Interlude 5 - Nuke it

A few minutes before, while the Piraca Nobles were still discussing in the main hall, a few dozen Thralls were walking around in the corridors in the lower levels of the fortress.

On its own, this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. There were hundreds of those creatures in the castle and most of them were still busy working. But while these Piraca seemed completely normal at first glance, a more thorough inspection would have revealed that there was something wrong about them. They all had unfocused eyes, blank expression and stiff, puppet-like movements, which would be more than enough to clue in any sufficiently attentive onlooker that something was not right about them. However there was no one paying enough attention to the Thralls to notice these things.

These weird Piraca kept stumbling around in the fortress in complete silence, yet another weird thing for their kind. Normally, whenever there wasn't a Noble present, the Thralls chatted endlessly with each other, usually complaining about pretty much everything, but these ones just kept walking in complete silence. They  went on for a while, until their wandering took them in front of a long and narrow flight of stairs that had been dug into the very stone of the mountain. Without hesitation, the Thralls took those stairs, which ended up in a small empty room, with no way out except a small balcony which had been dug on the side of the mountain and faced right over a sixty meters tall cliff. There were however signs of another passage that had been walled up rather recently, and not really skillfully either, since the stones were badly connected and a tiny rivulet of green goo leaked from a few cracks.

This was exactly the place that the Thralls had been looking for.

One of them nodded to the others and opened its beak, retrieving a black spherical object that he was keeping hidden in its mouth and putting it against the leaking wall. The others imitated it, taking out identical objects from their beaks and piling them near the first one, but three of them were stopped from doing so by one of their group who put itself in front of them and started talking in a weird, high pitched and chittering voice unlike that of any Piraca.

“You do not-not put the bombs here!” He cried. “We have enough-enough to destroy this wall already! Remember-remember the other orders! If we have enough bombs, we must-must try to hurt-hurt the Crimson Devil! And we have more than enough bombs! So we try to kill-kill the Crimson Devil! Like the Lady ordered us!”

Those three Thralls stopped in their tracks, and the one who had spoken, who seemed to act as their leader, continued to give them orders.

“You, you and you!” He said. “Go-go back to the big room and wait-wait! When you hear the explosion, throw-throw your bombs at the Crimson Devil!”

“Yes-yes!” The three Piraca replied in unison, before taking the stairs to go back to the upper levels of the fortress.

The apparent leader of these Thralls gestured for the others to wait, in order to give those three the time to reach the main hall, and started waiting patiently. However, despite its stoic appearance, inside of his head he was getting more and more impatient.

“This meat-suit is terribly-terribly uncomfortable!”  He thought with annoyance. “Piraca Thralls are bad-bad. Their heads are too small and cramped! My legs are getting numb-numb in here! I need-need to stretch a bit!”

The Piraca Thrall suddenly became tense and stiff, starting to move spastically in a seemingly painful manner, and then eight long and incredibly thin spider legs emerged from its beak, flexing and stretching in the air.

“Aaaaah! That's better-better!” The creature inside the Thrall's head thought with relief.

The Thrall's body twitched a bit more as the legs retreated back inside, before starting to move normally once again. To anyone familiar with the creatures of the Caligare Forest, it would have been perfectly clear that the unfortunate Piraca was the host of a Cerebrarachnid —also known as Brain Spiders—, a species of sentient, parasitic spiders that used other living things as living puppets by attaching themselves to their brains.

It took some time for the Brain Spider to reattach itself properly to the nerves of the Thrall, since he had to be extra careful not to trigger one of the many Piraca reflexes that made those creatures suddenly regurgitate a copious amount of acid. If he made a single wrong move, he could find himself melted to a puddle, which was the main reason why Brain Spiders almost never took over a Piraca. He had only made an exception this time because the Pale Lady had ordered him to infiltrate the castle, and in order to do so he needed to wear one of these uncomfortable meat suits.

When he was finally back in control of the Piraca’s body, Cerebrarachnid waited a few other minutes, just to be on the safe side, and then finally decided that it was time to light up the bombs.

He gestured for the others to get away and then he took a small sack that he had been hiding under its tongue. The sack, made of Piraca skin, contained two flints and a small quantity of dark green powder. The Brain Spider poured the powder in a long line that went from the bomb to the stairs, creating a makeshift fuse. Then, with utmost care, he kneeled and used the flints to set it off.
As soon as a spark touched the powder, it started to fizzle and the fire quickly spread towards the bombs, and the Cerebrarachnid immediately ran away as fast as possible.

Less than ten seconds later, an incredibly powerful explosion shook the whole fortress.

Back in the great hall of the fortress, following the explosion most of the Nobles had started screeching like a bunch of scared crows. A couple of them even tripped and fell down the Pond, though luckily, being Piraca, their skin protected them from the acid of the pool.

Turemalac himself had been taken completely by surprise, and for a few seconds he remained frozen on his throne, trying to process what was happening, but the noise made it difficult for him to concentrate. So, he decided that the first thing to do was to bring back some order.

“Silence!” He shouted, jumping from his throne, but his voice was drowned in the screeches of the Piraca, so he sighed with annoyance and borrowed power from the Pond, infusing it into his own voice.

“SILENCE!” He commanded, and this time his Nobles heard him —it was kinda impossible not to, since his empowered voice literally shook the whole fortress— and they stopped in their track, turning their heads towards the Emperor.

But while the Nobles had regained their composure, Turemalac had discovered something that almost made him lose his own. While using his powers, he had sensed a huge leak at the bottom of the pond, and right now months worth of goo were spilling out every second.

That was far from positive, but luckily Turemalac possessed the means to put a stop to it.

He made a gesture with one hand, and the goo immediately solidified into a gelatinous substance, effectively stopping the leak. Then, as that problem had been put on hold for the moment, he turned to his court.

“Someone tried to sabotage our Pond!” He announced. “There is a breach on the lower levels, but I've made the goo solid so it won't spill out! Search the castle for intruders, and then repair that leak!”

The Nobles nodded in unison and started to move. But one of them stopped to look outside from one of the windows, and then turned to the Emperor with a worried expression on his face.

“Ehm... your Excellency?” He said.

“What is it now?” Turemalac replied, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

“Uhm... You probably already know that, but...” The Noble hesitated for a moment. “You're aware that the mist barrier is dissipating, yes?”

“What!?” Turemalac shouted, and jumped off his throne to look from the window. And there, under the pale moonlight, he could clearly see that the acid barrier that was defending the fortress was indeed getting thinner and thinner. And apparently, from the war cries coming from the orc camp, the orcs had noticed it too.

“What the hell is that!?!” He cried. “Why is the barrier dissolving!?!” But right after asking that question, he realized that he was to blame for that, since solidifying the goo had stopped the leak but at the same time it had stopped the production of the mist that fueled the barrier.

“Shit!” He cried. “Get the Thralls down to the lower levels! Now! We have to plug the leak quickly! Hurry u...”

He couldn't complete the sentence, as he saw something round and landing a few steps away from him. A fizzling fuse dangled from it, sending sparks flying in the air, and it only took Turemalac a fraction of a second to realize that the object looked worryingly similar to a bomb.

The Emperor instinctively dived for cover —not a very regal thing to do but he deemed survival to be more important than dignity at the moment— and half a second later the bomb exploded, sending chips of stone flying everywhere and filling the hall with dark, sulfur-smelling smoke and shattering whatever semblance of order Turemalac had managed to impose over his court. A lot of the Nobles started screeching in pain as pieces of stone had hit them and buried in their skin, while the others were too confused and panicked to do anything else but dropping on the ground or trying to run away.

But in the midst of that chaos, the Emperor somehow managed to not lose control, since he was far too pissed to give in to panic. He immediately raised his eyes searching for the author of that vile attack, and he saw a couple of figures moving on a balcony right above his throne, tinkering with something while clearly trying to be stealthy.

These two mysterious individuals then raised their hands and threw two other bombs, but this time Turemalac was ready. While the bombs flew in the air, the Emperor made a gesture with his hand and two tentacles of glowing goo emerged from the Pond, darting in front of the Emperor and grabbing the bombs before they could touch the ground. The bombs immediately dissolved in the acid before they could explode, and with another gesture Turemalac sent the tentacles towards the attackers.

One of them managed to dodge, jumping away from a window and disappearing into the night, but the other wasn't quite as quick and the gooey tentacle reached its prey, coiling itself against the figure and dragging it back, kicking and screaming, to the hall, where the Emperor could finally identify it.

The attacker was a Thrall.

Turemalac stared at the unfortunate creature in disbelief for a good few moments, staying completely still while trying to process this information. But then a terrible suspicion started to take form in his mind and together with it came a terrible, boiling rage, that kept rising until he couldn't contain it anymore.

“Treason!” He screamed with absolute fury, and with another flicker of his hand, the goo suddenly started moving.

The Piraca were immune to the acid of the Pond, but the Emperor had spent a significant part of his free time devising creative ways to circumvent this resistance, just in case he needed to put down one of his subjects. Now, at the peak of his rage, he decided to employ one of the most gruesome ones he came up with.

Tendrils of goo started to force themselves into the mouth of the Thrall, quickly turning into a veritable stream that poured directly into the creature's gullet. The Thrall thrashed and kicked in agony to no avail as its belly started to get bigger and bigger, inflating like a balloon. Then, with a wet sounding pop, the Thrall literally exploded, sending goo and innards flying everywhere in the room.

The Emperor remained still for a few moments, breathing frantically and trying to cool down after his outburst, when he realized that the room was now completely silent. Turning around, he saw that the Nobles were completely still, scared into immobility by the gruesome display of his power. He could clearly see the fear in their face as they tried to appear as insignificant as possible, as to not draw his attention and risk being the next target of his fury.

Sadly, this display just stroked his anger even more. Treason was the one thing Turemalac absolutely could not tolerate, and his paranoia fueled his fury until it reached the point of a murderous insanity.

“Well, it seems we've got a case of treason in our hands!” He hissed, and the bubbling of the pond accompanied his every word. “And at least one of the traitors is a Thrall, to boot! Ain't that funny?” He snickered, but the sound lacked any sort of amusement. It was cold and dangerous, like the noise of a blade grinding on ice. “I thought that Thralls lacked the parts of the brains necessary to even consider betrayal... unless there is someone guiding them, that is.”

He stared intensely at the Nobles, to see if the traitor would betray himself. But all of the Piraca reacted the same way, which was to try and avoid his murderous gaze. But Turemalac didn't relent, keeping on staring daggers at his court while the bubbling of the Pond became louder and louder and the tension in the air grew exponentially.

In the end, since it seemed that the Emperor's rage wouldn't quell unless he got to kill someone, the Nobles resorted to the age-old trick known to all those who meddled in politics: throwing someone else to the wolves to save their hide.

“My lord!” Gulamag cried, his voice high pitched with fear. “If there is a traitor among us, it has to be Miriadon! He has all but challenged your authority many times!”

“What!?!” The accused noble cried in outrage, though there was also an undertone of panic in his voice. “How dare you accuse me!?! I've never questioned our Emperor's authority! I've just offered my honest advice, like a trusty retainer is supposed to do! If anything, you are the one who would benefit the most from our great leader's absence! You are basically his second in command, and with both me and him out of the picture you'd inherit the power!”

“That's pure hogwash and you know it!”  Gulamag replied huffily. “My loyalty is unquestionable...”

The two would have likely gone further, throwing accusations and insults towards each other, if not outright coming to blows, if Turemalac hadn't interrupted them.

“Both of you shut up!” The Emperor cried, his words underlined by a tremor coming from the Pond.

The two became immediately silent, with their eyes wide with fear, and the other Nobles suddenly moved away from them in order to avoid being caught in the aftermath of whatever punishment the Emperor would inflict them.

However, at the moment Turemalac had his mind elsewhere. His anger had gone well beyond the boiling point and now it was turning into a cold, icy fury, no less intense but a state that allowed him to actually think.

“Shouldn't have lost control like that.” He thought. “I should have interrogated that Thrall before killing it. Now I don't know who else is on this betrayal.” He looked at his Nobles, not bothering to conceal the look of paranoid suspicion in his eyes. “It could be any of them. Despite all of their prattle about loyalty to their Emperor and all that crap, they had no qualms about betraying me as soon as it was convenient! The only thing they needed was an opportunity to do so!” He paused for a second, as a grim resolution started to form inside of his mind. “And if I can't trust them, I better off without them. This batch was flawed anyway. Better to start over elsewhere and forget about this whole fiasco.”

But while the Emperor was thinking to himself, wild roars came from outside. A quick glance from a window revealed that the barrier had completely dissipated and that the orc army was moving towards the fortress, like a tide of pure violence. The Nobles noticed that as well and a look of alarm flashed in their eyes, but still no one dared to move, as their fear of Turemalac was still greater than their fear of the invaders.

“Talk about shitty situations!” The Emperor thought. “It never rains, it pours! Still...” He had to repress a wicked smirk as a fiendish idea surfaced in his mind. “Maybe there is a way to make the best out of this mess! This is the perfect occasion to kill two birds with one stone!”

He turned towards his court, but this time he looked as if he had completely let go of his anger, addressing the Nobles with a commanding and charismatic tone.

“Well, we'll think about the alleged traitor in our midst at a more opportune time.” He said solemnly. “For now, we have a more pressing matter at hand: defeating the orcs.” He made a theatrical gesture towards the window. “And I have a plan to do just that, though I require everyone's cooperation to execute it!”

The Piraca Nobles collectively blinked in surprise, more than a bit taken aback by that sudden change in their ruler's mood. It took a few moments for them to recover enough to start speaking again.

“Of course, my lord.” Gulamag said. “How can we be of service?”

“I'm going to summon the power of the Pond to destroy the orc army.” Turemalac explained. “But in order for it to work, I'm going to need you all to stay here and focus your power on the Pond, in order to empower the spell!”

“Uhm.” Miriadon mumbled. “Sorry to ask you about this, my lord, but if you  knew of such a spell, why didn't you use it before?”

“Oh, that's because it's going to use up pretty much every single drop of goo in the Pond.” The Emperor replied.

“Oh...” the Noble sounded surprised. “And isn't that a problem? How are we supposed to hold this fortress with an empty Pond? I mean, even if we manage to destroy this army, the orcs are so numerous that they could simply send another one against us.”

The Emperor nodded in response.

“That's simple: we won't hold this fortress.” He explained. “Holding the fortress with a leaking Pond is simply not possible, so it's better to return to our nests in the mountains, as you suggested. And since we can't take the Pond with us, it's better to use it to exterminate this orc army than to let it go to waste.”

Miriadon face was full of shocked, incredulous surprise, but Turemalac just laughed.

“Ah! Don't look so surprised, Miriadon!” He said cheerfully. “What kind of ruler would I be if I refused to listen to reason because of stubborn pride? Anyway, the orcs are getting awfully close, so we'd better hurry with the ritual, and then we will be on our way!”

Miriadon looked even more shocked, but then he nodded and turned towards the pond, quickly followed by the rest of the Nobles.

“Good! Keep it up like this!” The crimson Piraca encouraged his court. “I'm going to fly outside to direct the power against the orcs, but I need you to keep your focus in here!”

And with these words, he turned away and jumped from one of the windows.

As soon as he was in the air, the Emperor spreaded his skin, which opened and took the appearance of pterodactyl-like wings, and half a second later he was soaring the night sky with eerie grace.
Below him, under the pale moonlight, he could clearly see the orc army rapidly approaching the fortress. It wouldn't be long before they reached the gates, so he decided that it was time to put his plan in action.

He flew even further and higher, putting a good three hundreds meters between himself and Mount Fang, and then he turned around and sent a mental command to the Pond.

“Explode.”

As soon as he finished this thought, a huge explosion blew up the upper levels of the fortress, as geyser of green mist erupted from below.

The shockwave of the explosion hit the Emperor like a hammer, almost making him fall from the sky, but after a moment he managed to regain control and remain airborne. He turned towards the origin of the explosion, and what he saw caused him to smirk with malevolent satisfaction.

The upper levels of the fortress that had been his headquarters had been completely destroyed and now a huge, mushroom like cloud of green mist rose from the ruins. That cloud didn't stay up in the air for long, as it soon started descending at incredible speed and when it hit the ground the mist started spreading like a colossal green tide, enveloping the entire area around the fortress and the orc army. In a radius of a few miles, all trees immediately lost their leaves, and soon started falling apart, devoured by a supernaturally strong acid while blood curling screams echoed in the night for almost a minute before fading into silence.

Turemalac gave a long, satisfied stare to that spectacle, before turning away, cackling like a madman.

“What a bunch of idiots!” He said to himself in the midst of those bursts of laughter. “Buttering them up with a few sweet words was all it took to convince them to stand still right in the middle of the explosion! Ahahahahah! I mean, how much more obvious could it be? If I had handed them a lit bomb and said Here, can you hold this for a minute? Don't worry, I'll be back! Would they have fallen for it too?” He laughed again with derision. “Serves them well for their betrayal. I'll make a new batch as soon as I'll make a new Pond, and this time I'll make sure to make them loyal.” He snickered. “And I got to kill a bunch of orcs as well, so all in all I'd say this has been a productive night! With some luck, the Blue Terror was leading the attack, and now the leader of the orcs is nothing more than a puddle! If that's the case, then rebuilding my empire will be a breeze!”

Feeling positive about the future, the Emperor headed south, flying towards the mountains and the abandoned nests of his kind, all while making plans and revisiting his strategies. It was at this moment, when he was lost in his thoughts, that something huge and dark appeared right above him, diving besides him like a hawk hunting down a smaller bird. Turemalac screeched in pain as huge talons tore down his left wing and then he fell, leaving a trail of blood in the air behind him.

The Emperor hit a bunch of branches on the way down, and when he finally hit the ground he was covered in bruises and cuts. There he remained writhing for a few moments, paralyzed by  shock and pain, but then he heard something big and heavy landing near him, and a terrifyingly deep and familiar voice spoke to him.

“Oh, you're still alive!” The attacker said in a nonchalant tone. “That's good! I don't really need to take you alive, you know, but it's nice to still have that option available.”

Turemalac forced himself to look up to who was talking, and as soon as he did he felt his heart skip a beat.

In front of him, smiling from ear to ear, was the oni known as the Blue Terror. The leader of the orcs was bigger and quite different looking from what the Emperor remembered, though that didn't really mean much since ogres in general and onis in particular were skilled shapeshifters, but what struck him the most was the creature's aura. Last time they had met, the Crimson Piraca had perceived the Blue Terror as being his equal, but now the aura of power that surrounded the Oni was at least twice his own.

If the crimson Piraca had any hair on the back of his neck, they would have been standing up right now. The Oni wasn't doing anything threatening right now and it looked relaxed, bored even, but its sheer presence was enough of a threat by itself. He desperately tried to think of a way to get out of this situation but sadly he couldn't find any. He didn't think he could fly with his wing injured, and he didn't like his chances of running away on the ground or trying to fight the Oni. The only solution he could think of was to try and bet everything on a single attack. After all, he still had his acid, which was much more powerful than that of any other Piraca, and if he managed to hit the leader of the orcs, he could very well kill it in one hit.

But if he missed...

“Before you do something stupid, I think it's better if you listen to me.” The Blue Terror suddenly said, interrupting Turemalac's planning. “At least, that's if you want to live.”

The Piraca Emperor blinked in surprise. He didn't know what the Blue Terror wanted to speak about, since if their roles had been reversed he would have killed his opponent without wasting a single breath, but he decided to play along to buy some time. After all, every second he gained was another chance to find a way out of this predicament.

“What do you mean if I want to live?” He asked, still keeping his guard up, ready to spit acid on the Oni at the first sign of aggressiveness on the latter's part. “Aren't you going to kill me?”

“Oh well, I'd love to do that.” The Blue Terror replied. “In fact, that was my original plan. But some recent developments have made the re-evaluate the value of cooperating with others. For example, I wouldn't have been able to take your fortress down if I didn't have help.”

“Ah, so that's how it is!” Turemalac thought. “Then someone really betrayed me!”

“Whose help?” He asked, trying to conceal the surge of rage he was feeling. “Was it one of my Nobles who betrayed me?”

“No, actually.” The Oni replied with a smile. “The one who helped was the Pale Lady. She commanded the Brain Spider to infiltrate your fortress under the guise of some of your Thralls and sabotage your Pond.”

“What!?!” Turemalac cried. “The Pale Lady? The leader of the Rantul? Wasn't her kin at war with yours?”

“Yep.” The Blue Terror nodded. “As was yours. But I defeated her and she found herself at my mercy, just like you are right now. Then I offered her to work for me in exchange for her life, and she accepted.”

The Piraca Emperor took a moment to process this information, and then he asked:

“So, are you going to make the same offer to me? Work for you in exchange for my life?”

“Maybe.” The Oni grinned. A dangerous, predatory grin. “I still don't know exactly what you can bring to the table. And it better be something good, because you just cost me a whole army of orcs and I'm very tempted to take that debt out of your hide.”

The Blue Terror then made a significant pause, implicitly inviting Turemalac to speak about his powers. But the Piraca Emperor didn't reply immediately, as he was busy trying to decide what to do. He loathed the idea of admitting defeat and serving under someone else, but at the same time he didn't like his chances if he was to fight the leader of the orcs here and now.

In the end, he opted to try and play things safe. Sure, working for the Blue Terror might be unpleasant, but it was better than dying, and besides that would put him in the best position to take his revenge on the Oni, should the occasion arise. He just had to play things safe.

But then, his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, excruciating pain in his right eye, which then stopped working entirely. He screeched in agony, and with his left eye he saw the Blue Terror holding a rather large eyeball in his hand.

With horror, Turemalac realized that that eyeball was his.

“I didn't even see him moving...” He thought with shock.

“You're taking too long to answer.” The Oni said coldly. “I'd try to be quick if I were in you, otherwise I might decide to rip off your other eye.”

“No!” The Piraca cried. “I'll speak! I'll work for you! Just stop! Don't hurt me!”

“That's good.” The Blue Terror nodded. “But I've still to hear about your powers.”

“I can use the Pond to cast spells!” Turemalac explained quickly. “I can summon its power to do things like the barrier, or the explosion, or even heal wounds! I can do all this and more, if I have enough goo!”

“Good, but not good enough.” The Oni replied. “Letting you have too much goo would be dangerous. It could give you wrong ideas about what you can and cannot do. Is there anything useful you can do without the goo, or at least without too much of it?”

“I...” The Piraca Emperor stuttered, as his pride reeled at the thought of spilling his secrets to someone else. However, fear and pain were excellent motivators for him to get over it. “I can read the future in the goo too. It doesn't take too much goo either, compared to the other spells.”

“Read the future?” This time the Blue Terror sounded interested, not to mention more than a little surprised. But he also seemed suspicious. “That's an interesting power, but if that's the case, how did you manage to lose? How did you foresee what I was going to do, I wonder?”

“The... the reading has limits.” Turemalac said. “It only answers specific questions, and the answer has to be in the form of a percentage. I asked about my chances of defeating you a few months ago, and I was told that I was 61% likely to win.”

This time, the Oni didn't reply immediately. Instead, he just stared at the Piraca for a few minutes with a pensive face, and Turemalac felt himself getting more and more uneasy as time went on. But then, the Blue Terror smiled with satisfaction.

“Well, you don't look as if you're lying, and if you told the truth this power of yours seems useful enough.” He said. “So I guess it's better to spare you for now.” He paused for a second, and then added with a deadly cold voice. “However, do not think, even for a second, that you can try to betray me and live. If you try anything funny, or if it turns out that you lied about anything, you're finished. Understood?”

Turemalac gulped.

“Yes.” He replied. “Yes. I understand.”

“Good.” The Oni nodded. “Then I think it's  time we get back to my temporary headquarters. It's a long walk from here, and you just destroyed the encampment of my army!” It smirked. “You're lucky that I had all of my most valuable assets deployed beyond the reach of that mist, because otherwise I'd be much, much more annoyed with you.”

“I... I understand. I'm sorry.” Turemalac muttered.

“Well, don't worry about it.” The Blue Terror laughed. “You work for me now. Just behave and you'll do fine.” He paused, tilting his head to the right, and then added: “By the way, I wanted to ask you one thing. Are you by any chance a reincarnated human?”

The Piraca Emperor's remaining eye went wide with surprise at that question.

“Uh... yes.” He said. “How do you know?”

“Well, it just makes sense.” The Oni grinned. “I'm a reincarnated human myself, and so is the Pale Queen, and we are all exceptionally rare specimens of our kin and also the respective leaders of our races. Well, at least you two were leaders, but now I'm the only one who has retained command.”

“Uh... well...” Turemalac muttered, trying to take advantage of this information. “If we're both reincarnated humans, then you know you can trust me. There is no need for all this barbarity and violence.”

“Oh, no no no no no!” The Blue skinned Oni replied with an amused smirk. “It's quite the opposite, actually! Now that I know you were a human, I know I can't trust you!” He laughed. “But don't worry, that isn't gonna change anything about our agreement. Just refrain from doing anything stupid, and I'll guarantee your safety. Of course, I also guarantee your non-safety if you do anything stupid.”

“If nothing changes, then why did you ask?” The Piraca Emperor asked, narrowing his remaining eye.

“Just for confirmation.” The Oni shrugged. “If there are three of us reincarnators, there may be more. Heck, maybe there are even heroes and such outside of this forest. But now that I know that they are a possibility, I can prepare for them as well. And if you really can read the future, you can help me do just that. Now come! The camp isn't getting closer if we just stand here and talk!”

“I'm hurt.” Turemalac replied. “I can't fly with my wing like this!”

“Well, your leg isn't hurt though, so you can walk!” The Oni said. “And you better start walking. Because if you start being uncooperative, I might be tempted to use you in another, more pleasant fashion. As dinner, perhaps. A being with your aura would be an excellent meal, I'm sure of that!”

The Piraca Emperor looked at the Blue Terror in the eye, and saw the ravenous light shining in them. He could totally believe that the Oni would eat him, even after the revelation that they were both reincarnated humans.

So, without further complaints, he got on his feet and started following the Oni to his camp.