'Go on. What can you do to me—to us—that wasn't done already?'
Tetsu heard Shin's thought and echoed it with a pained grin. But despite her stubborn smugness and Shin's forced calm, he was thinking other things, too.
How much creativity did the Horned King have?
How could Shin kill himself and wake up, despite being unable to move?
Maybe if he bit off his tongue… but wouldn't it take him time to bleed out from that? Things like these often happened slower in real life than in movies.
In his distraction, Shin didn't notice when another demon lord stood up. This demon, like the Horned King, had a vaguely humanoid shape—but it had no features on its onyx-black skin except for eyes.
Hundreds of eyes, big and small, covered every inch of its body. Each of them was unique in shape and color, and each looked in its own direction.
A dozen were focused on the Horned King; another few stared at the demon's prisoners; more eyes watched other demon lords and the surroundings.
"Don't forget that you aren't the only demon in the Court of Words, 'King'. You had your fun… Now it's our turn to have ours," the all-eyed demon said. When it spoke, several eyes opened and closed on its head like mouths.
This was the last thing Shin heard before two rays of light shot from the all-eyed demon's pupils and shot at him and Tetsu.
Their death from incineration was so quick, that Shin barely pain—his nerve endings burned before he realized that.
***
Shin woke in his bed with a start. The morning sun shone in the window—a new day had begun.
'Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha!' Tetsu laughed in his head. 'We showed that disgusting wretch who's better, partner! I can't wait for the day when I restore my lost power and take proper revenge… And you were so amazing, my friend. So amazing with that face full of superiority… you are much more a king than that demon had ever been.'
Shin felt an impression of Tetsu's arms stroking his chest with worship, slowly rising to cup his face. She didn't appear physically, but the feeling was enough that Shin felt himself stirring below.
It was so distracting, but for once, Shin couldn't force himself to stop the demoness. He closed his eyes, relaxing.
'Yes, Tetsu… We will restore your power. And it's time to begin with it…' Shin thought.
It was actually a good fifteen minutes before he actually got out of bed and went to take a cold shower.
***
"I was summoned last, apparently, so other transmigrators probably spread all over the place. So far they all took the place of protagonists of my stories, but this might just be a coincidence. Either way, by now they could be anywhere," Shin mused, standing over his desk.
A map of the town and its surroundings was spread on it, with pins marking points of interest.
"So we don't really know where to look, boss?" Tetsu asked. She was perched on the opposite edge of the desk, toying idly with unused pins. "The town is big and full of humans and other creatures. Demonic smells would disappear so easily there—even if we create spells to sniff enemies out, they'd have to have a reeeeally good nose. Like…"
Tetsu jumped off the desk and dashed to a shelf. She picked a book from it—an animal encyclopedia Shin bought her earlier—leafed through the pages, and showed a picture to him.
"Like those! Dogs can sniff just about anything, aren't they? Can we make dog demons?"
The bright smile Tetsu had was infectious. Shin pinched his lips to not smile back.
He shook his head.
"Making dog golems would be too exhausting. We must come up with something smaller… It's possible to give any golem a heightened sense of smell, but it WILL be easier if it's based on an existing creature. The books we have are a bit too basic for more complex stuff…"
Tetsu hummed in understanding and leafed through pages again. Shin watched her curiously.
"A lot of animals have an incredible sense of smell," she said, turning page after page. "It's so interesting, actually. The smaller the creature, the more likely it is to depend on smell instead of eyesight. But if an animal flies, even if it's small, it has powerful eyes instead of a nose."
Shin raised his eyebrows. He never thought about it that way.
"Found it!" Tetsu opened another page. "This book says that rats also have an amazing sense of smell. They even have a special organ just to detect pheromones in the air. Um… I haven't read yet what pheromones are."
"Doesn't matter. But rats—that's a good idea. They are small and they are everywhere. This afternoon, we are going to go to a park and catch several of them alive. I will use them to design my next magic."
"Alright!" Tetsu agreed with even more eagerness than usual. "Can we catch some other creatures? I prepared containers for them this time… And you promised!"
"Sure. I remember. We just didn't have the time before."
The hunt for rats yielded them several squeaking rodents in a large glass jar and an assortment of other critters: bugs, mice, birds and a small snake, in various boxes.
Not all the critters survived the track back home, but Tetsu didn't seem dejected by it. While Shin designed his magic, she made terrariums for her new 'pets', both dead and alive, with grass and earth from outside.
That night, for the first time, Shin had a dreamless sleep. But he didn't relax.
'I wonder how many transmigrators already died, and how many die every day,' Shin thought at breakfast. 'And how many the Fourth God needs for his ascension? He didn't even try to threaten me again yet. Could that mean that he thinks he already won?'
The nervous anticipation was killing Shin's appetite, but he still forced himself to eat—until he heard a whoosh of flames outside.
'The Firewall! Someone is trying to break in!'