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“Now, come at me with everything you have. Attack me like you genuinely want to kill me. That’s the only way I know I’ll be able to understand exactly how strong you are.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.”
From his position on the sidelines, Zaruchim watches Riou and their newest recruit square off against each other in what might have once been a town square on top of Faudo, now crumbled to ruin but cleared away enough that they can use it for this sort of thing.
An uneasiness sits in his gut.
I told Riou I was against this… But it seems like he’s determined to find out this demon’s strength for himself.
The demon’s partner is sitting next to him. Her expression is unreadable, even ignoring the mask she’s wearing over one of her eyes. She doesn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that her partner is fighting without her.
Of course, that’s very much by design. Riou told Rodeaux that he didn’t want this to be about powers. If the two of them were going to square off against each other in a real battle, spells and all, let it be after the task of unleashing Faudo was complete; for now, he just wanted to gauge whether his fighting acumen was as good as his Dioga-class spell would lead them to believe.
Rodeaux was the first person the two of them had been able to recruit. It’s obvious enough why. There’s a smell of ambition on him that makes Zaruchim’s nose crinkle. Not that it’s an unexpected thing; going into this, Riou seemed more surprised that Zaruchim seemed to have no ambitions of his own, at least none that went against Riou’s.
Zaruchim is a little surprised by that himself, honestly. But he sees something in Riou he knows he doesn’t have, something that might actually make him able to reach higher than everyone, climb above everyone. This is an insane plan and it would take an insane person to follow someone willingly into it, but here Zaruchim stands, at Riou’s side, willingly. Not because he got one whiff of power and decided to play at loyalty like Rodeaux.
This sparring match makes him uneasy.
He thinks Rodeaux is a little too eager to fight Riou, to start with.
But Zaruchim isn’t the one in charge here. Riou has the master plan, and it’s up to Zaruchim to make it work as best he can.
So for the moment, the simple fact that he has said his piece and Riou has assured him he knows what he’s doing will have to be enough.
It’s not like Riou doesn’t see the murderous intent in Rodeaux’s eyes. In fact, he would probably be disappointed if Rodeaux didn’t want to kill him, all things considered.
Riou isn’t looking for loyalty. He’s surprised enough to have found it in Zaruchim. Asking it from anyone else he could recruit to this insane scheme would definitely be asking too much. There’s a reason he’s come to this plan with the tools that he has at his disposal; he doesn’t think anything less than that would be enough.
Anyone who is willing to follow him in this is definitely looking for the first chance they have to stab him in the back. He understands this. He’s fine with it.
After all, it’s just one more thing for him to remember when they inevitably fail and he becomes king.
Rodeaux, for his blatantly traitorous nature— he doesn’t even pretend not to hide the fact that he openly disdains Riou and has no intentions of following his orders beyond what’s convenient for him, which he supposes is at least refreshing to see versus people trying to cloak their intentions behind veils of deceit— is strong. He has the air of a fighter about him, and not just because of the competition.
He’s all sharp teeth and claws, biting comments and a lashing tongue. It’s going to get him killed some day, Riou can tell.
For now, he hopes to use it. All of it. Rodeaux might say that he has no intentions of serving Riou, only to work alongside him to further the goal of unleashing Faudo, but all that tells Riou is that he has to find the right way to make Rodeaux submit.
This seems like a good enough place to start. And besides; it truly will help him to know how strong all of his subordinates are, beyond just their spells.
That way he knows who the real threats are.
When he tells Rodeaux to come at him with all his strength, like he’s really trying to kill him, Rodeaux doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t think that Rodeaux would actually kill him, but he does think that the only reason he’s holding back is because he knows that killing Riou or even burning his book now would only hurt his chances of getting his hands on Faudo, the prize he so clearly covets for submitting to someone else— something he can tell from the darkness in his eyes makes his skin itch and his blood boil.
Otherwise, he’s sure that just for the insult of trying to control him in the first place, Rodeaux would happily rip his throat out.
Or more likely, die trying.
Riou has already seen some of how Rodeaux fights, although Zaruchim has seen more of it, when he was sent to gather him to their cause. Rodeaux isn’t the type to hang back and let his partner cast spells; he would rather be in the action, fighting with fists and feet, with his spells supplementing his already impressive speed and power.
And speed is definitely Rodeaux’s primary strength. Power he has, to be sure, but even Riou has trouble following when he launches himself at him. He has the added advantage of mobility as well, with his wings, and for the first few minutes of the fight it takes most of Riou’s concentration just to block his attacks, keeping him trapped on the defensive.
For a few moments— to an outsider— it might almost seem like he’s losing.
Riou knows better than to think that a fight is won or lost purely on who can attack the other the most, though.
“Hah… You know, when I heard that you had a Dioga-class spell, I expected you to be a talented fighter. I suppose your partner is better at her job than she looks, though.”
It’s a simple, casual insult. It means almost nothing. The strength of a demon’s spells is their strength, and most demons wouldn’t even begin to know how to fight without their powers.
But Rodeaux isn’t most demons. Riou can smell the lust for battle on him. And to boot, Rodeaux already hates him.
Even someone with as obvious a temper as Rodeaux has wouldn’t be fooled into completely lashing out after just one insult like that, but Riou doesn’t need him to completely lose his cool— he just needs that one moment, that singular angle of weakness that he can exploit, and Rodeaux is all too happy to give it to him. He sees the way his eye twitches and his jaw clenches as he comes in harder and even faster than before. He’s determined to break through Riou’s defence in order to land a hit on him as a punishment for his mockery, but he’s failed to do his due diligence in making sure that the way Riou has been pushed to the defensive isn’t a feint— or just a chance for him to lie in wait for Rodeaux to show his true colours.
Rodeaux is good. He’s clearly been in many fights in his time, clearly come out on top of most of them but taken a few good beatings in his life. When Riou finds a chance to strike, Rodeaux doesn’t even let the pain faze him, just keeps fighting through it even as Riou’s claws rip through his clothing and tear into flesh— but his reaction time is dulled by his desire to hurt more than his desire to win, and that’s what proves to be his downfall.
Rodeaux is good, but Riou has had his training beaten into him since birth. He carries the weight of his clan on his shoulders. He’s not about to be deterred from his goal, or beaten by someone who has as petty a desire as freedom.
Rodeaux doesn’t fall easily. But fall he does, because as soon as Riou finds an opening, he presses it— he won’t let Rodeaux fall back, won’t let him go on the defensive. As hard as Rodeaux pressed him, he presses back, but the difference between them is that he already knows what Rodeaux is capable of, what is a real opening and what isn’t— and Rodeaux never manages to regain his footing, until finally Riou has him panting on the ground.
He plants both of his front feet firmly on Rodeaux’s chest. He’s not gentle about it, either. He presses weight down into his chest until he feels ribs creak and Rodeaux’s breath become that much more strained.
Rodeaux might be bigger than him, even accounting for the fact that Riou is on four legs instead of two, but that counts for very little in the long run.
When he slams the bottom of his staff against the crumbling flagstone next to Rodeaux’s head, out of the corner of his eye he sees Rodeaux’s partner stiffen up, her fists clenching until her knuckles turn white even though her facial expression never changes and she doesn’t actually make any move to get up from where she’s sitting on the sidelines.
At least one of the pair is smart— and much better at keeping their emotions in check.
Good to know.
Riou leans in close to Rodeaux, buckling his front legs as he does which allows him to press even more of his weight into his chest.
“You might hate serving under people, Rodeaux… But never forget that it’s the right of the strong to control and dominate the weak. If you don’t want to serve under someone… Try not being so weak.”
Rodeaux grits his teeth so hard Riou can practically hear them grinding against each other, before his expression turns from a glare that would probably send lesser men running for the hills into a nasty and vicious grin that would probably do the same.
“When Faudo is unleashed… I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Is that a threat or a promise?”
“Both.”
The precarious position Rodeaux finds himself in doesn’t stop him from spitting right in Riou’s face— and after Riou recoils, one of his feet goes from Rodeaux’s chest to pressing down into his throat.
“Just do as I tell you,” he growls at him. “Collect powerful demons. Help me unseal Faudo.”
Then, as he lifts his hoof from Rodeaux’s throat— allowing the older demon to take a deep gasp of breath just as his partner jumps up from her seat, finally unable to stand by and watch as she goes to Rodeaux’s side to help him up into a sitting position— Riou turns and walks away.
He only looks back over his shoulder to add one final,
“You can kill me after.”