The Laughing Swordsman

"W-Where are we going?"

Maya wrapped her arms around her knees, sitting down on a flying chunk of earth. Lucifer, who was standing tall with his hand behind his back, looked at Maya.

"We are going to meet a certain special someone."

Maya narrowed her eyes from the wild currents of wind and the snowflakes battering against her.

"Special?"

Lucifer pointed towards his eye.

"Someone with good eyes. He should be able to find something out about your strange situation."

Maya shivered.

"What?"

Lucifer proceeded to rub his finger against one of the spikes of his black crown.

"The whole demon transformation you got going on."

Maya pouted.

"I don't care about that."

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I care. And it never was about what you wanted anyway."

Maya's eyebrow twitched. She tactfully decided not to respond.

For a while, there was only the sound of rushing wind.

Eventually, they reached a strange city. The walls were black and towering, along with several black pillars shooting high up into the sky. If one paid closer attention, they would notice various veins on the walls, almost making it look alive.

Maya's eyes widened. She couldn't help but stand up to take a closer look.

Lucifer caught onto Maya's reaction from the corner of his eye.

"Haha, would you believe it if I told you that these walls were created by someone's heart?"

Maya furrowed her brows, clearly confused, but did not respond. There was a tinge of fear in her expression.

Lucifer smirked, noticing that fear.

"There is even a chance that you two are related. Don't be afraid! Maybe he's your long lost grandpa."

Maya frowned.

"...What?"

Lucifer opened his mouth to respond but suddenly froze. He raised an eyebrow, almost like he was a moment away from stepping onto dog poop.

"This is... rather strange."

Maya took a peek too, and the moment she did, her eyes widened.

There were countless dead bodies littered across the ground along with debris. The only thing left that proved many houses used to be standing were the orderly pits in the ground where they used to be.

As for the farms, they were messed up entirely. Several white potatoes were scattered across upturned dirt, most of which were crushed.

The corpses lying on the ground seemed to die in a variety of ways. Some of them were cleanly bisected, mostly horizontally. However, the majority of them were in the form of several pieces, such as hands, heads, and torsos. And more than even that, was the mush, seemingly from crushed bodies.

But that was not the most notable thing to Maya.

It was because they were all demons. In other words, this was a city filled with demons.

Maya took a deep breath.

"I guess this a good thing."

Lucifer laughed.

"How could you be so heartless? Demons have feelings too!"

Maya furrowed her brows.

"They do?"

Lucifer put a finger on his chin.

"Ah, well... not all of them, but they all do at the start. Regardless, you should care more. You are part demon, aren't you?"

Maya scoffed.

"I never chose to be this way. Why should I care about someone just because we are the same species?"

The corner of Lucifer's lip turned up.

"While I do agree with you, that is logic that applies to most people."

Maya pouted.

"Whatever."

Further in the city was what seemed to be the aftermath of a series of large explosions. Several craters were next to each other, casually scattered about, forming a cone-like formation.

And at the tip of that cone, was a demon laying there.

Lucifer lowered the earth platform down next to that demon, which sunk into the ground seamlessly. He chuckled.

"You don't seem to be in the best of conditions."

The demon looked up at Lucifer. He had five horns on his head along with a head of white hair. There was also a suit that covered his body, but it was quite dirty now.

"...Have you come here to kill me?"

Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"Why are you just jumping to conclusions? This isn't like you at all, Serosh."

Serosh narrowed his eyes.

"You... know my name?"

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders.

"You are a famous five-horned demon. Is it not natural to know your name?"

Serosh frowned.

"For a demon, yes."

He forced himself to sit up and sucked in a sharp breath. Then, glared at Lucifer.

"But not for a human."

Lucifer waved his hand dismissively.

"The fine details aren't important."

Serosh looked at him with confusion clear on his face. After what seemed to be a bit of internal struggle, a bitter smile formed on his face.

"I suppose so."

Lucifer rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"Say, what happened here?"

Serosh immediately frowned. He laid back down on the ground with a soft thump and sighed.

"In essence, I was a fool."

Lucifer scoffed.

"I already knew that part."

Serosh's eyebrow twitched.

"Anyways, the managers of the city rebelled, turning the city against me. After killing them, I attempted to convince the townsfolk that I had their best interests. If not, why would I build houses for them and create a special seed for them to grow food during the winter."

He took a deep breath.

"But a spiteful three-horned demon I let off previously decided to rally them up against me once I left to recover from my wounds. I tried to convince them again, but they just wouldn't listen. In the end, I killed them all."

Lucifer laughed mockingly.

"What did you think was going to happen?"

A bitter smile formed on Serosh's face.

"I thought that they might have taken into consideration how much I've done so that they could lead a proper life. How much I cared for them. In my eyes, we were something more than just a group of people. We were one big family."

He closed his eyes.

"Was I wrong to think that way?"