Days with the demon queen
Chapter 32: Brewing tension

Chapter 32: Brewing tension

The demon had revealed his true form, his thick black coloured eyes glared at Ronnie with a smile drawn across his lips.

"What did you do with Josh?!" Ronnie asked in an enraged tone.

"Oh I don’t know where the boy is. He’s probably dead, I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you" the demon flashed a mischievous smile.

"I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you" Ronnie muttered, he gripped the short sword in his possession tighter and plunged it towards the demon. It dodged again. This made Ronnie go on a rampage, blindly swinging the sword and missing the demon repeatedly.

The demon managed to dig it’s sharp fingers into Ronnie and he winced, staggering back a few steps. The demon licked Ronnie’s blood off his finger and grinned.

"Well well, what do we have here? You taste delicious, I can only wonder how much more delicious your aura would taste" it stated.

"You can only guess, but you won’t get to know. Hands off, this one’s mine" Lily’s voice echoed from behind them.

Ronnie turned to her, she carried an exhausted Josh on her shoulder.

"Ron, I told you I’d be fine on my own hehe, I was awesome" Josh said weakly.

"Sure you were, Joshua" Lily concurred.

"And you, I leave you alone for a second and you’re getting beat bloody by a mid level demon. What happened to all that tough talk?" Lilith asked.

"This woman— what are you? your aura is overwhelming" the demon shuddered.

"It is? why thank you, I’m not fully regenerated. There’s more" Lily smirked.

As the demon tried to disappear into the shadows, Lily lit a controlled green flame in the palm of her hand and shot it towards the demon. The flames incinerated it to ash in less than five seconds.

Both Ronnie and Josh stared at her in awe.

"I— didn’t need your help" Ronnie uttered in a slightly disgusted tone.

"Sure you didn’t" Lily said, walking towards him.

"I could have handled it on my own. It’s my test" Ronnie replied.

"You could have died, you’re no match for mid level demons. Your friend got lucky" Lily stayed.

"I did defeat those phantoms didn’t I?" Ronnie asked.

"Did you forget the part where you almost lost your life?" Lily asked. She was getting irritated.

"It’s my life, isn’t it? If I don’t get strong then how can I protect you?" Ronnie asked.

"Those memories I saw— they were horrifying. If there’s even a chance that you’d go through that again then I don’t want to take any chances!" Ronnie raised his voice.

Lily opened her mouth as to speak, but she drew her words back in. The two stared at each other.

"Um— I think I’m good now. You can put me down, miss Lilian" Josh broke the silence and the two broke their stare. Lily carefully put him down.

"I’ll go on ahead if that’s okay" Josh suggested.

"Not a chance!" Both Ronnie and Lily chorused.

They looked at each other and Ronnie wore a flustered look on his face, so did Lily.

Screams could be heard on different corners of the maze as Ronnie and his companions walked through. Demons approached them occasionally due to Lily releasing her concealing spell and Ronnie’s aura seeping out of him.

As they came to a turn, the gang came across a young man facing off with a demon. His strength was on par with the demon. Ultimately, he impaled it with a sword.

"How is that even possible?" Ronnie muttered in awe.

"How’s he that strong?" Josh added.

"There are humans, and there are stronger humans. We should get going" Lily said.

"You, halt" the young man commanded as Lily walked away.

"What?" Lily asked in a nonchalant tone.

"You smell like them. That disgusting aura, why do you smell like them?" He asked in a gruff voice.

"Who knows? I must have gotten some demon blood on me." Lily shrugged.

"I know what you are. You must be holding this young boys captive. Vile creature." The man presumed, walking closer to them. An intense look flickered in his eyes.

"Mister whoever you think you are, don’t call Lily names" Ronnie said.

"Silence, you’ve been bewitched. Your free will has been taken away" The man stated, he took a stance.

"Ronnie, sit this one out. He’s out of your league" Lily instructed. Before any of them had any time to react, he charged at Lily with a sword, attempting to slash her head.

The sword made a sound like it had hit metal, Lily didn’t have a scratch on her. She gave the attacker a slight chop by the side of his neck and he passed out cold.

"Did you kill him?!" Ronnie asked in panic.

"He’s passed out. Why are you so on edge? you’ve been treating me like a ticking explosive since we got here and I don’t appreciate it" Lily vented, pushing the collapsed man off her.

"You’re a demon alright? not just any demon. You’re in a league of your own. Do anything irrational and these officials will attack you without thinking twice" Ronnie explained.

"I’m not a child, Ronald. And I am most certainly not stupid" Lily snapped. Josh took a few steps forward, ignoring their drama and trying to examine the unconscious man.

"I never called you stupid!" Ronnie responded.

"You insinuated it" Lily uttered.

"I—" Ronnie was interrupted by the echoing sound of a buzzer.

"sounds like the test is over" Josh speculated as he stood upright.

"Over? has it been 24 hours already?" Ronnie asked.

"If you paid more attention instead of babying me you’d know that time runs different in this maze." Lily said. She condensed a ball of fire in her hand and blew a hole straight through the maze till it made an exit.

"You’re welcome," Lily said, walking through the shattered walls. Ronnie was left speechless, he stared as she disappeared into the distance.

"girl troubles? I get that all the time" Josh said in a coy manner.

"Don’t start. What do we do with him? He pretty much passed the test" Ronnie moved the subject, pointing at the unconscious man.

"We’ll carry him. Even though he did try to kill Lilian" Josh suggested.

"I’ll take care of him, you should get yourself checked. You look injured, Josh." Cynthia came out of nowhere.

Josh was startled by her presence.

"How did— you?" Josh asked.

"You passed the test, you have a lot more than this to worry about. You need rest. You’ll pick your magic attribute next" Cynthia said, throwing a man with much more weight than her on her shoulders and walking off.

"Attribute huh?" Ronnie muttered, gripping his shirt.