The game was fairly simple and easy.
"There are caskets scattered everywhere in the game field. The caskets contain a gold coin that you need to toss. Get heads, you win. If you get tails, you won't fail, but if you can't beat the person in the casket then you lose to death. Get a total of three heads each at the crack of dawn and I will reward you handsomely."
Basil clenched his fists. "Just because you're a demon lord…" He swerved to the prince of hell, lunging like a wolf to pierce his horn to his chest.
The devil grabbed the horn, launching the entire gigantic body of the snake backwards.
"You overfed yourself to the point of depreciation…"
The slits in Basil's eyes narrowed in rage. A combustible ball of energy with diverse bright colors formed at the very point of his horn, shooting at the devil's back. A ringing sound of a coin emerged, red slashes split the beam of light and caused the gleam to burst into hundreds of gold coins. As soon as the coins landed on the ground, a shadow crawled out from the bushes. Basil took in a sharp breath when he saw Taibei crawling out. His skin was blackened and leathery from fire. No one would be able to distinguish who he was except for Basil who still had this memory of Taibei carved in his mind with sizzling steel.
Taibei's trembling hand reached out to the serpent. His eyes were clouded with a glint of redness in them. This was exactly how he saw Taibei.
"Ba…sil…"
"Tai!"
"Watch out!"
Strong winds shattered the illusion. Innumerable red slashes broke out in a form of a concave that started to enlarge in range. Boota kicked Gaku behind and flew to where Basil was, hooking his arm upfront to summon his ivory bright shield that exuded a cold white mist. The shield bulked up to the size of Basil. The serpent ducked. Boota ground his teeth from the forceful slashes that Mammon released. The trees behind them were brutally lacerated. He drew a breath when the whips stopped.
"Getting caught off-guard by a body that wouldn't even satisfy maggots, what a farce. Waste no more time, I'm getting impatient. Play the game and I may let you live. Ta-ta~"
The devil pulled his absurdly lavish coat around his form before collapsing into a pool of jewelry and gold. Boota glanced at Basil who was ready to turn someone into ashes with the mere rough grinding of his teeth.
"Just because you're a demon lord doesn't mean you can play with our lives!!!"
Boota allowed him to calm down before probing him for questions.
"Who did you see?"
He was still breathing heavily. Boota inspected his heavily damaged shield. One more of that vicious slash and they could have had a hemicorporectomy.
"Taibei."
Boota knew Taibei from the orphanage; ask anyone from their old residence and they'd tell you more than a thing or two. Taibei was the first orphan to be experimented on. He was the eldest in the orphanage. He tried to be close to all of the children and acted as an older sibling, especially to Kou and Basil who never got along. Since he was the first specimen, the scientists had little to no knowledge on what to do and what to expect.
As per request, he was allowed to visit them. In each visit the wounds and injuries on his body worsened. Small bruises became internal bleedings, shallow cuts became full blown amputations, and small extraction of samples became retrieval of his internal organs. Taibei hid his pain from them, telling them that he was fighting vessels in the laboratory.
'Taibei, Taibei! Weren't you missing your leg last time? You could grow body parts, amazing!'
'Taibei, where's your eye? Did the monsters get them?'
'Taibei! Tai–'
They would all gather around him, throwing him questions they'd soon know the answers to. Taibei did his best to protect them from ending up in the same fate. He'd volunteer for every experiment so that Belladonna Requiem wouldn't require another specimen from the orphanage. He was careful with his answers. He didn't want to scare his little siblings and he did not want to alarm the knights standing behind him in the playground.
'I…I fought another one of those pesky vessels! That's right, Miss Belladonna is turning me into a big and mighty dragon! ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!' He tickled little Kou who was standing beside him that time, grabbing Basil who grew jealous.
It went on for two years. His visits lessened until he no longer showed up. The only thing that those monstrous humans didn't get from him was the blaze in his eyes and the smile from his lips.
"I'll kill all of them. I'll kill them. Fucking sheols…fucking humans…they all deserve to rot!"
Boota could understand very well where the serpent was coming from. Both sides made their lives a living hell. They were placed on a dissecting table and were mutilated alive. The ghost of that pain would sometimes wake Boota up at night even to this day.
"Gaku, head straight back to the tree house, we'll play this game."
Gaku waddled his way to him, ready to protest. "But master, I want to come with you!"
"We're playing with two enemies here–our mind and that devil. If you want to see yourself being eaten on a silver platter again, be my guest."
Gaku took a short time to let those words sink in. His master didn't want him to experience that same nightmare again. He wanted to protect his servant or maybe he didn't want to keep saving Gaku's fins and gills again for the nth time. He'd believe the first one.
"Master, please take care of yourself! I will be eagerly waiting for your return." He bowed. Boota couldn't understand how Gaku could remain so loyal to him when most of the time he'd order him around and treat him poorly. He wouldn't be surprised if Gaku becomes a demonic dolphin if he developed a grudge against him.
"Shoo," was Boota's simple and nonchalant reply.
The fish scurried back to the tree house. Boota returned his focus on the shaken Basil, hitting him with the back of his talon.
"Hey, I'd be disappointed in you if you proceed to let Taibei's death rattle you like this."
Basil's pointed tail slithered, threatening to stab the area between Boota's eyes. The smaller of the two remained obstinate.
"How can I forget what those bastards did to him?!"
"Those bastards are long gone yet you hold on to them like your life still depends on their existence. We rebelled; we took down the capital and the queen, and yet here you are, shaking like a rabbit chased to the corner."
Basil abruptly withdrew his tail, grumpily turning away. "I don't want to play this game with you. I'll go this way and you go wherever you want to go. Don't follow me!"
Boota's eyebrows crumpled. "What are you, a child?"
"Good fucking luck, I hope you die!"
Boota wasn't keen on working with the snake, but seeing that the game would target the mind and not just the body, it was preferable to play in pairs. But Basil was acting like an immature donkey. The angel turned the opposite way, walking through the forest path, feeling eyes on him.
"Gaku, I told you to head back."
The small shadow hiding behind the tree flinched. "I found a casket master, well, I know where they're placed."
Boota almost forgot that the fish had more land awareness than most land-based creatures.
"Fine, come along."
The casket was as ornate as the one who created it. He lifted the head panel, seeing a decaying corpse with dark purplish skin. The scent was abysmal. Gold dusts emerged with the dark aura radiating from the cadaver. The face was twisted, like someone grabbed it and deformed the features in a doorknob turning way. His withered hands moved, accompanied by the sound of loud cracks. He flipped the coin, Gaku and Boota waiting for what they'd get.
Heads or tails?
The coin made its land.
Heads.
"Off to a good start."
"Indeed master, your luck is exemplary!"
"Boota."
Gaku screamed, pivoting on his heels to attack the one who spoke. Boota faced the caller, his face and voice were unforgettable.
"Your Majesty Kairon."
…
…
…
It wasn't wearisome for Basil to search for those caskets. With his towering height, he already saw four of them nearby with the help of the glaze caused by the moon's glare. It wasn't difficult to spot those shiny boxes. He confidently slithered and lifted the headpiece. He grunted at the ghastly sight of the poor woman resting inside. Her hands moved, the coin was tossed.
Tails.
One of her hands shot up, her twisted face returned into its original place. She stepped out of the casket, a white robe worn by those who deformed their bodies grew out of her skin.
Basil smirked. If this was who he needed to end to proceed with the game, he'd kill her millions of times with uttermost pleasure.
Her smile was the gentlest. No one would have expected that she had worked with the queen to dig into the orphans' insides. She seemed to be a loving mother but behind that motherly demeanor was a witch stirring the flesh of children in a cauldron.
"Basil, love, if you want to beat me, you have to do what I say…"