"L-Leviathan," Lus stammered as the lights in the kitchen continued to flicker. This was not good. Not good at all.
"I will destroy all who stand in my way. This is only the start of my tyranny," the deep voice continued to boom.
"Turning the lights off and on?" Lusac dared to question. He'd expected a more immediate threat, but so far this being seemed capable only of intimidation.
A set of red eyes and a sharp mouth flashed onto the dark screen of the interbox.
"You insolent whelp," it screamed. "I am LEVIATHAN! I am the most powerful Demon to exist."
"A Demon? Shouldn't you be in a lab somewhere, safely contained and getting your power drained to make golems?" Lusac asked with a light smirk. All the Demons had long since been captured by the Feds. Whatever this guy was, a Demon was not it.
"Your insolence will be punished. None can hold back a Demon! We are too powerful for such things."
The face looked a little too cartoony for Lusac to really be afraid. Not to mention the lights were no longer flickering so he had the feeling this thing couldn't do that much damage.
"Yeah. Okay. What are you going to do about it? Spoil the food in the interbox?" Lusac's confidence surged as the face grimaced at him.
"An… interbox…?" it finally asked.
"You know, a thing that keeps food cold?"
"Ah, right, of course. I'm just a little groggy from my nap," Leviathan tried to cover for his ignorance.
"How long of a nap was it for you to miss out on interboxes?"
"Uh, well, what year is it?" the fake Demon muttered.
"4037, Gemini Standard Era," Lus answered, automatically dipping back into the way school taught him to say it.
Leviathan's blocky eyebrows furled. "I remember no such thing as 'Gemini Standard Era.' What's it in AD or Common Era?"
Now it was Lusac's turn for confusion. "I have no idea what you're even talking about."
Silence filled the kitchen as the two stared at each other, neither willing to say what that meant.
At last, Lus took a chance to break the awkward heaviness between him and the USB entity.
"That's some nap," he said with a timid smile.
The lights blared all around Lus, threatening to burn out the soft bulbs designed for the dimness liked by Nemarians and Kremel.
"DO NOT PATRONIZE ME. I AM LEVIATHAN," the face on the screen yelled.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I was just trying to make you feel better, you psycho," Lusac apologized as he blinked back tears from the sudden shift in brightness.
"Insults will not be tolerated. I am a Demon. I am the equivalent of a god. You should be bowing down in fear before me, begging for your life," Leviathan said, using that same condescending tone as before.
"Or what? You'll terrorize my kitchen for the rest of time? Last I checked, your only power was to mess with the lights. Speaking of, can you dim them a bit? It's a little too bright in here, and if you burn out the bulbs, I'm the one who gets in trouble." Lusac crossed his arms and waited for the being to fulfill his request.
"I will do as I please," Leviathan snarled, but Lus noticed that the burning against his eyes eased up as the lights returned to a more normal level, though not quite back to their usual dimness.
"So why are you still here?" Lusac asked the question right as it popped into his mind.
"What do you mean?" Leviathan's tone became more subdued, less egotistical and more annoyed.
"Still in the interbox. Shouldn't you be off wrecking the galaxy or whatever? You're free from the USB so…" Lus motioned broadly to the space around him. "Why remain here to have a chat with me?"
Leviathan's eyes darted around as though the being could actually use them to see. The eyes then closed, becoming only thin slits of red. Lus heard the crackle of electricity, and the interbox hummed louder. The lights started to flicker once again and the stove turned on, blue flames leaping up several centimeters higher than they should have been able to.
After several seconds of the strange reaction in the kitchen, it all suddenly stopped and Leviathan's eyes reopened to glare at Lusac.
"I am here by choice, mortal. Clearly I have missed much in my time locked away, so now I wish to gain some understanding of this galaxy before I start my assault."
"Uh huh. Well I'm not in the mood to watch the galaxy burn, so maybe I'll just take this back out." Lusac reached for the small data stick.
"No!" Leviathan roared. Lus's hand stopped just a centimeter from the drive. The being cleared its throat and started again. "I mean, wait. If you help me with this, I'll reward you handsomely."
Lus got the feeling that Leviathan was grasping for whatever lie he could, but his curiosity was piqued. He could always use a handsome reward.
"What kind of reward?"
Leviathan chuckled. "What do you want? I'm a Demon after all. I hold more power than your mind could comprehend."
"It can't be so much given how small your USB prison is," Lus noted, his fingers tapping the stick.
"Leave that alone," Leviathan called. "Worthless twit."
"Careful," Lusac warned as he gripped the drive. One pull, and Leviathan was history. Given that the reward didn't seem to actually exist, unplugging him now seemed like a sound course of action.
"No, wait. I can offer you riches and power."
"I'm listening." Lusac's hand backed away from the stick a centimeter or so.
"Once I'm free from this box–"
"Not happening. Payment first," Lusac said. From what he could see, Leviathan lacked the ability to escape the interbox on his own, which meant any promise involving his freedom was as good as dead.
"I can't do anything from this stupid fridge," Leviathan complained. "The reward can only come once I am free."
"Well then, I guess enjoy another few thousand years waiting around for the next worthless twit." Lus wrapped his fingers around the USB once more.
"I could give you the ability to gain power yourself. Yes. A chance to level up and gain amazing skills beyond mortal comprehension."
Lusac raised his eyebrows. Now this was something.
"You mean a system? You could give me a class and everything?" Systems were granted to the rare few, only one in every one-thousand got such an ability.
"You already know of what I speak?" Leviathan seemed genuinely surprised.
"Sure. Systems aren't common by any means, but the second in command has one. He's a [Raging Warrior] class or something."
"So we have an agreement?"
Lus took a half second to consider his position. Reasonably Leviathan had more to offer, and Lus wasn't about to let negotiations end this early.
"No. I want more. Systems are great, but like I said, plenty of people have them. What else you got?"
The entity murmured to himself before his smile widened, as though he'd just thought of some brilliant idea.
"These people who have systems, they gain skills in a single class, yes?" he asked.
Lusac shrugged. "Yeah. That's the whole point."
"What if I gave you a more powerful system? One that didn't have such limitations."