Chereads / Not Your Average Human / Chapter 45 - It's Complicated

Chapter 45 - It's Complicated

"Leo, come on, you promised," Justin complained while stomping his feet.

Leo crossed his arms and looked away, "I... I'm just not ready."

"They extended the pick-up time, so you've been saying that for over two months now!" Justin whined.

"... I don't want to be involved with that life anymore! It's been years. I want to forget about being a demon altogether." Leo admitted.

"Well, it's unavoidable," Justin stated.

"What do you mean by that?" Leo questioned.

"That girl, Kellian, might be put in more danger." Justin shrugged.

Leo grabbed Justin by the collar. "Explain." He ordered.

"If you want to know, listen to everything, deal?" Justin negotiated.

"Sigh, fine. Just get it over with." Leo let go, then went and sat on the sofa.

"After you left the devildom with your mother and sister, your father was pissed for days on end. He was livid that you chose to live with succubi in an unknown kingdom, over staying and fighting over the throne with him. You remember that you were always his favourite, right?"

"I'm not proud of it."

"...Anyway, he made a decree that anyone that could capture you would get 10,000,000,000 gold pieces, a royal maid or butler and a desire granted by his truly." Justin continued.

"Sigh, I forgot how backwards that place is," Leo replied.

"What do you mean?" Justin asked.

"Nobody uses gold and silver pieces or coins anymore," Leo responded.

"Then what do they use?" Justin asked, confused.

"Every other kingdom uses a paper form of currency called money," Leo explained.

"But... Can't you just become rich by buying a book? That's dumb!" Justin stated.

"Well, it's a special type of paper. So, no," Leo replied.

"I still think it's dumb. Why would you want such fragile currency?" Justin asked.

"Whatever, continue the story. I still don't see why it's relevant yet, but I'm sure you'll get there. Right?" Leo asked threateningly.

"Uhh... yeah," Justin laughed awkwardly.

"Obviously, he didn't expect them to capture you. So, he spent ten years training the most powerful of your siblings. Also known as those who are worthy of the title of an avatar. Do you know who I'm talking about?" Justin asked.

"Some of them... But ummmm, remind me who goes with what sin avatar again." Leo requested.

"Really? You can't even remember your siblings, and you shame me for having a bad memory? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."

"It's not my fault father had 200 kids! And I want nothing to do with any of them." Leo complained.

"Actually, it's 395. You need to keep track of your siblings, Leondre." Justin corrected.

"Why should I? Father won't stop having them, so there's no point. There will always be some new face and name to remember. The only sibling I acknowledge is Lia." Leo stated.

"Isn't she a famous succubus too?" Justin asked.

"Please don't remind me," Leo replied.

"Sigh. There is you, Leondre, the avatar of wrath. Orin, the avatar of greed. Portia, the avatar of envy. Kelvan, the avatar of Pride. Edesia, the avatar of Gluttony. Lillith, the avatar of lust. And Almos, the avatar of sloth," Justin told Leo all of the demons with the title of an avatar.

"Since when were there so many!?" Leo exclaimed.

"...There's always been seven," Justin replied. There was a judging expression on his face as he stared at Leo.

"Right. Ummm... Continue." Leo said, brushing off the fact he didn't know there have always been seven avatars of sin.

"He trained the other six avatars for ten years. He was disappointed at how slow they learned, so he punished them. Brutality. In front of everyone. If they didn't hate you already, they definitely hate you now." Justin stated.

"So? I don't care about any of this. It isn't anything new." Leo said, bored.

"Okay, I'll get to the point. After ten years, your father sent them out to different kingdoms to search for you, and I think there's another reason, but I'm not sure. He told them to bring you back, dead or alive. They'll be looking for you everywhere, so you won't be able to hide for much longer. And if they know about that girl, Kellian, they'll target her to get to you," Justin explained.

"So that's why Orin was there!" Leo said, realizing why Orin was at the fight.

"You've already met one? This is bad! I know you're strong and all, but can you really fight all six avatars at once after their training?" Justin asked.

"Probably. But I'm not going to. Knowing Orin, he would rather take me out on his own. Plus, he thinks I'm practically useless and can't fight anymore." Leo replied.

"What? How?" Justin asked.

"Didn't I tell you what that guy did to me? That guy was Orin." Leo responded.

"Oh yeah... Why didn't you fight back?" Justin asked.

"I told you already! I. Don't. Want. Anything. To. Do. With. That. World-"

"Shhh..." Justin said, cutting him off.

"What are you-"

"Shh!" Justin shushed louder, cutting off Leo for the second time.

"Who the hell are you, and what do you want!?" Justin yelled.

"Nothing from a filthy demon like you!" A stranger yelled back.

"What, how do you know that already!?" A familiar voice asked in a loud tone.

"Crap! That voice! Hide." Leo said, shoving Justin into a bush.

By the time Ryder and his 'new friend' were in his line of sight, Leo was standing in front of the bush Justin was hiding in with a nervous smiling spread across his face.

"Leo? What are you doing here? Did you see a person pass by?" Ryder asked.

"Nope. No one. No one at all." Leo replied, obviously lying.

"Well since—"

"Stop. Be careful. You know it's lying to you, right?"

"Huh? What are you doing? He's my friend. He is lying, but he isn't dangerous." Ryder replied.

"All purebred demons are dangerous. Especially, him."

"What are you talking about? He's a werewolf," Confusion was evident in Ryder's face.

"No. I know a demon when I see one. He might have grown good at pretending to be a wolf. He even managed to change his aura, but it's not enough. I can see the mysterious amount of demon power he possesses. And the one in the bushes is no weakling either. My Lady blessed me with this ability, and it has never been wrong."

"What!?" Ryder asked, shocked.

"There's no point in hiding come out." He ignored Ryder.

"..."

"...Justin, come out," Leo ordered.

"W-what the hell!?" Ryder yelled, seeing Justin come out of the bush with horns and a tail.

"Ryder... It's not what it looks like." Leo said immediately.

"Oh yeah? Then what is it!?" Ryder yelled.

"... " Leo stayed quiet.

"Answer me!" Ryder yelled.

"I-I don't know how to explain... It's complicated." Leo replied, looking down in shame.

"Well of course you don't! You lied to me for years! What else is there?! Can I even trust you anymore!?" Ryder shouted louder.

"Of course you can! We are friends, after all! The only thing I lied to you about all this time was me being a wolf. I am a demon but, I... I don't want to be one... I never asked to be born a demon! I never wanted to be powerful! I just wanted friends I could be happy with..." Leo said, dropping to the ground on the verge of tears.

"You think I'm mad because you're a demon? I couldn't care less about that! I'm mad because you pretended to be weak!" Ryder yelled.

"... What?" Leo asked.

"You... That day... You didn't do anything!" Ryder shouted, obviously mad.

"I tried, okay!?" Leo yelled back.

"No, you fucking didn't! You could have done more, and you didn't! You didn't do anything when I got shot! You didn't do anything while Dexter was getting beat up! And you didn't do anything when that fucking bastard was right in front of you!" Ryder yelled, his eyes flickering between red and blue.

"That's because I'm not the demon I used to be! I haven't used that cursed power in over ten years. I never intend to use it again!!" Leo yelled back.

"She's like this... She's like this because of your damn stubbornness! If you would have just fought back, maybe, just fucking maybe she'd be okay now!" Ryder yelled, his eyes glowing red.

"I... What? .... It's... My fault?... I made... Her like this?" Leo muttered, tears streaming down his face, not daring to lift his head.

"Leondre? Are you okay?" Justin asked, crouching down beside Leo.

"You're right Ryder... It is my fault... If I had beaten everyone... No one would have gotten hurt, and she wouldn't be like this... I did this to her!" Leo yelled, then ran off.

"Ryder?" Ryder's 'new friend', asked while reaching out to him.

"Don't touch me. I'm going to be on my own for the remainder of the time. Come to where we first met. It should be close to the rendezvous point." Ryder said with his eyes closed, then walked off.

"What just happened?"

"I'm just as clueless as you are," Justin replied.

"Did that demon really cry because he doesn't want to be a demon and then again because he thought he was at fault for hurting someone?"

"As I said before, I have no clue what's going on," Justin responded.

"I have never seen a demon cry before..."

"Me neither. Soo, wanna eat dinner with me? I made rabbit stew, and I don't want to eat alone." Justin asked.

"Whatever, man. I don't even care anymore. Everything I knew about demons was apparently a lie."

"I can verify some things if you want," Justin responded.

"Okay. The name's Dayn." Dayn stated.

"Justin," Justin replied.