’Why? Why? Why did I ever encounter this demon? Why did Jath decide to approach him? Why did Jath decide to provoke him countless times?’
’Just why?’
’I don’t want to die. I don’t deserve to die.’
’I did nothing wrong. I did not provoke him. I did not attack him with the others.’
’I did nothing wrong. I don’t want to die.’
’It’s all Jath’s fault. If he had not provoked this demon, I would not be in this position. The others would not be dead.’
’I would not be facing this demon’s madness and fury.’
"Please... Spare me."
Mona sobbed as she had all these thoughts and stared at Simon who towered over her with the gaze of a predator staring at prey.
He remained silent, and the thoughts and anxiety in Mona’s mind drastically increased.
A few seconds later, he crouched before her and used his index claw to raise her chin.
His innocent and calm smile remained on his face as he watched her cry.
"And why should I let you live?"
Mona trembled as Simon used his claw to wipe away a portion of the tears from her eyes.
"Hmm? Answer me, and who knows... I might let you live."
Mona trembled the more, and her gaze instantly landed on Jath, Orianna, Bria, and Sog.
They had believed the words of this demon when he said they only had to play a simple game and he’d let them live.
He toyed with them like puppets dancing for the puppet master.
She could feel it. She could see it in his eyes that this was all a game to the demon. This was all a sort of sick amusement to the demon.
The demon had no intentions of letting her live. He was going to kill her, and she knew it.
Her heartbeat quickened, and the gears in her mind turned rapidly.
"I’ll do anything. I’ll be your slave. I’ll be your anything. Anything you want me to be. Just please, let me live."
"I never attacked you like the others. I never meant you harm. It was all Jath’s doing. He wanted to kill you, not me. So please, please just let me live."
Simon looked at her with the same old smile, then he tilted his head.
"And what would I gain from you becoming my slave? You’re not exceptionally talented. As you can see, you’re cowering before me when I’m a Lesser Demon but you’re a Fiend."
"You can’t protect me or fight my battles for me. You can’t increase my power, so what can you do for me?"
Mona trembled, and she stuttered.
"Huh. Huh. You can use me to satisfy your sexual needs in any way or form. You can do anything to me and I won’t complain. I can take care of menial tasks for you. I might also have knowledge you might need."
"And I also a noble bloodline even though it’s not a Supreme Grade Noble Bloodline, it’s a noble bloodline. I’m sure I can be of some use to you in some way."
"So please, please just let me live."
Simon chuckled softly while stroking his chin with his free hand.
"Sex. House girl. Knowledge. And bloodline. I see."
Simon nodded while humming, then he brought out the condensed shadow essence.
"If you want me to allow you to live, then it means you’ll fail this trial because there’s no way I’ll allow you to roam about on your own in search of beasts to kill. And there’s also no way I’ll allow you to make any beast we kill your point. Every beast would be mine."
"And if that should happen, it means that you won’t be allowed in the clan. Which means we won’t be in contact and you can’t be my slave. Which means-"
"I can still be your slave!" Mona quickly interrupted Simon the moment she understood where he was going to.
The fear she felt was unlike anything she had ever felt in her life.
Simon tilted his head slightly. "How?"
"The Shadowgrave Clan allows its members to have slaves of their own. But there’s a limit to every rank of the clan. For candidates like us who desire to become Initiates, we can have one slave."
Simon narrowed his eyes. "I see."
He scratched his hair and sighed. Then he looked to the side for a moment before looking back at Mona with the same smile.
"And what about this trial? I’m sure you and most importantly, your family wants you to be a member of the Shadowgrave Clan, not the slave of an Initiate of the Shadowgrave Clan."
Mona shook her head. "Can I become an Initiate of the clan if I’m a corpse? If I have to choose between life and death, I’ll always choose life no matter what."
"If I’m your slave, I still have the opportunity to become somebody great in the future. No matter how small it is. But if I die, then what opportunity do I have?"
Simon remained silent, and a pondering expression could be seen on his face after hearing her words.
"I see." He removed his claw from under her chin, then he closed his eyes and sighed.
Puchi!
The sound of flesh tearing apart resounded in the surroundings, and Mona coughed out a mouthful of blood with wide eyes.
"W-w-why?" She asked with a trembling voice.
Considering how much he spoke, she believed that he would let her live, but he didn’t.
She couldn’t understand why.
If he wanted to kill her from the very beginning, then why did he talk so much with her?
"Don’t blame me for this. You see... I’ve been betrayed far too many times by people I trusted with my life."
"You have seen too much, and there’s no way I can trust somebody who desires to live so much and fears death even more."
"If you have to betray me to live, you’d do so in a heartbeat. So... farewell. It was a nice conversation though."
"It helped me regain my sanity. And... thank you."
Simon slowly removed his claws from Mona’s heart, then he gently placed Mona on the floor with a solemn expression.
"Cu-cur-curse you demon."
These were her last words before death took her.
Simon stared at her eyes which were filled regret and an immense unwillingness not to die.
"Funny a demon is calling me a demon... But I guess you might be right... I might truly be a demon now." Simon looked to the black moon with an extremely solemn expression and a myriad of thoughts.