NOVEL NEXT 89 – Performance of a lifetime!
Kyle was definitely out of his depth. Regular criminals, he could handle. But monsters who could level a building with the flick of their wrist? He very much doubted his gun would do anything, despite his hand tightening around it.
“Tepes…” Salem called out the girl’s name as she narrowed her eyes and tightened the grip on her staff.
Tepes herself seemed completely unfazed as she casually walked out of the rubble and slowly headed in Salem’s direction before stepping to the side and starting to circle around her.
“Salem. Glad to see you’re still the same even after all this time,” Tepes said, her tone mocking. “You’ve been sent here to kill me, I assume?”
Salem seemed unnerved by her cavalier attitude for a moment, before she straightened up and aimed her staff in her direction. “That’s right, traitor. The demon lord told me you are powerless now. I don’t know what you’re planning but –”
Tepes cut her off with a loud guffaw.
The general growled. “What’s so funny?!”
“Haaah…” the girl winded down from her laughter before continuing to slowly circle around her adversary. “Ah, a traitor.” She side-eyed her with a knowing look, as if she was an adult looking at a naive child. “Isn’t that rich coming from you… Sally? Or maybe I should call you… Pretty Spark, the first?”
That made Salem freeze for a moment. Several silent gasps reached Kyle’s ears and he couldn’t help but once again think that this was way over his pay grade.
Tepes’s smile turned wry at Salem’s reaction as she slowly got halfway through the circle around Salem and stood behind her. Her expression then turned sorrowful and contemplative.
“You know… they were both very worried about you.” The girl shook her head. “You just disappeared without a word… Took Trish with you… They had no idea what was happening.” She let out a soft sigh. “And the next thing they know, the demon lord has a new general who looks suspiciously like their missing friend.”
Regret.
Kyle was sure he wasn’t hallucinating at the flash of emotion in Salem’s expression before she turned to face Tepes again, turning her back on the magical girls.
He heard a groan behind him. When he turned around, he found that Pretty Bloom had used the distraction to heal Flame and wake her up. Frost seemed to have finished stabilizing the building with her magic as well.
He wasn’t sure what exactly they were planning, but he could only assume they were somehow coordinating with Tepes.
“Why?” Tepes asked with what sounded like concern. “Why did you do that? Weren’t you all friends? Teammates? Why did you leave them in the dust and join the demon lord – your enemy?”
Kyle could practically hear Salem gritting her teeth as the hold on her staff tightened even more.
“That is irrelevant. This isn’t about me! This is about you!” she finally replied, pointing her staff in the direction of the former general.
The magical girls startled and nearly jumped out to attack Salem again when they heard a sad sigh come from Tepes.
“Oh, but it is about you…” she said, her searching eyes looking at Salem in pity as she resumed her little circle around her. “In fact, it has always been about you since the very beginning… Well, you, Trish, and Baugh, to be specific.” Her voice suddenly dropped an octave. “Even if you always wished it was just you and Trish.”
Once again, Salem froze in place in reaction to her words.
“You…” Salem growled.
“Don’t worry…” Tepes said, her voice turning encouraging. “I totally get it. I really do!” She glanced in their direction with a grin. “I would also be jealous if anyone were to steal Flame from me.”
Flame, naturally, blushed and sputtered at the sudden inclusion.
Kyle blinked before promptly deciding he didn’t want to tangle himself in whatever angsty teen romance was happening here.
“What are you trying to say?” Salem snapped at Tepes. “Are you just trying to rile me up? What the hell is your intention?”
“Rile you up? Not at all…” She shook her head. “I’m saying that even if I think it was pretty dumb what you did…” Salem growled. “I would probably do the same for Flame.” Tepes locked her eyes with Salem’s and her expression turned serious. “After all, this was all for Trish, wasn’t it? You dedicated your life to waking her up again.”
“So what if I did?” Salem poked out her chin and narrowed her eyes defiantly.
Tepes hummed, eyes still locked with her.
“When she wakes up… what will she think about everything you’ve done to get her back?”
Once again, Salem’s form froze… and Tepes began slowly walking in her direction.
“You never really thought about it, have you? You were simply chasing after the solution, everything else be damned.” She hummed. “You’ve done plenty of questionable things along the way, you know…? She will probably be pretty mad at you. She’ll shout at you… She’ll punch you in the face… but in the end, she will probably forgive you.” She finally reached Salem’s staff and leaned into the moon symbol at its tip that was aimed at her, pressing her chest against it.
Salem visibly startled, but before she could say or do anything, Tepes grabbed the staff and kept it pinned to her chest. Salem looked completely caught off guard by this.
Tepes then continued to speak “She might forgive you… or… well… She also might not forgive you, if you… let’s say –” Her voice dropped an octave again as she narrowed her eyes and pushed the staff tighter into her chest. “-- become a cold-blooded murderer.”
Breaths hitched and Kyle found himself staring at the scene with wide eyes.
For all intents and purposes, Tepes was at Salem’s mercy. She could blast her with magic and erase her from existence with a thought in a split second.
But somehow, it almost felt like the opposite. That Salem was at the former general’s mercy.
There were a good few seconds of utter silence, everyone waiting with bated breath, Salem going through some internal struggle, Tepes’s expression unchanging.
The former general was the one to break the silence.
“And anyway… If you want to wake up Trish, it’s actually in your best interest to not become a murderer, you know?” She gave the demon general a smug grin as she let go of the staff. “Because I figured it out.”
“Wha– you mean…?”
“I went over it five times and all the math checks out.” Tepes nodded. “There is a zero percent chance of the ritual causing another apocalypse.”
Salem’s eyes widened at that revelation, and Kyle couldn’t help but feel concerned that there was a chance of an apocalypse in the first place. He also briefly wondered why the word ‘another’ was in that sentence, but filed it away for later.
“Then why… Why didn’t you just tell us?!” Salem shouted as she pulled her staff away and grabbed Tepes by her collar with her other hand. “Are you just bullshitting me?! Is this another one of your stupid bluffs?!”
The former general’s expression remained unperturbed.
“No, it’s not a bluff. As for why I haven’t told you… Well, it’s simple, really.” She gave her a sad smile. “I eliminated the chance of an apocalypse… all in exchange for the safety of the one performing it.”
Salem once again froze in shock.
“You… That…”
“There’s a small chance it will work perfectly, but… I’ll probably just take Trish’s place.”
Kyle wasn’t sure what that meant, but it couldn’t be anything good considering Salem’s complicated expression.
“I first wanted to eliminate those risks as well but… at this point? Whatever. As long as I’m the only one at risk, I’ll just go through with it.”
“Why… would you do that…? Even knowing the danger…?”
Tepes’s smile turned sorrowful.
“Why wouldn’t I? I’ve always wanted to do something meaningful with my life. Ever since my mom died and that asshole of a dad left, I’ve felt lost… Everything was meaningless… And then Nomed approached me with the offer to join the demon army. I jumped at the offer, eager to destroy the enemy of humanity from the inside.” Salem twitched at Tepes’s blatant admittance of planned treachery. “But upon learning the truth… Well… Resolving the initial cause of the conflict works even better, doesn’t it?”
Salem continued to stare at her for a good few moments of contemplative silence… before finally letting go of her and turning to glare at a random corner of the room. Her hands were clenching and unclenching.
“Not to mention, Trish is an expert in magic research! Surely, she will be able to figure out a permanent solution after we wake her up, right?” Tepes said with a cheerful voice.
Salem scoffed as her eyes softened. Kyle had to assume she was remembering this Trish, whoever it was.
“So…? What do you say? Will you murder me? Or will you temporarily sacrifice me to wake up the sleeping beauty?”
The grip on Salem’s staff tightened for a moment… before slowly loosening in resignation. The staff then disappeared in a flash of magic and she let out an exhausted sigh.
“You –” Salem turned to look at Tepes again. “-- are absolutely insane.” She shook her head. “Even more than I am.”
Tepes chuckled in self-deprecation.
“That’s why we’re the demon generals, isn’t it?” Tepes gave her a knowing smile. “It’s pretty much a requirement.”
Salem snorted. Actually snorted, completely destroying her usual image of a cold and serious demon general.
“I always knew why I didn’t like you.” She shook her head again before locking her eyes with Tepes.
“Fine. I’m on board. What did you figure out, then?”
