'It has been a while since Cressida left. Where has she been?'
Were the thoughts of the fellow disciples, who, knew that Cressida went out to challenge the new boy. Among these, were the ones, with whom Cressida went to the party in the Ballroom of Supremes, i.e. Jasame Lavendara, Kurashiki Ayaka, Chu Kan-Ha & Liu Chao.
They had known Cressida since the time she was a fragile and weak girl who had nothing but the determination to become the strongest. They had met her when she was taken in by Artendo Sadistor, the leader of the clan, to train and make a strong warrior out of her. In Artendo's clan, there were not many female disciples, most of them were boys & the others were either slaves or one of the many wives of Artendo Sadistor, the Monarch of Hell. Artendo too, had daughters, but since they were the lineage of one of the strongest beings in existence, they were personally trained by some of the most skilled masters and sometimes by Artendo himself. The others, who had joined his clan as disciples were trained by skilled masters and only the strongest were ever trained by Artendo. These five girls were among the eleven strongest disciples who were personally trained under Artendo.
This was the reason why many boys wished to become strong, so they could be trained under Artendo, one of the strongest beings in existence & pursue these girls to become theirs. Ultimately, they were all demons who were transformed by Artendo through the demonification ritual every disciple had to go through before entering the clan. Afterall, who wouldn't want to become one of the strongest demon warriors in the verse?
'IF YOU ARE STRONG, YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING IN EXISTENCE'
This was the mentality of all the disciples of the clan & also the motto of Artendo Sadistor, the fragment of the "GREAT SIP OF RECREATION", the demon lord.
Cressida was one such disciple who no matter what it took would do anything to become strong and prove her clan that she was not talentless.
Cressida's fellow disciples knew how she was. She would never fight anyone unless being bothered too much or triggered by him. But this time she had gone outside the clan's territory without her master's permission just to fight someone, who had done neither of the two things mentioned above.
'This is strange.', thought the girls in unison when Cressida went to challenge Chlevern.
The girls had tried warning Cressida to not go without their master's permission. Afterall, no disciple could leave the clan's territory & challenge another for a fight unless the 'Master' of the clan permits them to, but by doing so, Cressida basically broke the rules of the clan. Artendo was a ruthless and pedantic despot, who disliked anyone breaking the rules of his clan, pretty uncanny of a demon to dislike breaking of rules, but Artendo was very peculiar since it were his rules and breaking his rules could sometimes mean death!
The girls were afraid that if their master somehow found that one of their disciples had broken the rules, especially one of the 'Special Disciples', the punishment would be harsh. And that, is what had exactly happened.
The girls did not know that Artendo figured out Cressida's absence, so they thought it would be okay unless master did not come to the training grounds. But yet again, it was exactly what happened.
Artendo entered the training grounds and suddenly the air around the ground changed. It was heavier than usual and all the disciples including some of the masters, felt this ferocious pressure. The girls quickly panicked after they saw their master come to the training grounds.
'W-WHAT THE H-HELL!!!!? WHY IS M-MASTER HERE?, HE NEVER USUALLY COMES HERE, SO W-WHY TODAY?!!!!'
were the thoughts of the girls when they saw Artendo.
The girls were there training on their own without any authority of the masters, who trained the other disciples. They had chosen this place so that they did not run into their master, even by accident, but here he was, standing right in front of their eyes.
Everyone bowed down to him, showing their respect, but Artendo did not care. He quickly glanced around & suddenly his eyes looked at a particular place and with a hint of heaviness in his voice, he called out,
"I, the Great Artendo Sadistor, the Monarch of Hell, would like to have a word with you four."
The girls quickly understood who, he was referring to. The girls were now beyond scared and fear paced around in their minds.
"Can you not hear me?", Artendo asked, now with a more heavy voice.
The girls trembled and quickly looked up and they saw something terrifying, the aura around their master was nowhere near calm. They looked down in fear and paced in Artendo's direction.
When they arrived in front of their 'master', they greeted their master with a timid voice,
"G-Greetings m-master~~."
"Lets have a quick talk in my chamber.", said Artendo.
"Y-Y-YES~~~ MASTER!!!", all four girls replied in fear.
'OH SHIT, MASTER KNOWS, WE WARNED CRESSIDA BUT STILL. W-W-WHAT WILL HAPPEN NOW!?'
They thought in unison.
*In the DEMON KING's Chamber*
"Cressida De'Lava, the member of the 'SPECIAL GROUP' and one of your fellow disciples has broken the rules of the clan and I know, that you four knew this, did you not?", asked Artendo, seated on his throne, to the girls who still had their heads down from fear.
"..."
"ANSWER ME!", said Artendo in a serious and low voice, but still enough to send chills down the girls' spines.
"Y-yes m-ma-master~~", said the girls in unison again.
They could not look Artendo in the eye, if they did they would drown in fear.
"And what is the one rule that I made for you to follow, if someone breaks my rules?", asked Artendo.
"W-w-we immediately inform our m-master.", said Jasame, while others kept quiet.
"You knew this and still decided to hide it from me? MAY I ASK THE REASON?", Artendo stood up from his throne.
"M-m-m-master w-w-w-we.... um", the girls could not respond.
"Normally, I would abide by a harsh punishment & discipline the ones who broke the RULES OF THE CLAN...."
The girls were now shaking a bit from the words of their master.
"But...."
The girls flinched for a bit.
'BUT?! BUT WHAT....??!', they thought.
"But my mood is good today, so I'll let you off this time."
Artendo's words took some time to register inside the girls' brains.
They were quiet for a bit and all of a sudden they all shouted, in their minds,
'HUH???!! WHAT?! MASTER IS LETTING US OFF EASY?!!!!'
'W-WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO M-MASTER? I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO ROAST US ALIVE AND FEED US TO CERBERUS, B-BUT... HE IS NOT?!'
The girls' brains were now in a total mess. They were not able to think straight. They were trying to clear their mind when they heard their master's voice again.
"Of course I am not letting you off just because of my mood. I have thrown Cressida in the 'PUNISHMENT CHAMBER', and since she was thrown in there, it will count as a loss of her fight. AND HOW HUMILIATING CAN IT BE FOR A WARRIOR SUCH AS HERSELF TO LOSE EVEN WITHOUT A PROPER FIGHT HAHAHAHAHA.", Artendo said with a diabolical laugh which was enough to scare away the soul of the strongest of warriors.
"BUT WHAT AMAZES ME THE MOST IS THAT, KINGSPEARE'S DISCIPLE, 'THE' CHLEVERN NOLLAN EVEN JUMPED INSIDE TO SAVE HER. WHAT A WASTE HAHAHAHAHA!!!", Artendo could not stop laughing.
"HE REFUSED ME. ME, WHO IS THE GREATEST FRAGMENT OF THE 'GREAT SIP OF RECREATION'. ME, WHO IS THE GREATEST DEMON MONANRCH TO EVER EXIST. ME, WHO COULD EASILY CREATE AND DESTROY ANYTHING AT WILL. HE REFUSED THE OFFER TO BE MY DISCIPLE. WHAT COULD I POSSIBLY NOT GIVE HIM? I OFFERED HIM EVERYTHING. YET HE DECIDED TO STAY WITH KINGSPEARE. I WILL CERTAINLY REPAY THIS!!!"
"M-M-M-Master!!!!!!!", the girls looked at the distorted face and the diabolical laugh of their master in dread. They had never seen their master act like this.
SO WHY TODAY?
"CERTAINLY, I DID NOT JUST PUSH CRESSIDA INTO THE PUNISHMENT CHAMBER, BUT.....
I EVEN CAST A SPELL TO BREAK THE SYSTEM CONTROLLING THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CHAMBER. THE PUNISHMENT CHAMBER, WHOSE ONLY JOB IS TO PUNISH A LOST WARRIOR, I HAVE SET IT SO THAT IT CAN EVEN SLAUGHTER THE ONES WHO ARE NOT ABLE TO HANDLE THE PUNISHMENTS OF THE CHAMBER!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA.", Artendo walked past the girls towards the exit of the room. He halted for a bit once he walked past, leaving the girls still standing behind him, and to their surprise, he said one final thing before leaving the chamber.
"CHLEVERN NOLLAN. YOU BETTER NOT DIE IN THE PUNISHMENT CHAMBER! BECAUSE I, THE GREAT ARTENDO SADISTOR HAVE A SCORE TO SETTLE WITH YOU FOR YOUR DISRESPECT. HAHAHAHAHA"
And with this final say, Artendo left his chamber leaving only the girls inside.
"Pheww, Hah, ha", the girls panted once Artendo left the chamber.
They could not believe that they were still in one piece after everything that happened. Afterall, it is not easy to handle such powerful force, which could bring even the the most tenacious to their knees.
"Ha, I thought I was going to suffocate from all that killing intent!", said Jasame, sweating a little.
"You're right. But we've never seen master act this way.", said Ayaka.
"Yeah, even I thought that master was going to kill us, but he let us go that easily.", said Chao.
"But didn't you all hear what master said? He was certainly mad at Cressida and that Chlevern Nollan.", said Kan-Ha.
"Isn't Chlevern Nollan the boy we met at the party yesterday???", asked Chao.
"Yep, the new disciple of Mr. Kingspeare, whom the master lured to become his disciple.", said Jasame.
"Hmph, we have enough boys in the clan as our fellow disciples, so why does master want another one? Couldn't he just choose one of them?", Ayaka asked with a hint of obvious displeasure.
Since all the boys in the clan were head over heels for these girls, another one would just be some more burden on them.
"But since master was so eager, and not to mention the way he talked about him today, it must mean he's somewhat special. I am not sure.", said Chao.
The girls nodded at her response.
"Also didn't you see how Cressida just went on to break the rules and challenge him? She must have sensed something in him right?, maybe she sensed danger.", said Jasame.
"That's a fair point, but he looked pretty normal to us. I wonder what Cressida & master sensed in him?", said Kan-Ha.
"Nevermind lets just forget what happened here and go back to training. If master sees us chatting here, this time he'll surely roast us alive and feed us to Cerberus.", said Ayaka, a little scared.
"Now that you've mentioned, did y'all notice the way master was talking to us today?, when he mentioned about Chlevern. I don't know about you but I could say one thing...", pointed Jasame.
"What?", the girls asked in unison.
"Master seemed.... happy?", said Jamase, shocking the others.
"What?! No way. Maybe its because he was laughing that you thought he was happy. From his words he seemed pretty pissed.", said Chao.
"I know, but, he was not happy about Chlevern.....", Jasame added.
The girls looked curious.
"Maybe he was happy because.... he wants Chlevern to live
... to fulfil his vengeance?", concluded Jasame.
The End.