Superbia's Perfect World

As Superbia continued to look down upon his guests, Syren said, "Are you finished monologuing? I'm getting bored of hearing your voice."

Tyra and Syren were still full of energy. The monsters were still holding under Superbia's command.

"Well, there is one thing that I want to see with my own eyes," Superbia said as he lifted up his left hand revealing a ring. It was a heart-shaped ruby sparking pink. For some unknown reason, Syren could tell that it was similar to the black choker. He could feel a pull towards it as if it was a part of himself. But the ring was on Superbia's hand. "I do say that you were far less disappointing than Libidine. I will give you an advantage that no sane man wouldn't take up."

The whole room was still filled with the pink mist even if the light pierced through it. Superbia commanded, "Three-eyed beasts, lower your weapons. Mages, if you truly love me, then do not engage Syren and the girl."

"What are you planning?" Syren asked.

Superbia continued as he ignored Syren's question, "To the girl wearing silver armor, look upon me."

Tyra was already breathing in the pink mist. All she needed was Superbia's command for the mist to actually activate. With the blink of an eye, Tyra looked at the black samurai with golden cracks with passion. Her heart raced as her face turned red.

"Tyra, are you alright?"

"Beautiful," Tyra said as she tried to contain her feelings, "Such beauty. Such strength. Such power. It's almost as if my eyes see the silver knight himself once more."

Syren immediately became concerned. "What did you do to her, Superbia?"

"This is the power of my ring. The ring that fell once I snuffed out the demon of lust himself."

"You killed another demon?"

"Of course I did. They are my kin, but I am better than all of them. This ring is proof that he couldn't defeat me. Yet, the victory feels so hollow knowing that the victory was assured. Libidine fought well for what he could, but it wasn't enough to stop my blade piercing his heart. It's unfortunate that it doesn't affect beings such as myself... and you."

Syren raised his short shadow blade, while Tyra began to lower her own.

"Tyra..." Syren said worried. He could guess that ring was the reason he could control Tyra. He also assumed that he was using it to control the rioters and military police.

"So, Syren. I will give you a chance to defeat me," Superbia said as he raised his ring finger up to is chest, "Girl in silver armor, if you truly love me, then prepare to slice your own neck."

As soon as he finished that command, Tyra quickly placed her blade right on her neck. With just a command, Superbia could just order her to kill herself. He didn't care one way or another if the girl died. He didn't even care to know her name.

Syren shouted, "Wait. Stop!"

Superbia continued, "Mages, kill yourselves in my name."

All of the mages in the room took out a dagger. Each one stabbed themselves. The lights began to fade. They chanted the name of "Superbia" as they fell to the ground gutted and cold. Soon, it turned back into a regular, old room. Syren no longer needed to cover his own eye to cast a shadow. His shadow blade grew to normal size.

Whisper was dragged into the room by his own unnatural force. He looked as though his entire body was scorched. He ignored the pain as best as he could as soon as he saw the demon standing.

"Superbia..." Whisper quietly exclaimed. Superbia glanced in his direction for a second, but not long enough for Syren to notice.

"Why?" Syren asked as Superbia threw down Syren's black tome.

"That was just to show how superior I am to you - to prove that you are still less than me," the demon said, "And to see what you would do. Now, here's another test."

Syren looked over to Tyra worried. She was still holding her sword up to her neck. She smiled as her face remained pink with love.

Superbia said, "If you wish to fight me alone with all the might and powers you have, then you may. But if you decide to, then know this. I will command that unnecessary girl to cut her neck. It will be a quick death, but more importantly, you will be able to fight me alone. To make it even more fair for the price, I won't even use my sword. You may pick up your black tome and transform into that beast of war, but once you do, then I will take that as you accepting the conditions. So... what do you say? One unimportant girl to let you have an easy match with me?"

Syren gritted his teeth in anger. Whisper suspected that he was actually thinking about it. If Superbia was the demon causing all of this chaos in this town, then defeating him would be his number one priority. Whisper suggested, "Just let the girl die. I doubt that the demon of pride would lie. He's too proud of himself. He might even believe that he can win without a weapon. This would be the easiest way to deal with him. And even if he didn't have control over Tyra's mind and body, the girl might just die anyways in a battle surrounded by hairy creatures. Just accept and we can finish this once and for all-"

"SHUT UP!!!" Syren shouted angrily, "Shut up, you damn demon. I'm sick of hearing you spout such nonsense. I can't believe that I actually seemed to like your company the first time we met. Now, I can see that you're just a heartless monster."

"Yes. Yes, I am. I am a monster. And so is he," Whisper replied calmly, "Kill him and that brings us one step closer to ending this eclipse. What's one more body compared to the rest of the world?"

"You never listen. You just want to kill and kill," Syren said as his shadow blade vanished.

"What are you doing?" Whisper exclaimed with fear for his own life, "He wouldn't care to kill you unarmed. He will stomp you like an ant and kill both of you."

Syren ignored Whisper's begging and looked straight at Superbia. "I refuse to accept your challenge. Let go of Tyra."

Superbia laughed hysterically. "So, even with all of that, I learned of one more weakness. You really are not like the Syren I know. Alright. I will honor the agreement."

With his ring, the pink mist began to seep out of Tyra's lungs. They came right out of her mouth and nose as she began to experience a headache.

"What-what happened?" Tyra asked as she lowered her blade.

"Tyra. Thank goodness," Syren said as he went by her side.

As Syren was checking if Tyra was alright, Whisper and Superbia stared at each other. Superbia was so high up compared to where Whisper stood. Superbia never promised to let them go. Whisper suspected that Superbia would try to kill them all now while he had the chance, but he had different plans.

"I could command my creatures to kill you... but I won't," Superbia said, "Killing you now is pointless. You are too weak with many weaknesses to exploit, but in time, I'm sure you will become far stronger. I hope that when it's time for me to challenge you, I expect it to be a worthy battle. However in the meantime, I will be taking Gula's black choker as my prize. I won't walk out of here without something to show for it. A trophy."

Syren, Tyra, and Whisper looked up at Superbia as he grabbed the black choker from the creature's hand. It melded into his armor and body. It attached itself to his already-shadowy neck. Now, Superbia had two other demonic pieces - a ring and a choker.

As Superbia commanded his three-eyed beasts to scurry into the darkness, he was about to turn around and leave.

"Stop!" Syren said as he picked up his black tome. He flipped through the pages ready to chant a spell. He still couldn't let this demon go.

"If you really want to die, then I will gladly kill you and your girlfriend," Superbia said as turned to face them once more.

"Demon of pride... I can't let you escape. Not after all the chaos that you caused in this town."

"Ahh. You think that these riots are my fault," the demon replied, "I do not care for the politics of ants. I didn't do anything to start this race war."

"What?" Syren exclaimed, "No. You're lying."

"I do not lie. Your so-called demon follower even knows that. He did mention it to you."

"You can see him?"

Superbia ignored that question and continued, "The demon you're looking for is known as Invidia. He was the one who caused the mess in this city. I came here to kill him, but after seeing how pathetic he really is, I saw no real reason to kill such a weak creature."

"Invidia... Where can I find this demon?"

"Living under the rooftop of the soldier that started this thing. The one who killed two lizardfolk. He lives there. You can ask any of those lizards, and they'll gladly give you directions if they think you're going to go over there and kill him."

"I see," Syren replied. He understood Superbia's words. And he could tell that he was telling the truth.

"Oh. I would give some advice on how to defeat him, but you already have two." He paused for a moment. He was going to warn Syren about what Whisper really was, but decided against it. He thought that it didn't really matter if he knew or not. And it was difficult to overcome his nature. Still, Superbia knew that Syren was different. Syren was the closest living, breathing creature to the demons he sought to slay - closer than any family or blood.

The three of them didn't quite understand what he meant by that, but Superbia didn't care to explain. He walked away into the shadows, but before he was gone, he whispered without the others hearing, "The snake speaks both true and false. Do not bother trying to ascertain which is which as the truth is muddled between the lies, and the lies are hidden behind the truth."