"This will be your room. You can send them to leave your litter there, and us two can continue the tour of the castle." said the Imp King with his screechy voice.
The woman didn't respond with words, but it was obvious that she agreed to this because the litter went in one direction and they in another, and soon he couldn't hear the Imp King's voice. This talk about the room sure interested Lucius, for it meant he soon had a chance of making his move. Or at least he thought so.
They did, in fact, quickly enter the room the Imp King was talking about, and this made him come face-to-face with two problems. The first one was that the satyrs again put the litter down on the floor, which meant a return to that extremely uncomfortable position of holding the whole litter on his back, which he just spent around ten minutes in. The litter wasn't the heaviest thing ever, and he had the physique and strength necessary to endure it, but it was heavy enough to make it an unpleasant experience.
The second problem was that he couldn't get out of this position because those stupid satyrs decided to remain in the room. He could feel them and hear them communicating in their characteristic bleating way. He couldn't get out from under the litter because he had to turn it over to free himself, and that would undoubtedly attract the attention of the satyrs. Then he had to eliminate all four of them as quickly as possible, and there was no guarantee that he would be able to do that before one or more of them escaped him to alert the castle or before somebody heard their cries. It was too risky, and he didn't want to jeopardise his mission.
Still, this was an infuriating and humiliating situation. After his adrenaline-filled final exam, where he got his first taste of real combat and where he had to fight to stay alive, he was now hiding under this litter like some kind of coward. This was very far from action, and the glorious fighting he imagined will be constant parts of his job. He didn't train to become an assassin, but to become the Hell Purger, one who purges demons, not the one who hides from them and strikes at them at an opportune moment! Though this didn't sit right with him, he knew that he couldn't succumb to his own childish expectations. After all, he was extremely well-mannered, obedient, and dutiful. He wasn't going to fail his first mission, but he really didn't like how it was currently going.
While he was deeply bothered by his current position, the door to the room suddenly opened, and a woman's voice could be heard saying: "Come here, my pretties; you'll be staying in another room."
Why would someone call a group of satyrs "my pretties" was not really something understandable to Lucius, but as long as it meant that they were going to leave this room and finally let him come out from under the litter, it was fine with him. And leave they did, for he sensed that he was alone in the room.
Not wasting a moment, Lucius rose to his feet, turning the litter over in the process. He then equally quickly returned it to its original position, and he was now ready to go. But before he managed to do anything, he was first surprised by how this room was looking. The rest of the castle was really ugly and crude, looking more like a den of some sort than anything else, but this room was furnished like the room of some princess. It had nice carpets and curtains; there was a lot of smaller furniture and decorations; a nice-looking bed; and a lot of big mirrors around the room. It was evident that the Imp King really did his best to make this a comfortable living space for a female being. Strange.
Anyway, now that he finally had a chance, it was time for him to make a move, and this meant sneaking around the castle, looking for the Imp King. He wasn't thrilled with this idea because he knew that the castle was crawling with demons and that it would be challenging to evade detection, but it's not like there were any other options. Only one door was leading out of this room, and that was the door he came in. The only thing left to do was to hope that he'd be able to pull it off. He took a deep breath and went towards the door.
However, sometimes life likes to keep us on the edge of our seats with unexpected surprises, and this is exactly what happened to Lucius because, as he was walking towards the door, the door opened, and in front of him stood the Imp King's guest of the fairer sex. This resulted in a typically awkward situation where they were both looking at each other, equally caught off guard by this sudden meeting. Luckily, Lucius was the first one who reacted by summoning his lightsword and putting his forefinger to his mouth to let her know that he wanted her to stay quiet. She got afraid of the appearance of the sword, but realising what she wanted from her, she nodded her head in agreement and didn't make a sound. He motioned with his head towards the room, keeping an eye on her, and they slowly switched places, and he was now with his back towards the door. He reached for the lock to check if there was a key in it, and there was. Perfect.
"I don't want to hurt you. I am not here because of you. Don't make noise, and nothing will happen to you. I'll lock you in here, and I'll be on my way." he said, taking the key out of the lock.
"Wait!"
"What is it?" he asked, slightly annoyed.
"Don't go out there. There are demons all over the castle, patrolling it and guarding the Imp King with their lives. You may be powerful, but there are many of them, and they will beat you, if not because of their strength, then because of their numbers."
"I know all that. But it's the only way. I can only hope I will reach the Imp King before I'm discovered."
"But it's not the only way! I can help you! You can stay here. He will visit me in my room for sure, and then, when he won't be expecting him, you can strike and finish him in one blow. Don't risk your life so foolishly. Just stay here, with me. I beg you! Let me help you!" she pleaded with teary eyes.
He knew. Oh, he knew. He knew all the time. He knew as soon as he saw her. And yet, despite knowing, he couldn't help but notice how otherworldly beautiful she is. His judgement was getting clouded, and his mind was getting emptier by the second, and the only thing that was staying was she. Her beautiful and innocent face, her luscious lips, and her gorgeous curvy figure. Oh, how many evils were done throughout history because of women's beauty? How many mortals and immortals have lost their minds because of women? Pushing back against the numbness and helplessness that were taking over him with his strong will, he decided that he wouldn't be joining them anytime soon.
"If you so desperately want to help me, then why are you holding that dagger behind your back?" he asked while pointing towards one of the mirrors in the room that conveniently revealed the woman's true intentions.
It all happened in a matter of seconds. The succubus, for she was one, revealed her true self. Gone was the innocence in her eyes, which now became red, filled with malice and cunning. Her spearlike tail appeared and whooshed towards Lucius, but he was quicker than her. With one swift swoop that was quick as lightning, he cut off her tail, and dark demon blood began to spray around. She began to scream in pain, but not for long, because he was already on her, grabbing her strongly by her cursed throat so she couldn't make any more noise, and then he promptly thrust his sword into her body so hard that he raised her up from the ground a bit. After that, he punched her in the face with all his might, and she flew off his sword to the ground. He messed up her face really badly. She was dead, bloody, and beautiful no more.
"Filth..." he muttered and spat on the floor.
He turned around and froze in place because of what he saw. The door to the room was open, and standing at the door was none other than Imp King himself. He was staring at him with his mouth open, clearly terrified by what he saw.
"This is going to get really, really messy." thought Lucius to himself.