Leila, Gremory, Fatima
Inferno
The Past
Contrary to the man's expectations, his words of praise backfired on him as he seemingly accidentally gave rise to a grave insult. The devil raged, throwing a tantrum and she beat her wings balled her hands into fists. From a certain perspective, it was rather cute but the man was in no state of mind to properly observe this."Human—nay, rather We call thee a dog. Thou'st insolence aplenty to call Us by that moniker. Demons are to Devils as dogs are to humans. Or humans to Devils, for that matter! We'd fain have thine tongue for this!"
"P-p-please forgive me!"
The devil gave a sigh, and relaxed her mood ever so slightly.
And for the first time, the Devil's eyes fell on the woman who lay bound on the floor."Hmph, but this should be expected from thou curs, no? Rip a tongue for every imbecile and We would never get a deal done. Fine, then. We shall overlook thine transgression this once. Now, power, was it? It can be done, naturally, but not at a price to thine convenience."
"This woman is a sacrifice, as per the rules of the contract. In order for one to obtain the devil's miracle, one must offer a suitable payment to the devil in question, I believe is how it went. Thus, I went and obtained a suitable payment. For a great devil such as yourself who rules over the all powerful domain of love, there was nobody more fitting.""Tell Us, what is this female to thee? Wherefore should We deem her sacrifice sufficient?"
The man stood up and began walking over to Leila, removing the dagger as he approached his sacrifice. With a single motion, he raised the knife high in the air, its wicked edge reflecting the against the light of the room.
"I offer up to woman as payment and in exchange, demand the power of the devil's miracle be granted to me!"
He brought down the blade.
At that exact moment, the door at the far side of the room burst open.
What a cruel irony. Fatima had finally found the room she was looking, except she had arrived at the very instant that it no longer mattered.
The scales between salvation and despair had tipped towards the latter. Her hopes had been extinguished, her nightmare realized.
The blade seemed to move in slow motion, but there was nothing she could. Without slowing down or stopping, it pierced Leila's heart.