared as he saw the first group opening the door, "I have to brace myself for it," he checked at an object ready for one specific guest.
He continued drinking his beverage as he went to another room, ready to welcome the first children of the Goddess to him, "Beware of the dangers."
Chapter 15: Welcome To My Home
Once the door was opened, the mercenaries quickly entered and stopped. They could look with amazement at the inside of the Star Maker domain. The walls and ceilings looked like it was painted with many stars, giving many strange forms. Those form never looked the same depending on what anyone could see. As for the content of the room, it was empty. Just a large room.
"This is wonderful," Amelia commented as she looked around. They were many doors leading to other rooms.
Claw nodded, "Ain't that bad. Anyway, got to find the Star Maker first and get that final bonus."
"I am going to get that bonus," Gash declared as he proudly hit his chest.
"None of us got it twice in a row," the Drakon grinned as he saw that he had a good chance of victory.
"I think we should all take our time anyway," Gerode joined them, clearly thinking about it, "I suspect that we will find more trap inside. The Star Maker didn't come to meet us here."
"Traps again!" one mercenary whined.
That dropped their moral.
"Let's proceed with caution. This time, you are also included Gash," the Human Of The South said.
The humanoid spider nodded, "I know. They were traps on the top too."
The group began to proceed forward and split up at each door. Ryuki and Claw entered the farther door to the right, from the entrance, and went in there.
The little one quietly gulped, being once again alone with the chubby one he despised. He gave one last gaze at the mercenaries and the door suddenly closed on its own.
"Guess we can't go back Ryuki," the Drakon commented.
"Yeah bastard," the Mini dragon replied.
The duo proceeded in a corridor. It was painted the same way as the others. On their left and right, they were two doors.
"And we are in another maze," the current boss grunted.
"You can't throw me in the air anymore to help. You're just going to crush my skull," he pouted as he crossed his arms.
"We might never had reached the end of the maze if I didn't do it you know little Ryuki."
"Whatever," the unconvinced answer came from the unfortunate one.
The muscle gut reptilian tried the first door and it leaded to a dead end. It was only something that looked like a guest chamber. He went to the next one and it was another dead end. The two last doors were the same. None of them leaded anywhere.
"And this is only the guest room," they both grumbled.
"I got the wrong door. We have to go back," they turned around and heard the doors closing.
They turned around and saw the door closed as if they never had been opened in the first place.
"I am getting a little curious about what is closing them. Anyway, I'll break that door that imprisoned us here. We have to go back," Claw said as he grabbed the handle of the door, they first came in. He opened it without any problem.
The two had their mouth opened at how easy it was for the door to open. They stood there for a few seconds before they both recovered from that little shock.
"We were… never imprisoned Drakon," Ryuki concluded.
"Guess someone doesn't want to close door on his own," he replied before lightly chucking.
They went to another door. It opened on its own when a mercenary came out, "Dead end," he grumbled with a few following him.
"Good thing we weren't imprisoned as I feared," another one said.
"Good thing I won't waste my time with this door," the chubby reptilian being said as he went to another door. He opened it and saw that it was a corridor with no doors, "Let's try this one."
The door closed behind as they went through the corridor. A mercenary followed them, in hope of being in the right direction. They marched until they reach a door at the end of the corridor.
"Wait. Could there be a trap at the other side. If it's going to the right direction… maybe the Divine Architect put a trap for us," the Mini dragon warned.
The Drakon frowned as he grabbed the door, "I'm ready for any traps. There were way too many already."
He opened the door and behind it was another corridor with a few doors on their left and right.
"I hate this place," the mercenary grumbled.
"His house is way too big for himself," Claw grunted.
The three made sure there was no traps before they began to open the door one at the time. They were careful when they opened it.
The muscle gut reptilian being opened one and saw nothing interesting at the other side. He closed it. The three inspected the doors.
When Claw finished, he looked behind him and noticed that the mercenary was gone, "He found the right door and took the lead!"
"Which one he picked?" the midget being asked as his eyes looked at the doors. They were all closed.
"I'm pretty sure it's one at the end," the Drakon answered as he quickly began to check the doors. He quickly opened them and checked inside before moving to the next one. He didn't bother to close them as they would do it on their own. He found the right one and saw that it leaded to a large room leading to stairs for the second floor, "We still have some catch up to do," he commented before using his short legs to run the next floor.
He had a small grin when he caught up a few mercenaries. He joined them and noticed that none of them were moving forward. His eyes went left and right, searching for what was going on. Grin disappeared as the reptilian mercenary turned towards a mercenary and asked, "What's going on?"
"I can't believe it. She is tough but something got her!" one of them yelled.
"Something?" Ryuki asked. The little one smelt something bad and frowned. He didn't like it a lot. He climbed off the shoulder of his current boss and walked around. He walked under the legs of everyone, approaching what stall them. He continued under he stopped, "N-no," he didn't know her that much. All he knew was that she was a kind mercenary. He knew she was strong and brave. Now, she was dead.
Amelia corpse was on the ground, a large hole in her stomach. She rested in a large pool of blood. Her face had a shocking expression on it. It was as if something was surprising her.
Whatever she saw was something she didn't never saw before dying.
The Mini dragon was a little nervous as he grabbed his arms and took a step back. He gulped quietly, "Amelia. How? What?"
He was suddenly pushed aside by a large hand and turned to see his boss.
Claw saw the scene and was expressionless. He dropped his head as he clenched his hands, "Who…"
"What is it…boss?" Ryuki tried nervously.
The body of the Drakon was trembling. He looked at the mercenaries and yelled, "Who killed her? Any of you saw who did this? Tell me!" he grabbed one of them by the throat, "You saw who killed her?"
"N-no! I just came here and they were there!" the male panicked.
"I-I saw what happened," someone said with a shaking voice.
He pushed everyone aside and stood in front of the one who started the expedition. The human was shivering, skin paler than usual. He sat on the ground and grabbed his arms. Gerode took a deep breath and said, "A demon killed her. I saw it. It just killed her by surprise."
"A demon?"
"That's impossible. A demon couldn't be on the island of the Star Maker!"
"No demons could even be seen in any places where the Divines or the Gods could be!"
"Gerode. You are surely wrong about it."
"There's a demon here?" Ryuki asked above the other voice, "But Nekon killed him!"
Everyone gazed at the little one.
"What?" they all asked in disbelief at the same time.
"What are you talking about?" another one asked in disbelief.
The little one approached the corpse and sniffed the air. He searched for the scent of the demon. He smelt something bizarre. Something that shouldn't exist, "Dammit," he crossed his arms and looked at everyone, "We are in big trouble. There really is a demon here!"
"You are surely imagining things," one of the mercenaries replied. He raised his shoulders and nervously laughed. He continued talking, preventing anyone from adding their own thought, "A demon cannot be here. The Star Maker would already have killed him. I mean, demons are killed by the divines. I mean, old stories said that they were all exterminated long ago. Maybe Gerode just saw something that makes him think it's a demon!"
"No! We met one on an island before I ended up with that fat bastard! The demon infested the island and Nekon had to pull a miracle to win this fight! There was a red tower made by that demon! He was extremely powerful! He almost killed me and Nekon! He can also create minions out of him in a… way. But that demon is dead!"
"Maybe there is more," Gerode suggested. He grumbled, "After all, no legends said how they were made."
"You aren't going to believe that little one," another mercenary chuckled in disbelief.
"Tell me more about those demons Ryuki. What's their weakness? What hurts them? Can we castrate them?" the Drakon asked as blood came out of his hands. He clenched them too hard.
The little one gulped for a second, "They are stronger than any of us. Nekon was a powerful warrior but he needed to use his- Well. His special trick to defeat him," he skipped the soul part as it would make him completely unbelievable, "They are strong, really resilient. I didn't see a weakness last time and demons don't have gender. So, you cannot castrate one. They are not made by the Goddess."
With how the big reptilian was taking everything seriously, the other mercenaries were beginning to be afraid and nervous.
"Lucky bastard," he grunted. He turned towards the one who would pay him in the end and asked, "Did you see anything special or know what he wants?"
"He wants to reach the Star Maker… to find a way to kill the Twin Gods," the man replied.
"That's insane! Even if he wanted, he is weaker than any Gods and Divines!" someone yelled.
Ryuki nodded negatively and whispered to himself, "They have a way," understanding now why the demons wanted the Tears.
Only his current boss heard him but made no comments. He wanted to kill the demon as quickly as possible, "Let's go! If the Star Maker is dead, we will not be paid for this! Cowards stand behind! I have to avenge Amelia!" he grabbed his servant and went forwards.
Everyone looked at each other's. The mercenaries were nervously sweating. They didn't want to believe any of this was real.
"No way I'm pulling up with a demon!"
"We are not paid to fight those things!"
"This isn't worth it!"
All of them turned around and ran away, leaving only Gerode behind.
Claw came back and yelled at them, "If you want to piss out like that! Take Amelia out of here! She deserves a proper burial you coward! Or I'll bury you with her!"
Two of them came back to bring her out of the Fortress.
The chubby being nodded and walked after the demon. He was now bloodthirsty.
AC: Here's the end of this chapter.
Next chapter: Competitive Spirits.
Next chapter will be a little flashback of those two relationships in a few moments they'd met.