When the Corruption of Fate told her that Dianthus could move spirits around, she expected him to use one spell to trap and move them, the same one most mages used to do the same damn thing.
A spell she could replicate.
But no, he simply brute forced it along the way, taking a spirit he picked (at least he waited for her to agree on the one chosen) into his body, something that would’ve forced a possession on a normal mage.
Something she couldn’t use to catch her own spirits later, not having the immunity to everything that Dianthus had.
“Why do you look so disappointed?”
“Because I am.”
“Well, not everyone can be as perfect as I am.”
For someone so supposedly perfect, you keep messing things up constantly… She hadn’t wondered why none of the Arhontissian novice mages liked to be in the Chosen One’s company.
From the official mage Cardomos had murdered to reach him, to the number of life threatening situations he got involved because of the law of fuck around and find out, Dianthus was not someone to stick with if someone wanted a safe, long life.
He’s an elephant in a porcelain shop on a good day, and a liability on a bad one. That’s why she didn’t originally plan on keeping him with her. And yet… she wanted those ghosts…
It wasn’t like she couldn’t craft her staff without catching more, since she still had the ghost in the mirror; she simply wanted to use all the free resources she could get her hands on.
Why leave all these ghosts for the next mage to come here? It was first come, first served! She wasn’t known for sharing!
“You’re going to drill a hole in my back from staring.” Dianthus said without turning his head around, walking in front of her.
Correction, she was looking at the mist coming from his body, the one from the ghost, still trying to find any way to move them in a similar manner herself.
They were going back to the temple where the ritual had taken place, and back where she had left the mermaid. Now, she doubted that Dianthus had been there beforehand, but, since the Voice of Corruption had pretty much abandoned her, it was probably the thing now guiding Dianthus.
…
Dianthus was now having several dilemmas, some of them caused by Velvet herself, and some with her as a consequence.
The most important one was the fact that the Director, and, with her, some Mergifari mages, knew about his companion’s identity. And there was zero chance of them ignoring him after this.
In addition, the Director was one of the two beings he couldn’t read the mind of, and, based on Velvet’s own thoughts, the Prophet, the one who probably found out about his companion first, was also a mind reader, something he wanted to keep hidden.
“Can’t you see if it knows?” He asked the Corruption.
“Not unless you get close to it, which would make the idea meaningless.”
Dianthus raised a hand to his chin to think, but when Velvet’s eyes and mind flinched at that, recording his movements, he changed to scratch his face.
Miss knowledge mage, I’m trying to have a conversation here… Something he was sure about was that Velvet didn’t know about his mind reading ability… yet. The fact that she had previously met a mind reader meant that she knew about them existing, so, if he messed up his words or actions, she would connect the dots.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Trying to not answer her thoughts or make comments about things she never had said was the obvious, but so was not addressing properly the issues he wanted to address.
Namely, why the fuck was Frenese free? And why, pray fucking tell, was she not begging for his help to restrain him again?!
Did she forget- no, because she was a knowledge mage- about what the damned Devil had done? He ate their companions alive, and mindbroke the rest! What was her plan once Dianthus left? To ask Frenese to pretty please enter his book prison before exiting?
Making a Deal with him while he was sealed, only to release him back into the depths of hell where he belonged at the end was one thing. And having him roaming around, eating, was another.
This wasn’t some pet that Velvet clumsily let loose, no, it was a Gluttony Devil, a being forever starving.
If gluttony mages were known for going cannibal pretty quickly, beings from the same Paradigm who weren't ever humans dug human meat from their birth. And any other kind of meat, since they were more about quantity than quality.
Since he woke up, he’d been hoping for Velvet to at least think about the issue, but she was way more worried about managing to catch more ghosts, all while Frenese kept getting way too close for comfort every now and then.
He and Velvet had a Devil's Pact, so the Devil was aware of Velvet’s location, never approaching enough to trigger her paper figurines, which were scouting her surroundings constantly. But not far enough to escape Dianthus’ radar.
Frenese wouldn’t harm Velvet, but, to the Devil, Dianthus was an unlimited food source. One he had tasted back then.
Craving a second feast? Forget it, if Velvet didn’t plan on including him on the issue, he was including himself.
He stopped walking, and Velvet did the same, without taking a step further on accident, recalling her paper figurines back to her.
There was a chance of him wanting to silence me to keep the number of mages aware of the Corruption of Fate controlled. Oh well. She thought, smiling at his back.
That’s not the issue here! Don’t pin this on me! It wasn’t like he didn’t think about the problems that Velvet knowing his secret could cause. She wasn’t a strong mage, and he was ab-so-lu-te-ly sure that, if she got threatened enough, Velvet would sell Dianthus in a blink.
And it wasn’t like the girl didn’t have enemies, some of them with reasons.
Even so, he had never considered the option of killing her. For that particular thing, at least. He wasn’t the kind to betray the one that saved him, after all, and yet… Depending on her answer about Frenese’s freedom, he might choose to beat some sense into her.
Seconds passed in silence between them, until Velvet got tired of waiting for him. “Something wrong?”
You tell me! “Something is following us, or someone, depending on what term you want to use.”
“Depends on how smart they are.” Velvet said, adding to herself, Didn’t Frenese eat everything here already? Maybe he is saving something from later. Even so, with a bigger predator on the loose, none of the previous dangers should have something like hunting on their minds.
“It’s something we’ve met before. Emphasis on we. Something whose name starts with F and ends with Enese, with an R between those.”
Velvet smile flinched. “Oh.”
Ugh, why did Frenese need to get close now? Couldn’t he wait for Dianthus to dip first? I wanted to keep his freedom a secret… not that it was possible, since the Corruption probably snitched already.
Forget the maybe, he was SO beating some sense into her. “Oh? Is that everything you have to say?” He took a step towards her, putting his hands on his hips, imitating a disappointed tutor… and letting Velvet see his hands, since she teleported two paper figurines right next to his face the moment he moved back. “Don’t get trigger happy now, I’d prefer getting answers before choosing if beating you up, but we can do it the other way around.”
“Aren’t you cocky for someone who just lost?”
“Lost against an Archmage. I can punt you into the sun without breaking a sweat.” Even when he would very much prefer not to. It wasn’t his fault that Velvet distrusted him so much… or maybe it was the flirting, some girls he knew also got pretty hostile when he teased them… and some guys… Ok, maybe he did have some fault.
And now Velvet was showing some teeth with her smile, so she was pissed. But, since she still hadn’t attacked, he could fix it. “What I’m asking is, what’s your feeding plan for the man-eating Devil?”
Velvet didn’t relax her position, nor her figurines, but chose to answer. “I have a present for someone very high on the Mergifari’s command, so, I’m going to ask to be allowed entry to the Unnamed Forest in return.”
One of the beings that can cure Nereus resides there, after all.
